Road Trip Chronicles - Day 2 Part I

Road trip: DAY 2, Part 1 – ASHLAND, OR ➡️ BURNEY, CA (Approx. 3 hours)

Destinations: Burney Falls, Burney, California

Unceded land of: Pit River Tribe (11 total bands)[1]

On my second day, early in the morning, I left the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southern Oregon and headed to Burney Falls at McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, one of California’s first instated state parks, in the Lassen National Forest, California as a stop along my way to South Lake Tahoe, CA.

I didn’t know what to expect other than that there was a $10 fee to enter the park. What I encountered was not ideal. It was a pandemic and there was traffic, I mean all the way backed up onto the road out of the entry way to the park to get in. I sat in line for over a half hour. Once I finally got through, I had to drive around 4 times before there was a single parking spot available.

The place was crawling with people. My anxiety spiked. I have no idea how the state park was able to allow this many people during COVID-19 restrictions. I felt a bit a fool myself for contributing to a risky situation.

I was committed to my plan to see the falls, despite the huge disappointment of the troves of people. And of course, as I encountered a lot on trip, the majority of people there had no mask on (this was long before any whisper of a vaccine had been uttered). These were people who had decided, they were outside and they were sure they would be fine, despite the fact that we were like a group of cattle right on each other’s heels going down the path to the falls.

The hike to the falls is called Falls Loop Trail and is only 1.3 miles long. To get to the falls it was less than 5 minutes before I could see the Falls Overlook. This hike is extremely accessible for people.

I wish I could say that it was a peaceful and inspiring vision to see these falls, but with how stressful and scary it was to be around so many people after months of quarantining – it wasn’t what I would have wanted it to be.

One notable experience in this crowd of people I found myself with, a woman had done the hike in a trench coat. I didn’t think anything of it until she got to the base of the waterfall and shed the coat to reveal a bikini. She then had someone taking photos of her as if she had just gone swimming in the basin below the falls.

This was a moment where I felt like the reality of social media was laid bare. She, likely an influencer of some sort, was imitating an experience she didn’t have to get the perfect shot for her social media following. Granted all of us on social media are doing the same thing in our way, but this felt as though it were on another level, and it only added to my distaste for what I would have wanted to be a special moment taking in these wondrous falls.

Truly, this waterfall is one of the more spectacular waterfalls I’ve ever seen. It is an entire alcove filled with little streaming beautiful waterfalls coming over and through the rock face. And as luck would have it there was even a rainbow, making the scene extra magical if you could tune out the obnoxious nature of the crowd.

"The park's landscape was created by volcanic activity as well as erosion from weather and streams. This volcanic region is surrounded by mountain peaks and is covered by black volcanic rock, or basalt. Created over a million years ago, the layered, porous basalt retains rainwater and snow melt, which forms a large underground reservoir.”[2]

Click arrows to see more photos.

After very craftily capturing video and photos narrowly avoiding getting people in each shot, I continued on and finished the loop trail. Once I left the falls area, it was a completely different experience, there was practically no one on the trail.

I found a peaceful bench all to myself looking over the falls from a higher vantage point that to my pleasant surprise had a beautiful Yeats quote from 'The Stolen Child':

"Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild"

Finally, I had my moment to peacefully contemplate and appreciate the beauty of this sight.

Click arrows to view photos.

As I left for my next destination, I was surprised to see that I apparently had shown up early enough to miss what was now almost double the amount of traffic I had encountered on my way in. I'm glad I went once, for I don't feel like after the fiasco of all the people that I will be returning to that specific sight.

Proof I was there 😊