Burney Falls

What happens in the hot tub - stays in the hot tub!  However, there are some things you learn about that need to be shared.  On Saturday, September 28th, we ventured forth to experience what we learned.

Barry, a local college sophomore, explained while we soaked in the hot tub that he was living full-time in the RV park to be closer to school.  He grew up in Burney, California, about a 90 minute drive - too long to commute back and forth each day.  His family owns the Alpine Drive Inn, a classic bright pink 1950's style drive-up restaurant with the best milkshakes ever.  It's located right in the middle of Burney on the way to the McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, which has the coolest waterfalls ever.  Now, we've heard a lot of "fish" stories over the years, and those two statements are pretty big boasts.  We felt we needed to put them to the test and do our own investigation.

Our first stop was Alpine Drive Inn.  As you can see, it was bright pink, the drive-in spots were on the right, but parking was a little tight.  We ended up parking Great White across the street and walked in.  Barry's sister was manning the counter, while his Dad was cooking up some giant burgers for a group of bikers who stopped in for lunch.  They too had heard about the famous Alpine Drive-In.  We told Sis that Barry sent us.  We needed to find out if they truly had the best milkshakes ever.  After quick look at the menu board, it was time to place our order.  The ice cream is soft-serve.  They use a secret recipe that has been handed down for generations.  To the basic ice cream, they add your flavor of choice.  We both ended up ordering peanut butter milkshakes made with real peanut butter.  To say these were anything but amazing would be an understatement.  Such thick creamy peanut buttery goodness defies this writers ability to adequately describe this taste experience.  Would we say they were the best milkshakes ever?  We don't know.  Ever is a long time.  We haven't tried all the milkshakes across this great country of ours.  So, we will have to leave that decision for another day knowing that more research in this area needs to be done.

Now, onto McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park.  We learned that the falls were named for Samuel Burney, a pioneer from South Carolina, who lived in the area until he died in 1859.  In the 1860's, John and Catherine McArthur purchased thousands of acres in the area and opened a mercantile store.  In 1917, PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) began buying up land and water rights in the area.  Residents feared that a dam on the nearby Pit River would flood the area and destroy Burney Falls.  Frank and Scott McArthur, sons of John and Catherine, purchased 160 areas surrounding falls, and in 1920 they deeded the property to the State of California requesting that a park be named after their parents.  The Pit River was dammed, a reservoir was created, but the falls were saved!

Why save these waterfalls?  There are thousands of falls in the Cascade Mountains. What makes these falls so special?  Well, it is all about geology.  You see, Burney Creek has been flowing through this valley for almost 2.5 million years.  About 200,000 years ago, a single lava flow covered about 43 square miles coming down in very liquid sheets 10 to 120 feet think.  Water found its way down through this new lava to continue to flow down the old river bed.  The water also forged a new path on the surface of the new lava flow.  Here you can see the water coming out through the bottom of the lava flow.

So, you are basically getting two waterfalls in one.  You get water gushing from the top of the lava flow and fall over the cliff face, plus thousands of springs cascading down from under the lava.

The Falls Loop Trail takes you down to the  base of the falls, down Burney Creek, over a bridge and up the other side.  Here we get a streamside look a some of the springs come out of the canyon wall.

From the far side of the trail, we can look down into the cool blue pool formed by the water rushing over the edge of the falls.

Of all the waterfalls we've seen, it is pretty cool.  While it is not Niagara Falls in volume, it does have the coolest features we've seen.  However, we have not seen all the waterfalls in this great country of ours.  So, we will have to leave that decision for another day knowing that more research in this area needs to be done.  Do you see a pattern forming?