Hedge Creek Falls Trail is a short, 0.7-mile easy trail featuring a waterfall that plunges 30 feet over craggy columnar basalt into Hedge Creek. The trail includes views of Mt. Shasta and an overlook on the upper Sacramento River.
Just off I-5 in Dunsmuir, the forested trail begins at a small park with picnic areas, a gazebo, and a water fountain. The out-and-back trail descends moderately before dropping more steeply to Hedge Creek Canyon. After several small switchbacks, Hedge Creek Falls comes into view. The waterfall cascades before the entrance to a 12-foot-high stone cave, allowing hikers to view the falls from within the cave or even from the pool it flows into, which is not deep. Continuing further, several smaller waterfalls can be seen as well, and the trail culminates at an overlook of the Sacramento River with a partial view of Mt. Shasta in the distance. There is a swimming hole near the observation deck at the river if you want to go for a dip before taking the same path back to your car.
Dogs are welcome on this family-friendly trail, but must be leashed. Hedge Creek Falls is popular in the summertime, so expect to encounter hikers, nature lovers, and families enjoying the cascade and the river!
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Hedge Creek Falls, like many geological destinations in this region, is connected historically to lava flows from Mount Shasta in the pre-Pleistocene era. This particular southern lava flow was shaped by ice erosion, resulting in the sheared appearance of the columnar basalt.
Mt. Shasta looms over this entire area of Northern California and evokes intrigue and awe from those who look up to her snowy peaks and lenticular clouds. The mountain is the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range and dominates the landscape alongside its satellite cone, Shastina.
Prior to Euro-American settlement, the area was home to a number of Native American tribes including the Klamath, Karuk, Wintu, Yana, Modoc, and Shasta, among others. Mt. Shasta, with its ethereal clouds, has been home to creation legends from the Native people to turn-of-the-century followers of New Age religions and believers in a lost city called Lemuria, said to be hidden beneath the mountain.
The English-born outlaw Black Bart (Charles Earl Boles), who was notorious as a gentleman bandit stagecoach robber in Northern California and southern Oregon, hid out in the cave behind Hedge Creek Falls prior to a holdup on October 25, 1879. In the 1960s, when Interstate 5 was built through the area, local residents pressured developers to save Hedge Creek Falls and restructure the road further into the hillside, costing approximately $1 million and earning Hedge Creek the nickname "Million Dollar Waterfall."
