Mill Creek Falls Trail ↔ Lassen Volcanic National Park ↔ Autumn Hiking Series

Today, we're hiking the Mill Creek Falls Trail in Lassen Volcanic National Park...on a full moon!

What could go wrong???

Let's go on an adventure!

We arrived really early, so the sun was just coming up over the mountains.

The terrain is a little rocky in places and pretty steep. (At least it felt like that to this newbie anyway!)

And there's the waterfall!

There I am on the bridge...

Mill Creek Falls is the highest waterfall in the park with a drop of 75 feet.

If you continue on past the waterfall and over the bridge a little ways, you'll come to a few small waterfalls that were totally worth the few extra steps.

I could write a book set in this magical little spot. It was like something out of a fairytale.

There are views of Brokeoff Mountain and Mt. Diller on this hike, too.

The trail is 3.8 miles round trip and according to Lassen's website takes 2-2.5 hrs. We arrived at 6:30 in the a.m. (and didn't see a single person on the trail the entire time) and finally finished at 11:30. It took us 5 hours! Yes, we did take some extra time to get some tripod footage and photos, but we were surprised to return to the car so late.

I'll admit, this trail kicked my butt...and then regrouped and kicked it again. The way there was fine, although there were a lot of rises and falls like it says in the pamphlet. What I didn't expect was running out of gas on the way back when it seemed like the whole way was uphill.

Maybe it was the altitude, maybe it was sheer exhaustion, or maybe it was that darned full moon, but I couldn't get enough air and thought I might not make it back up.

Hubby was a trooper and took on both packs, including all of the camera gear, and literally pushed me up the trail in a few places. I wanted to be strong and fearless, but my out-of-shape body just couldn't handle the climb. I guess that's why this trail has a 3 out of 4 difficulty rating. (In my defense, we hiked the Kings Creek Falls trail last week--a 2--and I loved it and was a champ the whole entire way.) I'm glad we didn't run into anyone else on the trail or else they might have called it in and had me airlifted out of the park! Medic!!!

From now on, we're sticking to the 1's and 2's until I can Wonder Woman myself up and down any trail around. I'll get there, I promise. This is, after all, a journey. I'm still a beginner at this hiking thing and I will get better and lighter and stronger. Someday we will hike the 5 miles up Lassen Peak (with an elevation change of 1957) and it's going to feel great.

According to his complicated rating system, hubby gives this trail 2 tacos and one beer. 🌮🌮🍺
I give it a difficulty rating of 5 New Boot Goofin' out of 5. 👢👢👢👢👢

Here's the link to the trail info on Lassen's website if you want to take a stab at it for yourself. Hats off to anyone who can hike this trail without breaking a sweat.

I'll be back for you, Lassen. You haven't seen the last of me!

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Here's the video from our hike:

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Let's go on an adventure!

Kings Creek Falls Trail ↔ Lassen Volcanic National Park ↔ Autumn Hiking Series

The sign at the Kings Creek Falls trailhead at Lassen Volcanic National Park doesn't do it justice! And neither do the photos I took! This was one of the most impressive trails we've ever hiked at Lassen and I still can't get over how many "mini" waterfalls were along the path.

There were some pretty amazing scenic overlooks as well...

The falls were beautiful and we got some great video of all that water tumbling over the cliff. There I am on the overlook next to the 30-foot falls.

The way back was even prettier than the way there. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there was a waterfall every few feet on the return trail!

At one point, we were climbing up these steep stone steps in a canyon with water rushing by on one side and rocky cliffs on the other. The water was echoing off the rocks and it sounded like water was all around us.

I'll never forget the thrilling sensation of climbing higher and higher and then looking back at the gorgeous scenery spreading out below...

When you look at Kings Creek running through the meadow, you have no idea how amazing this creek really is...

Juvenile Townsend's Solitaire

(Click here to see video of this cute little bird.) 

Kings Creek Falls Trail is a little over 2 miles round trip. It took us about three hours only because we were in absolutely no hurry and it's tough to zoom through something when all of your senses are overwhelmed!

Although it was a little steep on the return Cascades Foot Trail, I'm a total beginner at hiking and was able to manage it. I guess when you stop every few feet to take photos of a new waterfall, it's easy to catch your breath and continue on comfortably without feeling like you're never going to make it back down the trail!

Here's the link to Lassen's website for this trail where they've got the full breakdown of everything you need to know before taking a go at it yourself.

I highly recommend this trail and hope it doesn't make the other waterfall trails in the park dull by comparison. There are over 150 miles of trails in Lassen and we've only done a few of the easy ones so far. Kings Creek Falls has set the bar pretty high for the rest of them!

I give this trail an awesomeness factor of 5 crowns out of 5. 👑👑👑👑👑
Hubby gives this trail 5 slices of Bacon Me Crazy pizza out of 5. 🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕

Hmm, wonder which trail we'll pick next...

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Here's the video from our hike:

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You might also like:



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Let's go on an adventure!