Oregon Waterfalls

Silver Falls State Park, the largest state park in the state of Oregon, is home to many waterfalls. It also may be the greenest place I’ve ever been. While staying at an RV park in nearby Silverton, known as “Oregon’s Garden City,” we decided to take the kids and the dogs for a couple of hikes at the park. Dogs are not allowed on all hikes, so we took the few where they could join us.

The most popular waterfall at the state park is South Falls, which is 177 feet of cascading water. We walked part of the Rim Trail to get some good views, but the real fun was going behind the falls. The dogs were not allowed to do that, so we took turns; first, Rayne and I took the path, and then Ray and Jayden headed down. The girls had so much fun feeling the spray on their skin like a misting rain.

We also took in some views of North Falls. The best part of this hike was walking through all of the greenery to get a glance of the waterfall from a distance. I just kept thinking, “Everything is so green.” It looked unreal green – like a painting. I guess that’s what happens when waterfalls are all over the place, watering everything in sight.

Finally, we decided to take a short hike to Upper North Falls, where the girls were excited to see a rainbow at the bottom of the cascade. The dogs also got to get their feet a little wet, which always makes Old Scout happy.

I didn’t know this at the time of our visit, but several movies have been filmed at Silver Falls State Park; this includes the opening shots of deer being hunted by vampires in the 2008 movie Twilight (the first in the vampire series). Not really into the whole Team Edward/Team Jacob thing, I don’t clearly remember that scene; I did see the movie, and I may have to re-watch to see if anything looks familiar!

We’ve seen plenty of waterfalls along our travels, but we have not seen so many in one place. This was an excellent introduction to Oregon!