mill creek falls

This is a great hike to see a pretty falls. You start at the visitors center. There are many ups and downs but all in all not a very difficult hike. If it is a good day continue on to Crumbaugh Lake and / or Cold Boiling Lake. all are wonderful places to spend some time.

The falls are very interesting and there are 2 excellent bridges there. You can continue on to further lakes if you are so inclined. We suggest starting out early to avoid midday heat.

the mill creek falls trail is an easy-moderate walk that takes about 1.5 hour the round trip.starts right behind the visitor center it's a great way to start the lassen experience. the trail is well signed and goes between trees and meadows until you get to the bridge above the falls. you can choose to continue with the trail or come back, which is what we did because we had few more trails for that day.

Just behind the vistor center of Lassen Volcanic NP starts the trail to Mill Creek Fall. Going up and down the trail is not that streneous. Since there are only few people hiking this trail my wife had great opportunity to take pictures of the fall.

It is a good 3.2 miles hike round trip and at the end you wont be disappointed. It is a moderately strenuous hike and we were able to cover it along with a couple other hikes on the same day.

We were visiting family in the Chico, CA area (where it is really hot in the summer) and wanted to find a nice get away where it would be cooler. Lassen National Volcanic Park fits the bill. It is about a 1.5 hour drive from Chico on Route 32 connecting to 89, most of which winds and climbs through the beautiful and larger Lassen National Forest which surrounds the Volcanic National Park. We stopped on the way at Deer Creek for a short break, although it could have been a destination unto itself. The whole area is pristine with dramatic views from the higher passes (it gets to almost 7000 feet by the time you are in the park). Once you reach the park there is a gate house where you pay a $10 entrance fee per car. There are, in fact, two entrances, but we came to the south-west one. The other entrance is at the northwest corner. The park headquarters at the south-west entrance is spotlessly clean and has a small store with smoothies, ice cream and other simple foods. They also show a short 20 minute documentary about the park each half hour in a small theater -- well done and worth the time if you are not in a rush.The trail to Mill Creek Falls itself is 1.6 miles out according to the park, but it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to reach the falls if you are like us and tend to stop often for pictures and water breaks. We went in early August and the snow had all melted off the trail (though there were still some patches in shaded areas of the trail) and the wild flowers were in gorgeous bloom. The best views of the wildflowers are just near the trail head so if you only have a short time you can just go out and back in 20-30 minutes to see the views and then return to the park headquarters. However, we would recommend going out the full way to the falls as the whole trail is beautiful and the hiking fun. Once you get out to the falls there is a deck about 100 yards before the falls themselves for photo taking but be sure to continue on another hundred yards or so to the two wooden bridges that cross the two rivers that feed the falls. You can continue on the path after the falls and head out to several lakes, but the trail becomes much steeper and harder from that point on. So we headed back which took only 30 minutes on the return. Overall the trip out and back with time spent at the waterfalls can take 2-3 hours, depending upon your pace.Note: be sure to check current conditions at the park's website before going as snow can remain into July and even August and some trails may be closed (in fact, when we went in early Aug many trails were still closed due to the record 40' of snow this past winter). The park website is: www.nps.gov/lavo/planyourvisit/current_conditions.htm