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At McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park in Shasta County, officials are rolling out a new pilot reservation system. Moritz Wolf\/imageBROKER\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
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The famed 129-foot waterfall once described by President Theodore Roosevelt as \u201cthe Eighth Wonder of the World. Moritz Wolf\/imageBROKER\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
The reservation system launched Friday and runs through Sept. 27, covering weekends and holidays during peak season.<\/p>\n
Visitors will need to book entry online in advance, with 103 morning passes, 103 afternoon passes and 35 all-day slots available each day.<\/p>\n
Reservations cost $10 per vehicle plus a $1 fee, with discounts for seniors and disabled visitors. Even annual pass holders will need a reservation.<\/p>\n
California State Parks<\/a> says the move is necessary to protect the site\u2019s resources and improve safety as visitation has ballooned since 2015, roughly doubling, according to officials.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, at Yosemite National Park, officials recently scrapped the park\u2019s popular timed-entry reservation system. Getty Images<\/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. \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.\u201d<\/p>\n The surge has led to erosion, damage to sensitive vegetation, and severe traffic backups.<\/p>\n The park was even fully closed during the summer 2024 season to allow crews to repair heavily damaged trails.<\/p>\n The reservation crackdown comes just weeks after another California park descended into total mayhem after doing the exact opposite.<\/p>\n At Yosemite National Park<\/a>, officials recently scrapped the park\u2019s popular timed-entry reservation system \u2014 and visitors say the result has been a disaster.<\/p>\n Tourists reported sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for more than 90 minutes just to enter the park over a busy weekend, while viral social media posts showed massive crowds choking Yosemite Valley and forming human traffic jams on the famous Half Dome cables.<\/p>\n The reservation rollback came after the Trump administration eliminated Yosemite\u2019s timed-entry system earlier this year amid cuts to National Park Service staffing.<\/p>\n \u201cGridlock. Cars everywhere. People everywhere. No parking. No space,\u201d visitor Lorena Calvillo wrote on Yosemite National Park\u2019s official Facebook page.<\/p>\n California\u2019s national parks shattered visitation records<\/a> in 2025, with Yosemite alone accounting for more than a quarter of the state\u2019s 12 million visitors.<\/p>\n Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/p>\n California Post News: Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>![\"Meanwhile,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c876546e07fb2b5d2ab1f98d3e76272b.jpeg\"\/)
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