McCloud River - Middle Falls, swim hole — Attraction in Mount Shasta

Mccloud falls is one of the beautiful waterfalls in California. As you get here you will get to a hiking trail. Now the good news is that it's not a terrible hike at all! You will start in the lower falls which is about 30 feet away from the start of the trail. This is a nice little small waterfall which is a enclosure. Yes, for those of you wondering, you can swim in here. Now onto the second waterfall! This waterfall will probably be half a mile out and to be honest this is the best waterfall out of all three. Now when you get to the middle falls, there are many places where you can hang out at and chill. You can swim but be aware that the water is really cold but it is mildly refreshing during the summer heat. You can also jump off the cliff to your left into the water but be very careful as it could be dangerous so take the simple precaution when doing this. After you had your fill here you can hike up to the upper falls. While this one is great and majestic, it is gated off so you can barely see it in person and all you have a view of is just across from the gate. There are picnic tables here where you can hang out and if you head higher, there will be stream which turns into a waterfall which is the upper falls. Although this is a bigger waterfall than the middle falls, I would highly recommend the middle falls to hang out and spend...

The Falls themselves are gorgeous, but for whatever reason, of the three McCloud Falls, this was by far the most crowded, which made seeing the falls a bit difficult, as most of the two or three viewing spots/cutouts were always full, and trying to take a look while on the trail is probably not the smartest or trail-friendly thing to do. I was coming up on the trail from the Lower Falls, and the trail (and then eventual steps up) to the parking lot is pretty steep. It's maintained well, but if you don't have pretty good balance or aren't sure of your feet, be warned. There is railing along the trail towards the Upper Falls that you can stop and look down from, but the path is very narrow here, and it made navigating with tons of people stopped a bit of a pain (also had two dogs with us, so that complicated things a bit). As a note, the parking lot was absolutely jam packed when we got up to it around 11am before backtracking a bit to continue to the next fall. If you don't get there early, expect to have to do a few loops finding a spot (in comparison, there were plenty of spots at the Upper Falls just before noon, and the parking lot at the Lower Falls was very small and we snagged the last spot at...

One of the best in the area for accessibility ranges, and distance requirements. None of the trail is terribly dangerous but does get hot and strenuous. One trail connects all three falls or there is parking available at all 3 falls if hiking is not an option. They have a campground right next to the river and lower falls that looks well maintained. The upper falls are more of a scenic adventure unless you are agile and want to use the loose dirt switch batch trail down..the middle falls is a curtain waterfall with TONS of access over some boulders. Many people swim and there is a trail for the brave the want to jump beside the waterfall. The lower falls has great fishing and you can sit right beside the top part of the falls. It is surrounded by smooth flat river rocks for lounging if that is what you desire. Overall a bit...