"Come Away, O Human Child! To The Waters and the Wild"- W.B. Yeats
Several of our friends camped at McArthur-Burney Memorial State Park in July and we loved their photos of Burney Falls, which is considered possibly the most beautiful waterfall in all of California. Redding, the town in which we stayed, is a little over one hour (southwest) from the park and (blessed with early-rising kids), we headed there early on Sunday, beating the crowds (which apparently can stretch for miles on Hwy 89, the entrance highway, some summer weekends).
The stunning 129-ft falls in the early morning
There is a short loop trail down, past the falls, and back to the top. It was pretty cold at 8:30 a.m., but warmed up quickly. The water temperature is in the forties year round, so there was no swimming to be done!
A very cute photobomber!
The kids had a fun time building a teepee at the end.
Nearby Lake Britton (within the park)
On Monday, we visited a couple of waterfalls between Redding and our home on the coast in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.
We did a two mile out-and-back hike to Boulder Creek Falls, which was a lovely cascade tucked into a shaded spot. The kids were more intent on trying to catch lizards than walking (and the temperatures started to creek up even as we hiked in the morning), but they did pretty well! This area actually just reopened, four years after the devastating Carr Fire of 2018, and we were the only ones on the trail.
There was a good amount of water, in spite of California's continued drought-y conditions, a heat wave, and it being ~fire season.
Kids have different priorities (snacks before snaps!).
Just west of Boulder Creek Falls was Crystal Creek Falls.
The lizard hunt continued!
There was a both a lower falls area, but a man we met in the entrance parking lot suggested we walk up to the upper falls, and we had it almost entirely to ourselves!
The water was pretty cold, but this man jumped right under the pounding water!
Photo fun!
The kids played some in the sand island.
We made it home by Labor Day afternoon. Our friend Kelly, who watched Pepper for the weekend, told us Pep had a great time camping and kayaking at Stone Lagoon.
Dirty bodies = fun times, right? :)
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