Trail of 10 Falls is the 7.5 miles trail loop at Silver Falls State Park. This trail is a true gem in Oregon and it is always very crowded during the weekends, even during winter season. Silver Falls State Park is located East of Salem, and it is about 1.5 hours away from Portland. During this Thanksgiving Weekend with 1 day of sun shine, we decided to pay a visit to this beautiful state park.
We left around 9AM in the morning so that we can get there early to make sure there are parking space available. After reaching Salem and head toward East, we were driving through the valley with beautiful green scenery. It was like living in the dream and the sceneries are like the ones that you would see on post card. We actually stopped by the side of the road for several moments just to enjoy it. A note here, if you want to stop on the side of the road, make sure you find a place that is safe since the shoulder of the road is quite narrow.
We got to Silver Falls State Park around 11AM and there was a surprise there for us. The admission fee is waived on Black Friday! This was just awesome! Although the daily use fee is only $5, it still made us very happy! We parked the car at the South entrance of the park and that is where most people go to. Many people brought their cute dogs, but just note that dogs are only allowed on certain trails.
We started the hike from the South Falls, which is the most popular one. Since there was a lot of rain during the winter, the volume of water coming from the Falls is enormous compared to summer season! The trail goes behind the waterfall where we could feel the water splashing against the cliff. The trail was quite wet here and we had to hop around to make sure we did not step into the water.
Afterwards, we started heading towards North Falls, which is about 5 miles away and there are several waterfalls along the trail. The trail was quite easy with limited amount of elevation gain. The trail goes along the river and sometimes crosses the river as well. At this time of the season, although the trail is slipper, most of the dangerous areas have fences along the side to prevent people from falling.
After about 2 hours of hike, we finally got to North Falls. We would say that the North Falls is more beautiful than South Falls! The North Falls was split into 2 unlike the South Falls which was like a giant white curtain. Similar to South Falls, we could also go behind the North Falls. The area behind the North Falls is much wider and dryer, which allows more rooms for people to take photos.
After the North Falls, it was time to turn back and head back to South Falls. The trail loops back along the Rim Trail, which is very easy to hike on with no difficulty at all. heading back was easy due to trail going in a straight line and only 2 miles.
Overall, the Trail of 10 Falls at Silver Falls State Park is simply amazing. This is by farm one of the best trail I have been on and the difficulty is extremely easy. If 7.5 miles is too long for you, there are 2 other smaller loops with just 2 miles and 5 miles. Thus this is a great place for people to hike around with different preference on difficulties.
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