McArthur-Burney Falls

Every time I speak with someone about going to Lassen they bring up Burney Falls and how it is a “must see”. With all the references I made sure to include it on the map of destinations that I “must see” while exploring California. Initially, Kerri and I thought we would be camping the work week not far down the road from the State Park that surrounds the falls themselves. In fact, we planned to camp a few miles down river from the falls. But, the Internet Gods lied to us (I’m looking at you TMobile) about their coverage in the area, so we had to turn back to find another spot.

First, we popped into Burney Falls…. wait, you know what? I want to say something here; the name of the state park is “McArthur Burney Falls”… McArthur! (This happens to be my actual last name, by the way). What happened to McArthur? Who was this guy/gal? Why have we all decided to stop mentioning him/her when referring to the state park or the falls? So, I did a bit of research and found that the McArthur family helped Samuel Burney in preserving the falls and the surrounding area from development by purchasing the land and gifting it to the state in the 1920s (PS – this info is NOT on the state parks website). So there you go; McArthur Burney Falls State Park (see which name is first?) although the name of the falls go only to Burney (he was there first and all).

Okay then… back to the story. We drove all the way into the town of Burney to restock our food and fuel, then took off to go to the state park to see the falls, get a shower, and re-fill our water tanks, and that is exactly what happened, and in that order. Exciting right? We were excited I must admit. Not by the falls (although they were spectacular) but by the showers. Certainly not the best showers we have ever had, and I’m no fan of token-style showers, it was the best shower we have had that week, and we were in desperate need. Cleaned up and full of food and water, we left the McArthur Burney Falls State Park to rejoin the wild in the national forest just outside of Lassen Volcanic National Park, which we still hadn’t gone into the main area yet.