Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
California
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
6.3 h fully dark
Hikes
Strenuous
🔴
Crowds
moderate
Open today
Open
Entrance
$15
Don't Move a Mussel!
Hey Boaters, please clean, drain, and dry your vessel completely before setting out on Whiskeytown Lake. Thank you for doing your part to keep the Golden Mussel, an aquatic invasive species, out of the reservoir. Learn more about preventative measures.
Official NPS alert →Whiskeytown Lake’s crystal-clear waters are iconic, but this 42,000-acre National Recreation Area offers much more. Explore waterfalls, hike rugged trails, uncover Gold Rush history, and witness the resilience of nature in its post-fire recovery. Adventure awaits at every turn—Whiskeytown is calling!
Activities
Topics
Entrance fees
$15.00 — Entrance - Per Person
$20.00 — Entrance - Motorcycle
$25.00 — Entrance - Private Vehicle
Hours & seasons
The park is open year-round, 24 hours a day. Certain areas of the park are subject to seasonal and COVID-19 temporary closures or limited hours. Some areas of the park remain closed due to hazardous conditions from the Carr Fire. Please check the park website for current information.
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 5302423400
✉ whis_information@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Mar, Oct, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: moderate
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 80°F
☀️ 98°/70°
☀️ 101°/74°
☀️ 108°/70°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
40%
Feb
33%
Mar
31%
Apr
38%
May
66%
Jun
90%
Jul
100%
Aug
68%
Sep
44%
Oct
28%
Nov
25%
Dec
13%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Live conditions
Things to do
Gold Panning at Whiskeytown NRA
🔴 Hike to Whiskeytown Falls · 3.4 mi · 220 ft gain · The hike to Whiskeytown Falls is 3.4 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 700 feet starting at 2200 feet and climbing to 2900 feet.
Paddling on Whiskeytown Lake · 40 mi
Swimming at Whiskeytown Lake · 37 mi
Campgrounds
Brandy Creek ↗ · 2 sites
Brandy Creek RV ↗ · 15 sites · first-come · dump station
Crystal Creek ↗ · 2 sites
Dry Creek Group Campground ↗ · 2 sites
Horse Camp ↗ · 2 sites
Peltier Bridge ↗ · 9 sites
Sheep Camp ↗ · 4 sites
Visitor centers
Whiskeytown Visitor Center
Accessibility
6 accessible campground(s)
8 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Whiskeytown National Recreation Area — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
Trail profile
Each dot is a trail — distance vs. elevation gain, by difficulty.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
Passport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Whiskeytown Park Store
🎫 Whiskeytown Visitor Center
Places to see
Brandy Creek Boat Launch
audio
Crystal Creek Falls
audio
James K. Carr Trail to Whiskeytown Falls
audio
Kennedy Memorial at Whiskeytown NRA
audio
Oak Bottom Boat Launch
audio
Tower House Historic District
audio
Whiskey Creek Boat Launch
audio
Whiskeytown Park Store
audioAudio & media
🎧 Audio Description of Where's the Whiskey Wayside ↗ · 3 mintranscript
🎧 President Kennedy Dedicates Whiskeytown Dam ↗ · 3 mintranscript
🎧 Of Reclamation and Recreation ↗ · 3 mintranscript
🎧 A Matter of Degrees ↗ · 2 mintranscript
🎬
🖼
Learn more
In 2018, six talented National Park Service employees were awarded the Freeman Tilden Award for their amazing and innovative interpretive programs.
A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team spent 18 days responding to the Carr Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California’s history. More than 20 specialists from five agencies covered the entirety of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area (NPS) and neighboring Shasta-Trinity National Forest (USFS) and Swasey Recreation Areas (BLM).
Curious about the American black bear in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Curious about American dipper in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our quarterly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Curious about the American marten in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our quarterly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Curious about the Anna's hummingbird in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Curious about the bigleaf maple in southern Oregon and northern California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Curious about the California groundcone in Oregon and California? Explore its natural history in this edition of our monthly “Featured Creature,” brought to you by the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network.
Ranger School
Park-grounded courses you can learn with the Ranger.
How Whiskeytown National Recreation Area connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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Topic
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Campground
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
Trail
ThingToDo
Alert
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