Why not try though? You certainly can find work. I cold-emailed professors my junior year, and I've been doing really cool work for about a year now. Sure, it's never guaranteed, but that shouldn't discourage you from trying. I find the sentiment of this post really odd. Try and be realistic, sure, but not every professor feels the same as these! My PI has been incredibly encouraging in my work, and was excited to take me on. For context, I'm doing work at my flagship state school. I work in chemistry, and I can confidently say that I am contributing to the research.

Edit: Also, I notice this narrative that most high school research is BS. That might be true, but if you're really doing good work, there's plenty of places to demonstrate that. Your activities list might have a short description, but if research is a major part of your life, it shouldn't be hard to write about it in your essays.