Silver Falls is located within Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. It is about 1.5 hours South of Portland and it is truly a marvelous gem of Oregon. There is a total of 10 water falls within Silver Falls State Park. Most notably the North Falls and the South Falls. There is a total of 4 water falls where people can go behind the falls to view the water fall from a different perspective.
Oregon has been in a self lock down mode for over 2 months and started slowly opening up the state parks for visitors. Thus during the Memorial Day long weekend, we decided to pay a visit to Silver Falls and it would be our first outdoor activity over the past 3 months.
We got to Silver Falls State Park around 9AM and the parking lot was about 30% full. We expected that the parking lot will fill up very quickly within the next 2 hours. Unfortunately NW Forest Pass and Discovery Pass do not work here. Thus a day fee is $5 needs to be paid at the pay station.
We started our hike from the South Falls. The first part of the trail takes people all the way down to the bottom of the valley to view the water fall. People can choose to take the path that goes behind the water falls, or there is a different path that leads to the front of the water falls. We then made our way towards North.
After about 30 minutes we got to the Lower South Falls. The amount of water that came down the cliff was huge. The trail goes right behind the water falls and very close to the water. We were soaking wet when walking behind it. The trail was partially flooded as well but we were able to step on the rocks to avoid getting our shoes wet.
After another 1.5 hours, we finally got to North Falls. We could hear the thunderous sound of water pouring down the cliff to the pond below. It was just an amazing sight. The trail behind the North Falls was dry and wide. It was very easy to walk on.
Getting back to the South Falls was a lot easier from here. The Rim Trail at the top of the valley is a much shorter trail that is only 2.5 miles and we were able to get back within an hour.
Overall, Silver Falls is a great place to go to during a sunny weather and enjoy the outdoor. The park is open all year round and thus it could be interesting to visit during the winter when snow falls.
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