Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Silver Falls / The Trail of Ten Falls.

Silver Falls is my happy place. The largest state park in Oregon, driving into it drapes the same deep sense of calm and happiness over me that entering a national park does. 

Once navigating into the right parking lot at the South Falls entrance (there are a lot of parking lots--it can be a bit confusing), there's this wonderfully grandiose sign welcoming you to the South Falls Historic District, like you're about to enter a town or something, but really there's just an equally grandiose lodge and a little gift shop. It is all very WPA-y, and we all know how I love the WPA. Thanks for all the good times, FDR.

Foxgloves across from the lodge.

There's a viewpoint from the top of South Falls here, and then the Canyon Trail begins, dipping down rapidly to take you to the bottom of these falls. And here is the point where you can NO LONGER BRING DOGS. If you've brought a dog with you, just ditch them here! Or you could be a rebel and take them with you, although FYI, Silver Falls is a busy place and there are rangers around like whoa. Or you could also just research your trip beforehand and realize that dogs aren't allowed before you leave your house. This was my course of action, but many other people at the trail head opted not to do this and were quite grumpy about the anti-dog forces of the universe.

On the day that I hiked Silver Falls this month, I was on a mission and tried to run by South Falls and subsequent Lower South Falls as fast as I could. One, because it was REALLY crowded, one of the first times I've ever been slightly annoyed by other people on the trail. Normally, I'm one of those peeps that actually finds other trail trekkers comforting, especially when I'm walking alone. The other reason for my rush was that I'd already seen these falls before. But still, rushing past was an arrogant move on my part, because these two falls are absolutely spectacular, and you should stop to wonder at them each time you see them.

See the little people along the fence? That's how big this sucker is!

South Falls is one of those glorious waterfalls that you can walk behind, a classic Northwest thing that never gets old to me. And then after a bit of walking and some stairs--which can be kind of treacherous, be careful! You might almost slip and twist your ankle while two old ladies pass you by, not that this happened to me!--you arrive at Lower South Falls, which is not quite as dramatic as South Falls but still takes your breath away because it's just so pretty.



You walk behind this one too, duh, but the path behind this one is narrower and tends to be much more wet than the rest. This month Oregon is in a state of drought and it hasn't rained in for-ever and our snowpacks are sad and pathetic, but the path behind this waterfall was still all deep puddles. But on a related note, know that in all my photos, the waterfalls and streams would be much more robust in higher water season.

After this I stopped to breathe a bit. The reason I was in such an arrogant hurry was that I'd done this part before--twice. After these falls and a bit more walking, you have the option to return to the parking lot via the Maple Ridge Trail. Don't get me wrong, this loop is still a totally worthy hike. It works out to be around two miles, and Maple Ridge is almost all uphill all the way so it definitely gets your blood bumping.

But this time I was determined to do the whole thing--The Trail of Ten Falls, the reason this park is so popular. Finally doing the whole loop was sort of a present to myself for finishing my first year at my new job. So I kept on left to continue to the next waterfall. This portion of the trail was perhaps the quietest of the whole trail in terms of other hikers, and it stays pretty flat and calm, following Silver Creek. I was really in my happy place here.


After quite a bit of this, the next batch of falls come all in a bunch and while I was excited to document each and every waterfall at the beginning, to be honest, they all started to blend together after a bit. I started asking myself, "Wait, what number waterfall was that?? Six? Seven? What's this one called??" before eventually realizing I didn't care that much. They were all pretty.

Lower North Falls.

To get to Double Falls, you have to take a very short trail off the main path, but it really only takes five or ten extra minutes so you should do it. Somewhere among these smaller waterfall stops, there's also a very Memorable Tree on the trail. In my opinion, every hike should have a Memorable Tree. And this is a good one! 

Trees, man!

Twin Falls was pretty much impossible to see from the main trail, unless you wanted to go off trail and really get up in there, which I'm never too fond of doing because I am boring and scared. And then after that, it's onwards to North Falls, the other falls that people really come to the park to see. In the stretch between Twin Falls and North Falls, though, the trail becomes narrow and slightly unkempt, at least at this time of year, completely taken over by salmonberry bushes. 

Really, the whole trail was overtaken with salmonberry bushes, and herein I learned what a salmonberry was. As I kept passing them I thought they were golden raspberries, even though they tasted kind of weird, but then at least three different people I passed talked about "all the salmonberries!" Congratulations, Pacific Northwesterners! Aren't you just soooooo good at nature!

The unripe ones were quite tart; the ripe ones tasted much more like blueberries than raspberries. So anyway, overall these were enjoyable to see and taste, but in this stretch, you were literally pawing your way through them, and all the billions of spiders and other bugs that probably reside in them, and it was not the best.

Salmonberries, with North Falls in the background.

Once I got to North Falls, though, all the trampling through salmonberries was worth it. While not quite as high or majestic as South Falls, the thing about walking behind North Falls is that the amphitheater of rock is so huge and deep that it's truly overwhelming. Here are some of my attempts at capturing it:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I HOPE THE EARTHQUAKE OF THE CENTURY DOESN'T HAPPEN RIGHT NOW. OR MAYBE THIS IS A GOOD PLACE TO BE IN AN EARTHQUAKE? I DON'T KNOW. I AM SCARED ABOUT THE EARTHQUAKE.

This is where the canyon section of the loop ends, which means you have to, you know, walk up out of the canyon. This meant stairs. Now, along with being bad at keeping track of the number of falls I was seeing, I was also bad at keeping track of the mileage of this trail, maybe because my guide book told me this loop was 6.8 miles but all the signs said it was 8 miles? I don't know, whatever, I think I'd hiked 4 to 5 miles at this point, after not going on a real hike for a few months, and I was getting tired. So when I saw these stairs I said some not-so-nice words to them, even though I knew it wasn't their fault.


Looking back on the trail map, it looks like there's supposed to be another trail from here that leads to Upper North Falls, which I must have missed. So maybe I only saw nine falls and not ten. I guess this means I just have to go back sometime, which is fine with me. But I still completed a long ass loop so I'm still counting it as doing the whole thing, goshdarnit!

There's a large parking lot by North Falls, so if you don't have time to do the whole loop, seeing these falls is still easy. Or if you have been on the trail for a while and you're tired or broke your leg or are currently being chased by a hive of bees, you can get off the trail at this point and call a friend to come pick you up, by the off chance you have a friend with a car that happens to be near Silver Falls State Park. But if completing the loop, take a sharp right right before the parking lot to continue up to the Rim Trail.

The Rim Trail (where you CAN take dogs, FYI!) is pretty straight and narrow back to the parking lot. It follows the main road pretty much the whole time, so the nearby traffic takes you pretty solidly out of the alone-in-nature hike feel. And while this section is still pretty, parts of it were so straightforward that I actually started to get bored and anxious to reach the end. But after the up and downs of the canyon, my legs at least appreciated it.


Lesson learned: While I attributed it to my out-of-shape hiking legs, I stumbled quite a few times over rocks on the Canyon Trail. This would be a good hike to wear actual hiking boots on. Meaning, I need to buy actual hiking books.

Highlight: The amphitheater behind North Falls. And the sense of accomplishment of doing the whole thing!*

Info: From Portland, you can arrive here by taking I-5 South towards Salem, or taking I-205 to 213, which in my opinion is the much more scenic route. Either route takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from PDX. I started my loop at the South Falls parking lot, but it can also be started from the North Falls parking lot. There is a $5 parking fee, which you pay at a machine that takes cards or cash. I highly recommend actually paying this fee, as I saw many cars getting tickets. As I stated at the beginning, dogs are not allowed on the Canyon Trail, but are allowed on the Rim and other smaller trails around the park. Relatively nice bathrooms are available at the South Falls trailhead, and the gift shop, if open, sells snacks.

Post-hike chowdown: If you take the I-5 route from Salem, you will pass right through the town of Silverton, which is the absolute definition of charming. Seriously. Gilmore Girls could've been filmed there. While I've never really stopped to spend much time there myself, there are a number of cafes and restaurants here to satisfy your hunger.

* Minus that pesky Upper North Falls I guess, but who's keeping track.