Guide to visiting McArthur-Burney Falls for 2023 – California
I visit a lot of waterfalls in my travels and McArthur-Burney falls in Northern California is one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve seen. This 130-foot waterfall is in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of Northern California — making it a must-see if you are traveling in this region. In fact, when Teddy Roosevelt saw McArthur-Burney Falls, legend has it that he referred to it as the “8th Wonder of the World.” Let’s review McArthur-Burney Falls!
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Location of McArthur-Burney Falls
The McArthur-Burney Falls waterfall is located inside of McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial Site State Park, which is part of the California State Park system. In fact, it’s the second-oldest state park in the system! The nearest city is Redding, California, which is about 45 minutes away.
McArthur-Burney Falls – State Park Information
Admission: $10 day use fee per vehicle
Hours: 8am to sunset, year round.
Pets: Dogs are not allowed on the trails
General store and gift shop available
Picnic tables and real restrooms!
There is limited parking at the state park, and you may run into traffic jams entering the park when it reaches parking capacity, especially on the weekends. I’ve only visited this park during the summer weekdays, so I never ran in to this issue personally.
Things to do at McArthur-Burney Falls
Well, obviously, the main reason you’re here is to see the waterfall – and the park offers a few ways to get there. There is a short, 150-foot trail leading to an overlook of the falls. This short walk is flat and paved and is wheelchair/stroller accessible.
If you continue on from the overlook, you can reach the bottom view of the falls. This is a short .3 mile one-way hike down a paved path. It’s quite steep.
If you’re looking for a longer hike, there is a 1.2 mile falls loop hike you can do – I haven’t completed this hike – frankly, unless you really want the exercise, going to the bottom of the falls is sufficient.
McArthur-Burney Falls Waterfall Photography Tips:
You’ll definitely want to bring along a neutral density filter and a tripod to take a daytime long exposure of this waterfall, so you can get the silky water effect. During my first visit here, I just didn’t want to deal with lugging all that shit around, but ended up regretting it, as this truly is a spectacular, frame-worthy waterfall.
Some of my photos were taken along the trail, and some of them were at the bottom of the falls. If you take the hike to the bottom of the falls (which you should!), there are a lot of people hanging out in this area. You’ll find people wading in the water, splashing around, playing – even though no swimming is allowed — and you might think there’s no chance you’ll get a people-free photo of the falls.
Now you’ll see in my photos that it looks like no one is here! But that was definitely not the case. You just have to be able to move around, work the angles, and you’ll find a spot where no one is in your way. Also, no one swims out to the waterfall – the water is just too cold (plus it looks very dangerous). Everyone is hanging around along the shoreline.
Camping and nearby lodging at Burney Falls
You can camp inside the park for $35 a night and RVs and trailers are allowed. Otherwise, this is a pretty remote location with not much in the way of hotels and motels around. When I’ve visited, I’ve always been on a road trip, en route to somewhere else. In each of those cases, I’ve stayed in Redding, California, as there’s lot of choices for hotels and it’s only a 45 minute drive away. Two hotels I’ve stayed at in the area are:
Fairfield Inn and Suites – Redding
Or, check out all the hotels in Redding, California.
McArthur-Burney Falls – Final Thoughts
This is a fantastic, must-see waterfall – and it’s worth a detour to see. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve visited and hiked to countless waterfalls in my travels and McArthur-Burney Falls is one of the waterfalls at the top of the list.
Have you been to McArthur Falls? What did you think?
