{"id":296002,"date":"2026-05-02T02:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296002\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T02:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:51:09","slug":"reservations-to-be-required-at-californias-8th-wonder-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296002\/","title":{"rendered":"Reservations to be required at California’s ‘8th wonder of the world’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an effort to quell extreme overcrowding at Burney Falls<\/a>, the 129-foot waterfall that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to its remote Shasta County location each year, California State Parks announced it will now require reservations at\u00a0McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park.<\/p>\n

The pilot system will require visitors to obtain a reservation to enter the park on weekends and holidays from May 15 to Sept. 27, the park\u2019s peak visitation period, according to a California State Parks\u00a0news release<\/a>\u00a0Friday. Visitors must purchase a reservation in advance\u00a0via LAZ Parking<\/a>. A reservation will be $10 per vehicle, with a 55-cent processing fee, State Parks said.<\/p>\n

The shift to require reservations was made after years of overcrowding at the waterfall, an issue that at one point necessitated a nine-month closure<\/a> of the main trail. The large numbers of visitors caused erosion in the falls area and \u201cdamage to sensitive vegetation and sacred tribal land, traffic backups, illegal parking, public safety concerns and sanitation issues,\u201d the State Parks news release said.<\/p>\n

Additionally, \u201cIf lucky enough to gain entry, visitors inside the park are met with extreme overcrowding, long restroom lines, and overflowing trash cans instead of a peaceful, rejuvenating experience at one of the nation\u2019s most awe-inspiring natural landmarks,\u201d the news release said. \u201cTo avoid crowds, off-trail use increased to such a level that the park was forced to close access to the base of\u00a0Burney Falls during summer 2024 to complete a trail restoration project to prevent a catastrophic trail failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the pilot of the day-use reservation system, 35 full-day passes will be released per day, the release said. An additional 103 passes will be valid from 8:00 a.m. until noon, and another 103 passes will be valid from 1:00\u00a0p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Guests with a campground or cabin reservation within the park will not need to make an additional day-use reservation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California State Parks intends to run the pilot program throughout this summer, then evaluate its efficacy in order to prepare for future seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBurney Falls is a crown jewel of the California State Park System, and we want all visitors to have an enjoyable and memorable experience when visiting this one-of-a-kind destination,\u201d State Parks Director Armando Quintero said in the release. \u201cBy allowing visitors to make a reservation in advance, we can help keep crowds manageable and not push the park\u2019s resources past the breaking point. I thank our guests for their understanding as we work together to create a better visitor experience while helping to preserve this iconic place for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an effort to quell extreme overcrowding at Burney Falls, the 129-foot waterfall that attracts hundreds of thousands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,1229],"class_list":["post-296002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-sfgparks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}