Mill
Creek Falls are the highest in Lassen Park, as here the creek drops over 100 feet as it flows along a narrow valley, eventually joining the Sacramento river. The falls are reached by a 1.5 mile foot path, starting close to the campground at the southwest park entrance, that encounters no volcanic features, just pretty meadows with wildflowers and varied vegetation, pine woods and small hills. The path crosses several streams and has a few steep sections, but without much overall elevation change. Near the start, the path passes a large field of sunflower-type plants on a sunny hillside, typical of the scenery of this area.
The Falls: The tall, narrow falls are first visible from a viewpoint at the edge of a cliff opposite. The path beyond curves down to the very edge of the noisy cascading water from where one can see for some distance along the steep V-shaped valley downstream.
The Creek: It is almost possible to jump over the river just above the falls, where the watercourse narrows and flows through a deep channel, but it can be crossed in safety by fording the creek about 20 meters upstream. On the far side, a small stream joins just above the falls and from the rocks near here one can see that the water actually drops about a third
of the way into a rocky pool, cut into the cliffs, then spills out and falls to the canyon floor. The water in the creek is quite acidic, resulting from sulphur contamination upstream in the thermal areas where the water originates.
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