San Lorenzo Valley is located in the Santa Cruz mountains. This area is home to a huge redwood tree population and was once a logging center for much of California, especially after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The towns in the area follow the San Lorenzo River, which flows from Boulder Creek to the city of Santa Cruz and provides much of the drinking water for Santa Cruz County. Many of the residents live in homes along Highway 9, which extends from Santa Cruz to Saratoga to Santa Clara County.
Bonny Doon, one of the many unique country communities of San Lorenzo Valley and was founded in the 1850s as a logging camp. The current name can be traced back to 1902. John Burns, a Scotsman living in Santa Cruz, named Bonny Doon after a line in the Robert Burns’ song “The Banks O’Doon”. Bonny Doon offers a selection of wineries to visit along the Santa Cruz Mountains Winery trail. The area is home to artists and artisans, who proudly live and play in this scenic, charismatic settlement in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
San Lorenzo Valley High School is the community hub and meeting place for activities and social events. In the summer, an Arts and Crafts Bazaar is celebrated through the streets of Boulder Creek. Many people flock to the popular Roaring Camp for the annual Civil War enactment or for a ride through the redwoods on the steam powered locomotive.
Local fishermen enjoy steelhead season, as they hug the banks of the San Lorenzo River in hopes of landing a monster “Steely “as the young salmon swim back to the Pacific Ocean.
The climate varies from elevated sunshine to misty forest covered solitude depending on whether you are in the mountainous communities or farm and ranch land. These areas are mostly rural.
• Felton
• Ben Lomond
• Boulder Creek
• Bonny Doon
• The Covered Bridge
• Roaring Camp
• Brookdale and Brookdale Lodge
• San Lorenzo River
I LIVE SANTA CRUZ • I LOVE SANTA CRUZ • I KNOW SANTA CRUZ • I SELL SANTA CRUZ
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