I’ll admit it, I’m a waterfall chaser as they’re one of the few things I’m athletic enough to catch.
Prior to this trip, I would have told you that the waterfalls in Maui on the road to Hana are my number one pick and that Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge waterfalls are my number two. Nothing in Oregon is ever going to usurp Maui so don’t try to convince me otherwise. However, the waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park have me rethinking that number two position. If you like Columbia River Gorge, speed over to Sliver Falls and make the loop so you can tell me what you think.
Silver Falls State Park is located between the towns of Silverton and Stayton and is about a 30 minute drive to the east of I-5 from the Albany exit (or about a 1 1/2 hour drive from Sisters on highway 22 – which is how we got there after our first stay with Kellen and Corey). The park seems to be surrounded mostly by crops and (so many) Christmas tree farms so it’s cool that seemingly out of nowhere this beautiful wooded park appears.
We went early in the day to avoid the Covid…I mean crowds… and started at the north parking lot because Doug knew this would allow us to see 7 of the 10 waterfalls while only hiking 5 of the full 7 mile ”Trail of Ten Falls” (Now that’s true love!). The South Falls – mark the main visitor area for the park with a dedicated parking lot and paved trail directly to the waterfall so we visited that area on our way out of the park (and witnessed our first large crowds of the trip so far).
The trails are mostly wide, fairly uniform and, surprisingly, there aren’t too many difficult climbs. The North Fall and South Fall are the easiest to get to if you don’t like to hike or aren’t able to hike very far.
Heading down the trail from the north parking lot, you can hear the roar of the water and feel the mist in the air before you see the north falls. The anticipation is great, and you won’t be disappointed because that first one plummets over 136 feet.
Each one after that has its own beauty – whether it be trickling tendrils, a rocky bridal veil silhouette, a wide gusher with a bridge view, or several dainty tiers of water spilling from one to another – but the real reason Silver Falls is vying for my number 2 position (SPOILER ALERT) is because…
we experienced 3 huge waterfalls (of the 7 we visited) in Silver Falls that you can walk behind.
I believe there are 4 of 10 in total. When I say walk behind, I don’t mean bring your bathing suit, climb precariously down onto slippery rocks and let the spray pummel you while you walk into the falls pretending you love it for that Instagram moment. I mean the trails at Silver Falls follow a path through the eroded rock caverns that have been carved out behind the falls by water action over the years so the falls come crashing down from above and well in front of you!
Everyone who hikes there gets to experience the falls from this unusual angle without getting wet. It is nothing less than awesome!
If you want to be completely surprised when you get to Silver Falls State Park, don’t scroll down. Or, if you’re like me, and pictures simply wet the appetite to experience the falls first-hand then enjoy the appetizers below. Either way, add Silver Falls to your list of hikes to take.
More pictures from our hike are on Instagram, more information on the trail can be found here https://www.friendsofsilverfalls.net/new-page and we’d love to get your recommendations on other great waterfall hikes.
