Silver Falls State Park, OR: Fallin' For The Falls

Nestled in the foothills of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, the 9,000-Silver Falls State Park is the largest and most popular of all Oregon state parks. One of the main draws is its spectacular hiking on The Trail of Ten Falls.

Where else can you walk behind, around, over, under and (if you’re adventurous, through) TEN breathtaking falls in a 7 mile hike?

Not just your everyday waterfalls, either … ten beauties up to 177-feet tall!

Like practically everything up here, this landscape was created by volcanoes “duh”, namely basalt lava flows. Softer layers of the basalt eroded over time and created natural pathways behind many of the falls. So cool!

It’s hard to describe the massive scope of these falls. A quick round of “Where’s Waldo”, I mean “Where’s Philip”, should illustrate! Find a tiny orange-shirted figure in each of these photos, and you’ll get the picture!

The trail runs through a green, rocky canyon alongside a winding creek. The first ½ mile is crowded with families and school groups and noisy, noisy small humans.

Philip decided the best solution was to cover up this sign with one that said “Children Play Area Ahead.” (just kidding: no children were harmed in the creation of this blog)

But soon you leave all that behind and enjoy the tranquility of the trail leading to all the falls!

Leaving Silver Falls State Park, we discovered what is surely one of the Christmas-tree-growing capitals of the U.S. Christmas trees in every state of growth, from “Charlie Brown scraggly” to “Rockefeller Center gigantic”, as far as the eye could see in every direction!

If you know Philip (Bad Santa) and his love of the holidays, you know this made him very happy!

The nearby town of Silverton is known for its spectacular building murals. Every year, the Silverton Mural Society funds the painting of another mural, all of which commemorate important events in the city’s long history.