Silver Falls State Park
4 / 4
Silver Falls State Park packs an absurd amount of scenery into one place. With ten waterfalls spread across more than 9,000 acres, it is Oregon’s largest state park and was once even considered for national park status. Logging scars from its past kept that from happening, but it is still an incredible place.
August is not peak waterfall season. In spring, the water really roars. Even with lighter late summer flows, though, several of the falls were still impressive. With heat in the forecast, we chose the shorter Winter Falls Loop, a 4.8 mile section of the Trail of Ten Falls that felt like the right balance. Long enough to see a lot, short enough to avoid melting.
Along the route, we saw South Falls, Lower South Falls, Lower North Falls, Double Falls, Drake Falls, Middle North Falls, and Winter Falls. Double Falls is the tallest in the park at about 178 feet, while Winter Falls had dwindled to more of a trickle by the time we arrived. Drake Falls was partly hidden by vegetation, but the others still made a strong impression.
The real highlight was getting to walk behind three of them: South Falls, Lower South Falls, and Middle North Falls. Behind the curtain of water, the temperature dropped, the mist hung in the air, and the roar of the falls echoed all around us.
After wrapping up the hike, we somehow completely forgot to drive to another trailhead for the short walk to North Falls. So now Silver Falls has officially gone on the list of places where we have unfinished business. Guess we will just have to come back one day.
That evening, we enjoyed our final sunset at GeerCrest Farm and looked forward to the next day’s travels to Newberry National Volcanic Monument near Bend.
Along the route, we saw South Falls, Lower South Falls, Lower North Falls, Double Falls, Drake Falls, Middle North Falls, and Winter Falls. Double Falls is the tallest in the park at about 178 feet, while Winter Falls had dwindled to more of a trickle by the time we arrived. Drake Falls was partly hidden by vegetation, but the others still made a strong impression.
The real highlight was getting to walk behind three of them: South Falls, Lower South Falls, and Middle North Falls. Behind the curtain of water, the temperature dropped, the mist hung in the air, and the roar of the falls echoed all around us.
After wrapping up the hike, we somehow completely forgot to drive to another trailhead for the short walk to North Falls. So now Silver Falls has officially gone on the list of places where we have unfinished business. Guess we will just have to come back one day.
That evening, we enjoyed our final sunset at GeerCrest Farm and looked forward to the next day’s travels to Newberry National Volcanic Monument near Bend.