Want to see astonishingly-tall Northern California redwood trees from a steam train and pretend you’re in the rainforest? Check out the “Rainforest Weekends,” Roaring Camp railroad's weekend excursions taking place throughout March. This 100-year-old steam train is based in Felton, CA, near Santa Cruz, and takes you through the redwood groves with their high, dense foliage. Riding through dappled sunlight, you feel the lushness of the protective canopy. It’s almost like being in a rainforest.
The 75-minute train brings you over trestles (train bridges over water or across a steep valley), through the big trees and up a steep, winding narrow-gauge grade to the top of Bear Mountain. On board, docents and the conductor get on the microphone to talk about the importance of the rainy season to the forest and the planet as a whole.
Roaring Camp—which was once a sawmill camp dating to the early 1800s—has a fascinating history, along with the longevity of the railroad and the forest, so you can connect with fascinating stories, sit back and never get lost. These trees are really old, as part of the first virgin stand of coastal redwoods to be protected from logging, according to the railroad’s website.
We love this train, which also periodically transforms into Thomas the Tank Engine or the Polar Express and is, therefore, part of our family’s memory bank—and riding it as an adult is just as thrilling.
Before or after your ride, connect with the cuteness and Instagrammability of the “town” at Roaring Camp: a general store with a false facade that makes you think you are on the set of Little House on the Prairie, self-guided tours through a linotype print shop, a covered bridge that gives Madison County a run for its money, a blacksmith’s smithy...and even a tree trunk you can stand inside. Nearby is Henry Cowell State Park to extend your ride into a hike.