McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park
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Located approximately 6 miles (10 km) north of Burney, California, McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park is the second oldest state park in the California State Parks System. The park offers camping, fishing, watersports, hiking and horseback riding facilities.
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Geology
The park is within the Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau natural region, with 910 acres (4 km²) of forest and five miles (8 km) of streamside and lake shoreline, including a portion of Lake Britton.
The park's centerpiece is the 129 foot (39 m) Burney Falls, which is not the highest or largest waterfall in the state, but often considered the most beautiful. Additional water comes from springs, joining to create a mist-filled basin. Burney Creek originates from the park's underground springs and flows to Lake Britton, getting larger along the way to the falls.
The park's landscape was created by volcanic activity as well as erosion from weather and streams. This volcanic region is surrounded by mountain peaks and is covered by black volcanic rock, or basalt. Created over a million years ago, the layered, porous basalt retains rainwater and snow melt, which forms a large underground reservoir.
Within the park, the water emerges as springs at and above Burney Falls, where it flows at 100 million gallons every day (4.4 m³/s).
History
Burney Falls was named after pioneer settler Samuel Burney who lived in the area in the 1850s. The McArthurs were pioneer settlers who arrived in the late 1800s. Descendants were responsible for saving the waterfall and nearby land from development. They bought the property and gave it to the state as a gift in the 1920s.
Hiking
There are five miles (8 km) of hiking trails winding through the park's evergreen forests. The Pacific Crest Trail passes through the park, and the visitor center can be used as a general delivery mailing address for hikers.
In the media
The railroad bridge scene from the 1986 film Stand By Me was filmed just outside the park on a bridge owned by the McCloud River Railroad over Lake Britton.
Half of Burney Falls was seen in the 1988 George Lucas/Ron Howard movie Willow. The other half was digitally removed from the shots.
See also
References
This text, or a previous version of it, was taken and adapted from the California State Parks page for McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial SP (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=455), which is considered to be in the public domain. See the talk page for more details.