Two of California’s most visited natural attractions are heading in opposite directions on crowd control, and the results are already sparking debate.
At McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park in Shasta County, officials are rolling out a new pilot reservation system designed to rein in surging weekend crowds at the famed 129-foot waterfall once described by President Theodore Roosevelt as “the Eighth Wonder of the World.”
The reservation system launched Friday and runs through Sept. 27, covering weekends and holidays during peak season.
Visitors will need to book entry online in advance, with 103 morning passes, 103 afternoon passes and 35 all-day slots available each day.
Reservations cost $10 per vehicle plus a $1 fee, with discounts for seniors and disabled visitors. Even annual pass holders will need a reservation.California State Parks says the move is necessary to protect the site’s resources and improve safety as visitation has ballooned since 2015, roughly doubling, according to officials.
“Burney 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,” State Parks Director Armando Quintero said. “By allowing visitors to make a reservation in advance, we can help keep crowds manageable and not push the park’s resources past the breaking point.”The surge has led to erosion, damage to sensitive vegetation, and severe traffic backups.
The park was even fully closed during the summer 2024 season to allow crews to repair heavily damaged trails.
The reservation crackdown comes just weeks after another California park descended into total mayhem after doing the exact opposite.
At Yosemite National Park, officials recently scrapped the park’s popular timed-entry reservation system — and visitors say the result has been a disaster.
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.
The reservation rollback came after the Trump administration eliminated Yosemite’s timed-entry system earlier this year amid cuts to National Park Service staffing.
“Gridlock. Cars everywhere. People everywhere. No parking. No space,” visitor Lorena Calvillo wrote on Yosemite National Park’s official Facebook page.
California’s national parks shattered visitation records in 2025, with Yosemite alone accounting for more than a quarter of the state’s 12 million visitors.
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