Famous for its beauty and year-round water flow, California’s Burney Falls is at the top of countless bucket lists. In fact, President Theadore Roosevelt once reportedly called the 129-foot waterfall the “eighth wonder of the world.”
The magnificent waterfall is known to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park in Shasta County.
Enough visitors, in fact, to prompt CA State Parks to launch an unprecedented summer reservation program in order to address overcrowding.
Starting in May, visitors to Burney Falls must make a day-use parking reservation to access the park. Here’s what to know.
Summer day-use reservations at Burney Falls
According to California State Parks, visitors to Burney Falls must make an advance parking reservation when visiting on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, starting May 15th and lasting through September. Reservations will also be required on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day.
The pilot program limits numbers to 103 parking passes between 8am and 12pm, 103 passes between 1pm and 4pm, and 35 passes for the entire day. The passes cost $10 per vehicle with a 55-cent processing fee. Same-day reservations are not accepted, and it is illegal to park along Highway 89 outside of the park for a mile in either direction.
Once you reach the parking lot, you need only take a short walk to the Burney Falls Overlook to enjoy the best view of the falls. The overlook is accessible to most visitors, including those with mobility issues.
The 1.2-mile Falls Loop Trail leads visitors to the base of the falls and offers several more unique vantage points.
More about Burney Falls
Burney Falls stretch 129 feet tall and nearly 300 feet wide, cascading over a mossy cliff draped with ferns. The water pours out not only from above but also straight through the rock face itself.
In fact, Burney Falls dumps about 100 million gallons of water every day, even in the driest summer months, because the water is partly drawn from underground springs in the volcanic basalt cliffs.
Visitors can explore about five miles of hiking trails through McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, including part of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Read our article to learn more about this astonishing natural phenomenon in NorCal.
