One of California's most beautiful waterfalls is illegal for hikers to visit - but that has not stopped thousands wading through dangerous terrains to get a picture.
A breathtaking hidden gem near a tiny Northern California town has thrill seekers risking arrest - and even death - just to see it with their own eyes.
Mossbrae Falls, a stunning cascade of icy water spilling over moss-draped cliffs into the Sacramento River, sits just minutes from downtown Dunsmuir - but getting there is a perilous journey.
It's so magical that locals compare it to America's most famous national parks like Yosemite, and now officials are fighting to establish a safe, legal way for the public to get to the beauty spot.
Native American tribes have long considered Mossbrae Falls sacred, believing the waters possess healing powers.
About a century ago, Southern Pacific Railroad ran special trains so wealthy travelers could disembark and sip from a spring at the top of the falls.
An estimated 30,000 visitors make the dangerous visit every year, according to city studies, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
And most are breaking the law to do it, by sneaking a mile down active train tracks to reach the secluded spot. But the risk isn't just getting caught.
At least two people have been hit by trains near the falls since 2012, and countless others have reported terrifying near-misses.
But thanks to Instagram and TikTok, interest in Mossbrae Falls has exploded.
Social media feeds have been flooded with jaw-dropping photos of visitors, some even bringing small children and dogs along the narrow, deadly corridor.
Adding to the chaos is a complicated legal mess over who owns the land.
The east side of the river, where the misty falls tumble down, is owned by the Saint Germain Foundation, a religious group that considers the site sacred.
The group, part of the so-called 'I AM' movement, believes Mount Shasta and the falls are sacred and must be protected from 'desecration.'
Meanwhile, Union Pacific Railroad controls the opposite bank, and the tracks that thousands of hikers are illegally using every year.
Union Pacific has demanded repeated studies and reviews, and advocates say the railroad is reluctant to set a precedent by opening land elsewhere, as reported by the outlet.
Officials have been battling for decades to open a safe, legal trail to the falls, but efforts have stalled over and over.
But negotiations to build a public trail have gone nowhere for decades.
'We have not spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and 30 years on this just because we want to have a trail to this pretty place. It's also a safety issue,' John Harch, president of the Mount Shasta Trail Association, told the LA Times.
Locals also told the outlet that reclaiming access to Mossbrae Falls is critical to boosting Dunsmuir's struggling economy, which has never fully recovered from the 1991 toxic train derailment that poisoned the Sacramento River for 40 miles.
It also devastated the region's famed trout fishery.
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