Joshua and I wanted to do a little mini vacation as a family. We threw around a lot of ideas for times and places and finally settled on a day trip to Silver Falls State Park last Thursday. It was a great choice. We hadn't been there before, but it was beautiful with wonderful waterfalls and a hike along the river. The timing was ideal too since the trees were changing colors and the weather was cool but not cold. I couldn't have asked for a better day. The smells, the sights, the company; everything was wonderful. After a busy summer and beginning of the term, it felt like just the retreat we needed.
We arrived in the late morning, after eating pumpkin spice bagels on the drive, and headed out on the Canyon Trail. There is basically one main trail through the park, the Trail of Ten Falls. It's a 7.2 mile loop that takes you past - surprise! - ten waterfalls. There are a couple connecting trails that allow you to make shorter loops along the way; we opted for the middle length loop which was about five miles.
Mary did great on the trail. She seemed to enjoy taking in all the sights and sounds and took a little nap in the early afternoon.
The first of the falls was South Falls, and we arrived within a few minutes of starting the hike. It was an impressive beginning. We were worried that ten falls in such a small area would mean that most of them weren't that great, but that wasn't the case. There were a couple that didn't have much water, but I think that was just because we were there at the wrong time of year for those falls. Overall, we were impressed by the waterfalls.
One of the cool things about the park was that the trail went behind a few of the waterfalls; that was really neat.
The trail itself was pretty too. It mostly followed the river and wound through beautiful forest. We occasionally met other hikers, but in general it was quiet.
Next we saw Lower South Falls. It was a good one too.
Again, we got to walk behind the waterfall; so fun.
Yes, it really was this pretty! I didn't edit these pictures at all.
Lower North Falls. This one was a little harder to see because the trail didn't get as close, but it was still pretty.
We had to take a little side trail to get to one of the waterfalls, but it wasn't far.
Double Falls did have water flowing over both falls, but it was one of the ones that is probably more impressive at other times during the year.
Drake Falls got us back on track with great waterfalls.
Middle North Falls was also good, and it was another one we got to walk behind.
The final waterfall on our loop was Winter Falls. Apparently, there's a good reason it's not named Autumn Falls.
There was a little bench by the waterfall though, so we stopped to have a snack. I had brought a lot of snacks for the trail with the idea that we would have lunch as we went. So we had been snacking as we walked, but it was nice to sit down for a few minutes to eat a little more.
Then it was my turn with the baby and Joshua took the backpack. We came back along the Rim Trail, which was evergreens and mossy and felt quite different.
After finishing our hike, we drove to the northern parking lot and came back down the trail from the top a short distance to North Falls. This was another great one.
There was a large cavern behind the waterfall that the trail went in, so this time we were way behind the waterfall.
We had worked up an appetite with all the hiking, so we found a picnic area to set up our stove and make chili and corn cakes for dinner. It was cool and rainy, so hot tea with a hearty, hot dinner sounded great.
We ended up eating dinner under a nearby covered pavilion because it started raining more steadily. It was a satisfying end to a great day. We drove home in the rain and arrived in the late evening.
