McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park — Attraction in Mount Shasta

Burney Falls was gorgeous, and the visitor's center was very nice. The staff were also very kind and attentive. There are many recreational activities available, especially if you have a family.

It's difficult to be hard on any one California State Park because they are severely underfunded. However, that any park, regardless of state or national, could charge $35 plus a $7.99 reservation fee, is absurd. The campsites themselves (there are more than 100) are fine and have ample space, a campfire pit with grill, food storage, and a picnic table. The bathroom near our campsite was old and kind of gross. The urinal in the men's room was out of order. The door was propped open so there were plenty of bugs inside. Somehow, despite the numerous staff driving around in John Deere Gators, the dumpster adjacent to our campsite was full during our stay.

My biggest gripe, and again, this is more about California State Parks in general, although MBFMSP is also at fault here, is that there is no way to change campsite reservations without eating the cost of an already-reserved campsite and purchasing a new one. My girlfriend and I reserved a campsite a week or so before coming to the park, and upon arrival we found ourselves wedged between two groups of campers comprised of 4+ tents per site and around 10-20 people per site.

At around one PM they were both listening to music from their vehicles and any and every conversation had to be had at full volume. We had unannounced visits from both campsites during our stay. The family from one campsite was playing trash volleyball with a makeshift volleyball net (a tow strap) with the ball coming into our campsite numerous times, and the other group walked through our campsite (immediately just past our picnic table) to get to the bathroom with us sitting there.

These interactions prompted us to go back to the entrance and ask if we could move sites. Remember, there are 100+ campsites, and because it was Sunday, there weren't that many people camping at the park. We couldn't get a new campsite because of how California State Parks operate. The woman at the entrance station told us she would have a ranger visit to make sure people were keeping quiet. We both felt bad because people visit to have fun, but the campers adjacent to us were also not respecting our visit or our privacy.

In any case, both groups continued to be loud and play music throughout the night. The campsite with the volleyball eventually went to bed before quiet hours, but the other campsite did not respect quiet hours. No ranger came and asked them to be quiet, nor did the camp host.

Without a doubt, I would never camp at this state park again, and I might not camp at a California State Park ever again given the high cost of staying at one of their campgrounds for what is offered. Despite the numerous staff we saw throughout the day, including at least one ranger, the facilities were not kept as clean as they could be and quiet hours were not respected or enforced. Visit the falls,...

Managed to check out yet another waterfall during our latest trip, and while Burney Falls wasn't my absolute favorite, it was extremely impressive up close, and has a fun little hiking loop to take if you wanted to.

Got there around 8:15AM, and I HIGHLY recommend getting there as early as possible! We found a parking spot up close to the Falls, but by the time we left (around 9:45AM), there was a line of cars waiting to get in that stretched BOTH directions on the main road in. I'm assuming youre wait would probably be around a half hour at minimum, if there was even space to park to begin with (no idea if they cap the amount of people coming in, so they may well have been holding people until others left).

We had our dogs with us, which unfortunately, are unable to go down to the Falls. You are allowed to have them on the paved lookout platform at the top, but we were told the only other spot dogs were allowed at was a mile-ish long trail down closer to the lake by some campgrounds. We didn't end up doing that trail, and one of our group was fine staying with the dogs while we went down to the Falls, but just know be aware.

The hike down was pretty cool, as you have a view through the trees the entire time. There are some spots with stairs, but most of it is smooth pavement. There are some fairly steep sections, and the general area was covered in mist spray from the Falls, so it was pretty slick. Definitely don't recommend walking down in flip-flops...

The views at the base were crazy! The noise and power the water has was impressive to see and hear. There were some folks taking wedding photos down at the bank of the water, which is a bit of a bummer as they were ruining one of the better angles you could take photos from.

The path away from the Falls followed the water for a bit before coming to an small little half-moon shaped bridge. There aren't steps up and down, and instead it's just a smooth wood deck, so considering how slick it was, it was a bit tricky getting across it. It also felt very rickety once you were on it, haha. From there, it starts heading up hill at a decent clip, and while there are a few spots to see the Falls from here, it's mostly covered by hillside or thick tree lines. There are a few sets of steps once you get towards the top. It then stays fairly level, the view of the source water opening up once you get past the Falls, where you see another, much sturdier bridge you have to cross. Once you cross this, it's just a couple hundred feet or so until you're back to the start viewing area.

It was a nice little scenic hike, and was mostly shaded, so definitely nice and cool. As mentioned before, there are some other areas to explore there, but we ended up just checking out the Falls loop and...

Burney falls are amazing! My wife and I recently visited on a long weekend. We drove into the park which is about an hour from Reading. We arrived around 11:30 and the check in line moved quickly. The parking lot closest to the falls was full. We were instructed by the helpful park rangers to drive down to the parking lot at the boat launch. As expected, the road to the boat launh is a severe down hill grade with several turns to keep it interesting. The parking lot proved quite large as promised. We started our hike to the falls via the well marked trail after hitting the clean restrooms. The 1 mile dirt path to the falls is mosty up hill and took us about 30 minutes or so as we took in the forrested scenery. As we approached the falls but before they were in sight, you could begin to hear the water rolling off the falls. The remaining path to the falls was paved and adjoined the campground, which as expected, had no hook ups. The loop trail to the falls is about a half mile and you could see the park entrance and upper parking lot on the left. There are steep sections of the falls loop that are surrounded by trees and have handrails. As you get closer to the falls the sound of water dramatically increases. Arriving at the falls, many had ventured down to the waters edge and actually got into the water, which must have been about 48 degrees or so on this partly sunny afternoon. The loop trail follows the falls river downstream and crosses over via a safe wood plack bridge with hand rails.Once across, you hike back up the grade and go above the falls. The loop trail provides spectacular views of all points of the river and falls. Once above the falls, there is a newer bridge that crosses back over the river and comes out very close to the upper parking lot. This area was crowded as the scenic falls overlook is here. This is a great spot for selfies as the falls would be in the background. Make sure you get plenty of pictures on both bridges and on the loop trail. We found we should have taken more than the 70 or so shots we took. Such a beautiful place ! It was an easy 15 minute hike back down to the boat launch parking area. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the tables overlooking the lake near the boat launch parking area. I highly recommend Burney Falls National Park. I would love to visit in a year with more water as the water fall spray would be much more prominent than during our...