Trail of Ten Waterfalls

  Silver Falls State Park turned out to be a nice surprise for me. I'm not a big fan of water in mass volume, whether it be still of spilling over a cliff face. Water of that kind, kind of freaks me out. It's powerful and unmerciful. It's kind of like a mountain in liquid form. It makes sense when I look at it that way. I love mountains so the opposite of a mountain would have the opposite effect on me. 

  With that being said, I really enjoyed myself on the Trail of Ten Waterfalls at Silver Falls Park. It wasn't a, "Seen one, you've seen them all" kind of experience. 

  First a little business, directions. Here is the link from Redmond Oregon to Silver Falls State Park. It's 120 miles and two and a half hours of travel time. There is a fee to enter the park, we have a State Park Pass because we are always at Smith Rock. It came in handy.

  As we were driving into the park, I noticed the massive size of the parking lot. Something to keep in mind. We visited in February, in the middle of the week, and the crowd was not there. I can only imagine how many people are crammed on the trail during peak hiking season. 

  We decided to walk the loop counter-clockwise so we would see "the big drip" last. That is what Aaron calls Silver Falls, or South Falls. This was a good way to go. 

  We walked a couple of miles along the highway until we came upon the first waterfall, Winter Falls. Around two and half miles there is another trailhead with a toilet. We stopped and some of us took advantage. I should mention the Posse members that were on this expedition. Myself, my wife Tanya on her first Trio Expedition, Aaron, Allyshia and Jose. The alltrails map said it was seven and a half miles. Once you detour to see all the falls, it comes out closer to ten miles. There is only a little over a thousand feet of elevation gain, making this a moderately difficult trail, only because of the distance. 

  After the pit stop we made our way to Upper North Falls. It is a beauty. The cameras came out and we were all oooohing and aaaahing over it. In the back of my mind I was thinking, "It's all downhill from here. Only eight more of these things to go."  So I got out a few extra ooooohs to get them all out of my system. 

  I don't know who was in charge of naming these waterfalls, they really didn't show up. Out of ten waterfalls to name, five of them had either North or South in the name. Upper North, Middle North, North, Lower South, South. Cmon.

  The trail is pretty fun as it winds around. They designed it so you get a good look at the waterfall, that gets the smile. Then as you get close, the giddy laughter happens. Finally you leave the fall thinking about how great it was while peering over your shoulder to bid it farewell.  Some of them you get to walk up to for a good photo session. Others, you get to walk behind. Wow. I stood behind them and reveled in the spray. It's like being spit on by someone with the freshest breath possible. Not like a big glob of spit, it's a spritz spit. All light and airy and refreshing. I did not grow tired of these waterfalls at all. This park has taken me from a waterfall uninterested and turned me into a waterfall liker. I don't love them yet, but a few more loogie spritzes may get me there. 

 Double falls is one that you can get right into. It wasn't real warm the day we went, we didn't get it. Me and Aaron got close enough that we could feel the wind coming off of it along with the spray. Satisfying.  If you visit during the summer, it would be great to stand at the bottom and get a good soak down from the double falls. 

  We made our way around the loop and my joy only grew. It is one of those places I have been blessed to visit. I feel like I am getting away with something just by being there. The outdoors does that to us. 

  South Falls is the big drip. We knew it was our tenth and final waterfall, we lingered a wee bit longer to take it all in. 

  Tyler nominated this hike for our Trio vote this year. I am glad that it was chosen. It is a good day hike. 

  See the pictures of our time at Silver Falls below. There is a video for your viewing pleasure as well.