Super cool place. The parking lot is big enough. People don't stay too long so it was easy to nab a…read morespot. Phone lights aren't bright enough. Bring a flashlight. We had so much fun exploring. The end of the trail is in the sun so maybe bring a hat, sunnies, and wear sunscreen.

Very fun lava tube (cave)…read more Short hike. Easy parking. Bathroom at parking area. You will definitely need a flashlight and close-toed shoes. It is not dangerous, but it is very dark and the ground is bumpy and uneven.

We came Saturday morning around 8:30am. We were greeted with a warm welcome from the gate staff…read more Parking is $10. There is a parking lot, which can be limited when the weather is warmer. In the beginning of the trail, there is a General Store and restroom. The restroom is an actual restroom with toilet and sink. Not a portable potty! The trail to Burney Falls was easy. Different parts of the trail, there is a different view of the fall. The view from bottom of the fall was breathtaking. Be very careful if you want to get close to the fall. The rocks can be very slippery. We went off season so the crowds were not as bad as expected. If visiting Friday-Sunday or during the holidays, reservations are required. This is something new that they implemented on May 15, 2026. Check out their website for more information. Plan accordingly and enjoy the hiking adventures!

My family and I were booked to stay at one of their cabins (cabin #68) this past weekend and it was…read morea complete nightmare. We found bed bugs everywhere! We did not sleep the night we got there as we were trying to scramble to find another place to stay at. We ended up staying in our vehicle and contacted the manager to report the infestation. The manager claimed that they've done their due diligence to keep their cabins sanitized, but if you refer to the photos and videos I posted that is a complete LIE! Instead of enjoying our vacation, we ended up having to go to a local laundry mat to clean our clothes. Not to mention upon coming home my nephew finds a bed bug on one of his bags. Can you imagine the hell we've been through? It's terrible! To top it off, my niece's friend gets rushed to the ER yesterday due to these bed bugs biting her all over her body. She was sent home with topical and oral medication. Refer to the photos! I'm severely disappointed with the lack of accountability of the manager and its property. My sister tried speaking to a staff member today to follow up and she hung up on my sister after claiming someone would call her today to get this settled. We are planning to file a complaint and a report to the local health department. We are concerned that other people may encounter the same problem. Please beware!

After hiking around Burney Falls, we made our way to check out McCloud River. The falls are divided…read moreby upper, middle and lower. Each section has their own parking lot. We parked in the lower falls parking lot and hiked our way up. The hike from lower to middle was easy. We skipped the upper falls. Beautiful views of the waterfalls. There are portable potty in each level. Really dirty, no sink and stinky but if you gotta go, you gotta go :)

McCloud Falls should have its own Yelp page listing because this is like posting about Niagara…read moreFalls in a Niagara River page. McCloud and Burney Falls (an hour away) make the best one-two punch for waterfalls outside Yosemite. However, unlike Burney Falls, McCloud Falls has lots of free parking and no entrance fee because it is not a state park. Upper Falls is the least dramatic. An ADA-accessible trail leads to an observation deck about 90 feet above the falls. The fact that people were waiting efficiently in a line to take a photo was more exciting for me than the falls itself. Plus, it is a bit strange looking down on waterfalls. Stupid waterfalls. Anyhow, of the three locations Upper Falls offers a quieter environment, ideal for relaxation and reflection, especially if the water is still. Lower Falls was the most chaotic, with two lanes of parking lot traffic on a one-way road, and more kids sprawling the river for swimming. The area, stocked with trout, seemed the more picnic and day trippy of the falls, the best place to eat your lunch. Middle Falls is the money shot. The postcard. The one that has people posing for hours for the 'Gram. This is because it's 50 feet high and over 100 feet wide, creating a curtain of water over a basalt cliff into a pool below. McCloud Falls deserves its own Yelp page--lumping it in with a generic "McCloud River" listing is like posting Niagara Falls under the Niagara River. Come on now. Together, McCloud Falls and Burney Falls (just an hour apart) make the best one-two punch for waterfall chasers outside of Yosemite. But unlike Burney Falls, located in a state park that charges an entrance fee, McCloud Falls offers something rare and beautiful: lots of free parking and zero entrance fees. My favorite kind of waterfalls are free. Upper Falls is the least dramatic of the trio. A well-maintained ADA-accessible trail leads to an observation deck perched about 90 feet above the falls. Ironically, the orderly line of people waiting to snap a photo was more thrilling than the waterfall itself. Also, there's something a little odd about looking down on a waterfall. Stupid waterfalls. That said, Upper Falls is the most peaceful and serene, making it perfect for quiet moments of reflection--especially when the water is still. Lower Falls is the more chaotic of the trio, with two lanes of traffic trying to share a narrow one-way road, while kids are sprawled across the banks of a rushing, whitewater river. The area, stocked with trout, feels tailor-made for picnics and day trips--the kind of place where sandwiches taste better for no logical reason. Middle Falls is the showstopper. The money shot. The backdrop of annoying Instagram photo sessions. At 50 feet high and over 100 feet wide, it sends a dramatic curtain of water spilling over a basalt cliff into a pool below, with summer crowds climbing the shoreline boulders and wading into the 42 degree water just to ruin your pictures. I had to edit out so many people, they should call them McPhotoshop Falls.

If you're segment hiking the PCT and find yourself wondering if you should shuttle or backpack the…read moreWathum Lake to Lost Lake section, I encourage you to check out the Buck Peak offshoot trail. Quarter mile off the PCT and you'll find an established campsite complete with sufficient space for a tent, a small fire ring, and a spring within a half mile. As a bonus, you can go the half mile up the Buck Peak trail to the official summit. The view of Mount Hood from that spot is worth all of the mosquito bites you'll collect at camp.

From the guest services to the camp host this place has excellent amenities and staff. Very clean…read moreand well maintained facilities. The hike to the Crags is a once in a lifetime experience that if you are able to do you should not miss. Beautiful great views of Shasta and Lassen from the top of the Dome at the Crags. Be well rested, hydrated and prepared as it is a hefty hike. Also get to the trail head parking lot early as it fill up quickly! Thank you Christina and Woody!

I spent the past four nights here, and it was very quiet, dark, and peaceful…read more Quiet with the caveat that there was a TON of train noise. But if you like white noise, that might be a plus. This was the darkest campground I've ever camped at so far. The view of the stars was great. The cold was on another level. I wouldn't recommend tent camping unless you really know what you're doing. Theoretically, this campground has free showers, but they are closed for the season. I couldn't help but notice that the windows have been broken into and boarded back up. There was theoretically potable water, but it tasted a little funky. Most of the pumps were broken, which made it seem like maybe the rest are about to be determined to be broken soon. There was an electric outlet in the bathroom with a sign warning not to leave personal items. In site 25, which is reserved for PCT hikers, I found another sign warning that items are frequently stolen from the bathrooms, and to use the outlets hidden in the amphitheater instead. (There is also a Starbucks about fifteen minutes away in Shasta.) A trail behind site 25 leads to the PCT, but the trail was currently full of fallen trees and hazards. Another trail near Vista Point turned out to be a safer route to the PCT. A 2 mile trail leads from the campground to Vista Point, where you can either keep hiking, or take in the panoramic views of Mt. Shasta, Castle Crags, and the Gray Rocks. I chose site 38 to camp in, which was at the end of the line of sites that are currently open. The first two nights, I paid with the self serve envelope. The rest I purchased from the Ranger Station. Camping was only $25/night, half off with qualifying passes. So it only cost me $50 to stay here 4 nights. The spaces on the main road were huge, and very well spaced. There was a camp host on duty on site 20, and maintenance came through every day to clean the restrooms and empty the trash. I didn't see much wildlife except for a lot of birds. Wildflowers were just beginning to bloom on the trails. There isn't much to do near the campground, but I found this to be a great place to have some relative peace and quiet for a few days.

We parked near summit lake and started trek to echo lake. We then hit upper twin lower twin feather…read morelake silver lake and back down. I've attached a map to my review. It was 12 miles long loop. Path from summit to lower twin was nice, it was very green and we saw patches of snow. After lower twin we hit a very long path of depressing views of burnt lassen trees-- would not recommend. From silver lake back to summit was all up hill. To be honest, I would recommend starting at Summit and going to little bear and back down, you will get nice views and all lush green scenery and it will be a moderate workout.

I hiked this from Summit Lake to Echo Lake. The first mile is a slog uphill, but then you have a…read morebeautiful crest walk then down hill to the lake. The forest here is gorgeous, and the lake is very pretty. It was also quite warm in August, you could easily swim in it, though I don't know how deep it is. This is a very heavily traveled trail. I must have seen 100 people on it. There was 3 large groups of backpackers (15+ in each group, plus dozens of small groups of day hikers and backpackers). That is the only reason why I mark it down a star, you are traveling with a crowd. If you went further out, it would get sparser and sparser though. A great hike overall.

Only visited Lassen for a short afternoon hike at Manzanita Lake, but what a beautiful park it is…read more Since it's a National Park there was a $30 entrance fee, no one was at the booth when we arrived, but they had signage on how to pay online, and told you where you could find wifi to do so. We did the Manzanita Lake loop, which was about two miles. The trail was easy but took a long time because we kept stopping to take pictures of the beautiful views. We did the trail clockwise and it took a little while to get to the ultimate view, but I was glad it wasn't immediate so that we had something to really look forward to while on the trail. We parked at the Loomis Museum lot where there was a bathroom and small visitor center/gift shop. Parking was pretty full when we arrived, but emptied out quite a bit when we were leaving. They had kayak rentals on the lake, we had originally planned to do it, but time didn't permit on this trip. Rangers at the visitor center/shop were very knowledgeable, I heard one giving information about the plethora of trials and areas of the park, and wow are there a lot of trials!

I love how this national park is underrated and the shadow to Yosemite!…read more It's so green, quaint, not crowded, well paved roads and hiking paths and etc here. Highlights were : cave (my baby was surprisingly not scared during the trail in the cave), sulphur, beautiful meadows with snowy topped Lassen Mountain View, lake, and etc. the snowy mountain top helps with the weather being tolerable during the summer season - especially mid-July to end of July or so. I can't wait to return.

Moderate hike with a view worth the hike. It's 4.2 miles round-trip, but the trail is relatively…read moreflat throughout. You'll be walking through a beautiful, flat meadow then slowly going slightly uphill the rest of the way. I was lucky enough to catch a bear sighting along the way and watched a bear ripping up tree bark to forage for bugs. You can choose to ride a horse on the trail, but it will only get you to a certain point; you'll still need to hike maybe half a mile to reach the final end point: Devils Kitchen. The end has great up-close views of Lassen's steam vents and boiling springs. You'll have to cross over small sections of the sulfur springs, so watch your step! There's still some work being done at Devils Kitchen and I saw park crew members carrying up logs to the trail to build more fences, so respect the park signs and stay on trail. Parking is somewhat difficult near the trailhead since there's no clear parking lot, but there's more parking available if you're willing to walk a bit more.

Decent hike moderate to beginner level 2.1 miles each way, approximately 1.75hr hike. Devils…read morekitchen is at the end of the hike well worth the effort.

Beautiful Lake love to go water skiing on it and enjoying my family would recommend this lake all…read morethe time to enjoy water skiing tubing Sea- dooing all the above too bad they didn't have parasailing, but I think they did at one point and it didn't go off very well

Staying in Chester, the western shore of Lake Almanor was a short adventure on the first night of…read moremy stay in the area. Some of the western shore comprises of private property with no beach access but there is a public beach and campground area a few miles out of town. The effects of the 2021 Dixie Fire are seen along the drive, but there were still some green pines along the shore. The beach itself was rocky but wonderfully windswept and dramatic. Late on a Saturday afternoon it was very quiet-only 2 boaters coming in and no one else using the day use area. The water was very choppy following some afternoon thunderstorms and the skies were very moody. It was a nice way to stretch my legs after a long drive from the Bay Area and hope I get the chance to check out the East shore during my visit.