A collection of travel and adventure stories

Feather Falls Trail Hiking

Description and Directions >>

Description:
The Feather Falls National Trail is located in Northern California's Plumas National Forest east of Oroville, CA. The trail winds through the Sierra Nevada foothills to Feather Falls waterfall, which is the 6th largest waterfall in America at 640 feet. From the overlook, you can see the falls and Fall River flowing through the canyons below. The trail length is 8 miles roundtrip and climbs 2,500 feet over a 4-mile span.

Activities:
hiking, biking, camping, sightseeing

Directions:
From Oroville, take Highway 162 East (Olive Highway) for 6.7 miles, turn right on Forbestown Road for 6.3 miles, turn left on Lumpkin Road for 11.4 miles to the signed turnoff for Feather Falls. Turn left at sign and drive 1.5 miles to the trailhead.

Story Date 5/8/2000
Publish Date 4/15/2004

Story Perspectives >>

According to Mikala: This was the first hike that I went on with my husband, so it is very special to me. At that time, we weren't even dating yet - it was one of our first outings.

I had hiked this trail once before with my sister. I remember it being a very pretty hike. This time was no exception. Most of the hike is fairly easy going. Along the way, we passed many different plants, trees, ferns and a couple springs with smaller waterfalls. We also saw huge grey-green slugs along the trail that we had to be careful not to squish! Both times that I have been on this hike, there were very few people. The solitude is very relaxing.

The hardest part of the hike is toward the end. We had to climb up a steep hillside to get to the Feather Falls lookout. Once we got there, the view was very nice - looking down at Feather River and the falls cascading down on the opposite side.

We hiked up a little further to the top of the falls, where we had a nice lunch. We sat by the side of the river and watched a bird flying back and forth over the falls - he was having a great time - as did we!