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Felton Covered BridgeFelton Covered Bridge · Photo: W Nowicki · CC BY-SA 3.0
A+Outdoors
Outdoors in Felton

Felton has 8.6 miles of mapped trails, 1.9 for every square mile of land

655 acres are parks and preserves, 160 per 1,000 residents. 99% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 15% of Felton’s land is conserved, about 456 acres.

Ahead of 98% of U.S. towns · #48 of 847 in California. What drives it

Conserved land
15%
456 acres · of 4.6 sq mi of land
Trails
8.6 mi
1.9 per sq mi of land
Park land
655 ac
160 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.1 mi
1.7 mi lanes
Highest peak
892 ft
Bear Mountain
Lakes & rivers
3

What kind of outdoors town is Felton?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

A trail town1.9 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 92% of U.S. towns.Room to roam160 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.Parks close to home99% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Felton have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Felton is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns, #48 of 847 in California. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; trail miles rank highest, conserved land lowest.

A+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Felton’s overall grade.
Conserved land15% of the land · typical CA town 4% · U.S. 4%A−Trails1.9 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (9 mi) · CA 0.9 · U.S. 0.4APark land160 acres of park per 1,000 residents (655 acres) · CA 5 · U.S. 13AParks close to home99% of residents within a half mile of a park · CA 91% · U.S. 72%A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 98%
LessMore
California towns of 2,500+ (847)Ahead of 94%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would still be A+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.

PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →

The map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.

1234
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

The longest trail network is Roaring Camp, with 3.3 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Roaring Camp

Park
175 acres3.3 mi of trail
Bear Mountain TrailWater Tower TrailIndian Creek TrailNature Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗

Covered Bridge Equestrian Center

Park
22 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Wilder Ranch State Park

Managed by California Department of Parks and Recreation
41 acres0.1 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗

Felton Covered Bridge Park

Managed by Santa Cruz County Department of Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services
6 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Who protects it

456 conserved acres

15% of Felton’s land. Who manages Felton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State parks242 ac
Regional Water Districts206 ac
County8 ac
State Park · 242 acLocal Other or Unknown · 206 acLocal Park · 8 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
State Park
State parks207Open
San Lorenzo Valley Water District
Local Other or Unknown
Regional Water Districts206Open
Wilder Ranch State Park
State Park
State parks35Open
Felton Covered Bridge Park
Local Park
County6Open
Felton Discovery Park
Local Park
County2Open
Things to do

20 places to go in Felton

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Picnic areas in Felton
AIn Roaring Camp
Directions
A1In Roaring Camp
Directions
BIn Roaring Camp
Directions
CIn Roaring Camp
Directions
DIn Roaring Camp
Directions
EIn Roaring Camp
Directions
FIn Roaring Camp
Directions
GIn Roaring Camp
Directions

Plus 8 picnic areas without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.

Trails & water

8 named trails and 3 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Open to bikes · 2.1 miHorses · 1.9 miUnpaved · 3.5 mi
Bear Mountain Trail1.0 mi
River Trail0.9 mi
Redwood Grove Loop Trail0.8 mi
Zayante Trail0.6 mi
Meadow Trail0.5 mi
Nature Trail0.3 mi
Water Tower Trail0.2 mi
Indian Creek Trail0.2 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Covered Bridge PondpondDuck PondpondMill Pondpond
Biking & sports

2.1 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

1.7 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
0.4 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
2Volleyball
1Baseball
1Beach volleyball

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

2 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 3 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Felton Covered BridgeStructure · listed 1973
About it
Felton Presbyterian ChurchBuilding · listed 1978
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Felton: April to August

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.910.811.913.114.114.714.513.612.411.210.19.6
High (°F)616265677075777878746660
Rain (in)7.67.05.32.50.90.20.00.00.11.53.77.4

July is the driest month (under 0.1 in) and September the warmest (highs of 78 °F). 7.6 inches fall in January, the wettest month. The climate in Felton →

Next door

Felton and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Bonny Doon22 miBen Lomond20 miFelton8.6 miMount Hermon1.5 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Felton15%1.916099%A+
Ben Lomond24%2.414898%A+
Bonny Doon34%1.453176%A+
Mount Hermon— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Felton

Where can I hike in Felton?

The longest trail networks: Roaring Camp, 3.3 miles; Covered Bridge Equestrian Center, 0.3 miles; Wilder Ranch State Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Felton is conserved land?

15% of its land, against a typical 4% for a California town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Felton’s trails?

Roaring Camp and Covered Bridge Equestrian Center don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Felton?

2.1 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.7 of painted or protected lanes and 0.4 of shoulders and shared lanes.

Is there public land near Felton?

35,299 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Felton or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 655 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Felton have?

Ahead of 98% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #48 of 847 in California. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Trail talk

Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Felton neighbors.

Town Square →
Share a tip
Sources

Where this page comes from

Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →