Silver Falls State Park

Leaving the coast was sad and yet I had those butterflies of excitement of heading inland to the unknown! My plan was to take hwy 22 east ( the Three Rivers Highway) to Salem, The Little Nestucca, the Salmon, & the Willamette make up the 3 rivers.  The first section of hwy 22 is very curvy and narrow it then straightens into the wider portion where marshes and branches of the rivers make small streams and its perfect for waterfowl of all types.  Along the way I stopped at Baskett Slough NWR where hundreds of Canadian Geese were coming and going along their migration route!

And lots of ducks too...Pretty far out so I can see Mallards but not sure on the rest on the other side of the road I def saw more Pintails bobbing for goodies no good photos as they too were out of focus range of my camera...After I got past Salem i took Hwy 214,  the landscape opened up to farming and Christmas Tree growing operations so pretty as they dotted the open space with the deep greens and dark browns of plowed earth.

  214 E. takes me  to Silver Falls State Park near Silverton, OR...which has 10 waterfalls fed by the Silver Creek. Since rainfall has been down this past summer and so far this fall the waterfalls were not flowing with much force.  But first I drove into the campground and after making 2 circles of the 2 loops found only ONE open site right in the middle of everything....BUT Heck I took it! I was Saturday so why was I surprised?  I do not like the fact that now most sites are reserved! People sitting at home on their computers are snatching campsites right out from under us "out there on a wing and prayer" types...so I went to the camp host said I want this site for 2 days he neared fell off his Zero Gravity chair! 

"Lady all state parks in Oregon are on the reserve america...so you can not have a site for 2 nights it could be reserved." to which I replied...."SO I'll stay one night in this spot and move in the morning"...I dropped my money in the iron kettle and off I went! 

I put up my Paid for Ticket on the last site and left...many sites had RESERVED tickets on them and NO one ever showed up to claim these reserved spots...Thats why I disagree with the reservation system..only a certain numbers of sites should be reserve-able not ALL..
So I went to see the South Falls after I secured my spot.  Casey was not allowed on the trails...so he had to wait in the van no worries I pulled the shades and he was cool and happy...

South Falls 177 ft tall

the bright afternoon sun made for bright photos....Like I said the flow was low but look at the dramatic height! Look closely at the people behind the fence on the lower portion of the photo? On that same afternoon I drove up to see North Falls the overlook was overgrown I did not hike down to the pools of either of these falls...this one is 136 ft tall...

North Falls 136 ft.

The next morning I headed out early check out time is 1 pm so I have time to see more falls before I have to deal with moving everyone was taking down their camps since it was Sunday and I knew I'd get a spot..

I decided if I parked in the Winter Falls parking area I could hike to the rest of the falls.  It was not a bad trail going back to the parking lot was about 2 switch backs so not too bad...3 of the falls I saw were DRY! Winter, Twin, and Double Falls all had little to no water falling...so those I won't show those.

Winter Falls was dry! Only a bare trickle was dripping off the cliff edge...so I went on down to Middle North Falls 106 ft tall...

You can hike behind this falls so I did! It's really nice to see the curtain of water and feel the mist..

Walking along the trail was quite nice 'cause the stream took on the color of the oncoming fall..

Drake Falls is 27 ft but its a cascade and the overlook does not give a good look but here it is..

Next up on the trail was the Lower North after I side trekked to the Double Falls and found it dry, the lower north had a reduced flow as they all did its a 35 ft cascade also...

The last falls on my tour was the  Upper North Falls, I hiked back to the car and drove to a different parking area on this Spur trail I could bring Casey so he got to come along it was only 0.3 each way..there was some lava looking rock around the pool of this falls...

Upper North Falls trail takes you to the base of the falls which is where I'd rather be to photograph a waterfall...but If I had hike the Canyon Trail and to each base I'd probably need 911.  So this was my last falls on the list at Silver Falls S.P. the Upper North Falls at 65 ft. 

This was my favorite of all the falls...even with the low water flow I enjoyed seeing all the falls with a good season of rain these will all be gushers including the ones I found dry...Def worth a visit! When I returned to the campground at 12:50 I moved to a better spot...  I had no internet or phone, there was a pay phone where I called my Mom to wish her happy birthday and then Casey and I packed a lunch and drove back up to the Day Use area near South Falls and had a picnic and people watched and rested the rest of the day. Next morning Monday we headed South! 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.