Monday, October 5, 2009

Burney Falls

Burney Falls

Every since moving up to Northern California two years ago, I have had two waterfalls on my mind that I absolutely had to visit. One was Mossbrae Falls, which I hit up earlier this summer on my Lake Siskiyou camping trip. The other was Burney Falls.



Burney Falls

Seeing as how McArthur-Burney Memorial State Park was only six miles off the highway I was traveling on for my trip to Ahjumawi, there was no way I was going to let this opportunity slip by. So heading back down highway 299 towards Redding we turned off on highway 89, heading north for the short drive to the park and the falls the lie just within.

Burney Falls

Compared to the long hike down the side of railroad tracks in the glaring sun to get to Mossbrae, the experience at Burney Falls is instant gratification (there are advantages to both though, with more seclusion to be found at Mossbrae). A short walk from the parking lot gives your first view down into the canyon that the falls are pouring into. Breathtaking even from here.

Burney Falls

As you descend to the base of the falls there are a few nice stops for taking it all in before being dumped into the spray zone at the bottom. Determined to get some great closeup shots I continue along the edge of the pool working my way up as close as I could get to the falls. This turned out to be a great decision, as the mist shooting off the crashing water was not blowing in this direction leaving me with a dry vista with perfect views of the falls.

Burney Falls

I was also fortunate in that this time of year (just after the start of fall) the sun is far enough south in the sky that even at around noon the canyon remained mostly in shadow. This allowed me to get nice even exposures with relatively long shutter speeds on the tripod to blur the water into the silky form that is seen in these photographs.

Burney Falls

I must say, Burney Falls did not disappoint. If I had to rank all the waterfalls I have ever seen on beauty and majesty alone, Burney Falls would currently fall at the top of this list. It was an amazing experience standing below, feeling the power of these falls, and witnessing the splendor in which they make their decent. Astonishing!

Burney Falls

Burney Falls

Burney Falls

Burney Falls

3 comments:

rivas said...

your photos make me wanna be there. thanks for sharing these.

Kristi Veale said...

Wow! Randy, those pictures are beautiful. Makes me want to take another rode trip in that direction. My aunt lives in Mt. Shasta and we went to a lot of places...but that was not one of them! Beautiful Pictures!

AlwaysJanuary said...

If you are ever in the area again I highly recommend Burney Falls!

This summer is the first I've started to explore the Shasta County area. So much to see!