Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

08/25/2026

We are 110 years old today! The U.S. National Park Service was established by Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916. We oversee the National Park System for your benefit and enjoyment and to protect nationally significant cultural and natural heritage. As you can tell with this photo from our annual paddling volunteers training earlier this summer, we are both proud of and dedicated to our mission. Won't you join us in enjoying and protecting these special places for the next 110?

08/23/2026

Last call for photo contest entries! The winner will be announced next month and their photo will be placed on our 2027 entrance pass. See original post for details.

Show off your best Whiskeytown adventure! Whiskeytown National Recreation Area is seeking photo entries of the park for a chance to be featured on the 2027 Four Parks Annual Pass, valid at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lava Beds National Monument, and Crater Lake National Park. The photographer will receive photo credit with their name and photo on the pass. Submit up to two photos per person by August 31, 2026, at 5pm. Submitted photos will become property of the park; you will receive name recognition (and bragging rights🙂) if the park uses them on social media or elsewhere. Email your photos to [email protected]. Whether you already have a favorite shot or are planning your next visit, now is the perfect time to capture the beauty of Whiskeytown and share it with park visitors across the region.

📷Alicia McCauley's winning photo that was used on the 2023 Four Parks Pass. Photo shows a lone kayaker on Whiskeytown Lake with partly cloudy white and blue sky above.

08/18/2026

PG&E is completing utility work on Paige Bar Road (below Whiskeytown Dam) on weekdays through the end of September. Road users should expect short delays.

Send a message to learn more

08/16/2026

YOU paid for these improvements, thank you so much!!!

Last winter and spring, after years of planning, our Visitor Center received a much needed interior renovation.

This important renovation work was completed courtesy of your entrance pass and campground revenue, and it involved bringing the building up to current safety, accessibility and environmental code. Additionally, it created greater flow and space inside the facility and both historically preserved and historically enhanced its status as a National Park Service "Mission 66" style building.

Next time you are inside, notice the rustic stonewall in the back of the building and the large windows looking out onto your favorite reservoir.

If you haven't seen the new interior, stop in and check it out. The Visitor Center is currently open 9am and 5pm daily. Inside you can obtain information about the park, peruse the Western National Parks bookstore, and purchase your entrance pass.

Thanks so much for funding this critical project!

📷Photos showing Visitor Center interior renovation work as well as the finished product. Come visit the new building!

08/15/2026

🌟🌟🌟 Tonight's the night! See you at Brandy Creek Beach Lot B anytime between 8pm and 10pm for this drop-in program.

🔭🔭🔭 U.S. National Park Service Night Explorer Junior Ranger patches awarded for the first 150 Activity Book finishers.

🌙🌙🌙 Bring your sleeping pad, sleeping bag and pillow to relax horizontally and look for bats and bright stars.

08/11/2026

Registration Begins Soon for our Ranger-led Moonlight Kayak Tours!!!

Are you interested in seeing your favorite national recreation area in a new light (which will actually be dark 🤔🙂). Consider reserving a spot for these popular programs which we are offering at 7pm August 28th to 31st.

Reservations are required and will go on sale exactly two weeks in advance of each of these four programs. This means that tickets will go sale August 14th at 7am sharp for the August 28th tour, and then so on for the next day.

Double kayaks, lifejackets and paddles provided by our steadfast park partners Friends of Whiskeytown. Participants must be 12 years old ir older. No prior paddling experience needed.

Reservations can be made at https://tinyurl.com/k66mz84t for these 2.5-hour lake tours.

While recreation.gov charges a $1 administrative fee for each participant, there is no park fee for this program outside of your regular entrance pass.

NOTE: To allow as many people to participate as possible, if you reserve a spot but can no longer attend, please cancel your reservation as soon as possible. This will allow others to register and join the tour.

08/08/2026

***Ironman Weekend Operations Update***

While Whiskeytown National Recreation Area will remain open and accessible to the public next weekend, Highway 299 and Oak Bottom will be impacted due to race operations.

On Sunday morning, August 16, from approximately 6am to 9:30am, Highway 299 will be one lane between Rock Creek Road and Oak Bottom. Drivers should expect delays of 60 minutes or more.

Also on Sunday morning, August 16, from 5am to 10am, access into Oak Bottom will be congested and the boat launch will be closed. The other park boat launches at Whiskey Creek and Brandy Creek will remain open during this period.

The main boat parking lot at Oak Bottom will have event set-up impacts starting Wednesday, August 12 and lasting through mid-day Sunday.

Boaters should note that there will be a water closure on the lake in and around Oak Bottom on Sunday morning, August 16, from approximately 5am to 10am. Patrol boats and special buoys will be in place to demarcate this temporary closure.

Boat access to Oak Bottom Marina will be maintained through a marked "No wake" channel. Access to the Clear Creek Arm of Whiskeytown Lake will be maintained on the west side of Star Island.

To learn more about watching the event in-person or virtually, or for more information on all aspects of the event, visit https://www.ironman.com/races/im703-northern-california.

📷A swimmer on Whiskeytown Lake. Redding Record Searchlight photo.

08/06/2026

It's a Star Party & You Are Invited!

Explore the night sky at Brandy Creek Beach on Saturday evening, August 15, from 8pm to 10pm.

Look through Shasta Astronomy Club telescopes to see into deep space, complete a Night Sky Junior Ranger activity book to receive your special patch, learn about bats of Whiskeytown and complete a Bats of the Night craft activity.

Other than an entrance pass, there is no additional fee for this drop-in program.

Note: to preserve night vision, please only use red lights (headlamp and/or flashlight) at this event.

See you next Saturday night!

07/29/2026

When a landscape is disturbed by fire, it gives an opening for invasive plants to move in. Invasive blackberry can be found in many places throughout the park, and although the fruit tastes good, they displace native plants. Bull thistle, stinkwort, and common mullein are additional invasive plants that can be found in many places throughout the park. With the help of the National Park Service’s Burned Area Rehabilitation program, we have staff that are focused on combatting the spread of these plants.

How do you stop an invasive plant in its tracks? There’s not a single, perfect answer to this, and so our invasive plant management team must use numerous methods to fight back against the spread of these plants. They can pull them by hand, apply herbicide, or do some brush cutting. Sometimes one of these methods is enough but most of the time, a combination of the three is used to treat an infested area.

However, their work does not end with the removal of invasives! If staff left an area alone after removing the invasives, then other invasives can move in, and we’d be back where we started. Instead, native plant seeds are collected and planted in these affected areas to compete with the invasive plants.

Learn more about all the Burned Area Rehabilitation work being done: https://tinyurl.com/3vrnejs8.

📷Invasive blackberry at Whiskeytown.

07/23/2026

On this 8th anniversary of the start of the Carr Fire, a poem by 2025 Artist-in-Residence Mahal Miles. This poem and post are dedicated to all individuals affected by the megafire. It is also dedicated to the spirit of resilience. Whether you are a visitor to the park, a partner, a volunteer or employee, thank you for your love and support these past eight years.

Everything aligned perfectly:
Record-tying heat, an insignificant spark, hits in the starkest of seasons.

It took its course despite us,
This one was a revolution.

Winter after the fire, more rain than normal,
Soil cascading everywhere, ripping it all up.

Life needs these rebirths,
Seed banks springing, new to science.

See how the birds return?
See how the shrubs spread?
See how the world recovers—despite us, because of us, with us, for us?

See how nature prevails?

So might we.

Image Description: to us, this small green plant growing through a small, burned hole in the wooden bench atop Kanaka Peak represents hope and resilience.