The waterfalls trail, 2021
Silver Falls State Park, south of Portland, is known for its Trail of Ten Falls. This is a hike that connects ten waterfalls, several of which have paths behind the water.
The full ten-waterfall hike is a challenge, but I’d read that you could see several of the falls by taking shorter hikes from different trailheads. I planned a route that would take me to six of the ten waterfalls.
However, even six waterfalls might be optimistic, because the night before the hike I hurt my often-troublesome knee by wandering too far in Washington Park. To make it back to the car, I’d been forced to lurch sideways down hills because it hurt too much to walk straight.
Once home, undaunted, I picked out my layers, found my toque, and filled my daypack with pouches of honey-roasted peanuts supplied by the B&B.
I knew I could manage the hike if I had my trekking poles, but I’d left them in B.C., so I improvised by unscrewing the bristles from a broom in my room. That’s right, I’m a genius. And an imperfect AirBnB guest.
It was misty and quiet when I left Portland on Saturday morning. Silver Falls State Park is about 75 minutes south of the city. Toward the end of the trip, Google Maps led me down empty country roads that wiggled between green fields. This clever route must have saved me 30 maybe 45 seconds over the main roads.
Park parking
I’d read that the park could get busy and the northern trailhead was small. Indeed, I had got it into my head that the trailhead had only four parking spaces, which was wrong, but believing it made me anxious to get there early.
I arrived just before 9 a.m. to find a cracked asphalt lot with about 20 spaces, only half of them taken. Success! Except… the parking meter only took paper money: ones and fives. No living creature had wanted cash from me in this pandemic, so I still only had my bank machine twenties.
A little sign on the meter promised that the southern parking lot took credit cards and was only three minutes away.
Muttering, I got back in the car and drove to the southern parking lot. It was completely unlike the northern one. This was a huge complex, like the main gate of a National Park. There were mowed lawns, picnic shelters, large brick restrooms, and looping driveway after looping driveway that led to separate parking lots, most of them empty for now. I beeped myself a parking pass and hurried back north. If the park expected crowds like these, those 20 northern spots would fill fast.
Back at the north lot, I parked in the exact same spot as before and was finally ready to find my first waterfall.
I convinced myself my knee was fine and left my hiking broomstick in the car.
North Falls
The signs back in Portland’s arboretum were perfect. Every intersection had a post telling you how to find nine nearby locations, and if you couldn’t be bothered to remember names like “Magnolia Trail,” you could just look for the “1 hour loop.” Silver Falls State Park, on the other hand, forgot to put the names of the waterfalls on its signs.
The sign at the fork in the trail offered me the choice of “rim” vs “canyon” and squinting at the little PDF map on my phone didn’t tell me which to choose. Finally I realized that if I followed the river, well, that’s where the waterfall was going to be.
Halfway down the first set of stairs, I realized I should have brought the broomstick.
Now, this breaks all the rules of storytelling, but this first waterfall was my favourite. Most of the time, I had the entire site to myself, and as promised, I could walk behind the falls.
Years of gaming told me there should be a smuggler’s lair here or a chest of potions, but there was a long open chamber, curved like seating in a theatre. It reached deep into the cliff, the river flowing somewhere overhead.
Behind the falls, it felt like a place your whole stone-age clan could shelter.
I tried all sort of panoramas and photospheres on this hike and mostly they failed. They couldn’t capture the scale or glitched on the contrasts of dark and light. Here’s a video instead:
The next waterfall was upriver from the car, so when it was time to go, I retraced my path back to the parking lot.
This part of Oregon seems to have a legacy of jagged mossy stonework everywhere. I adore it.
At the trailhead, a tourist couple was standing by the rim vs. canyon signpost, puzzling over their map. I told them to follow the river.
Upper North Falls
Going upriver from the north lot takes you to a traditional B.C.-style waterfall, no secret chambers. I was the only one there.
I ate a second breakfast of trail mix to give me a reason to stay longer.
Winter Falls
Between the park’s main trailheads at North Falls and South Falls, there is a pullout where you can reach other sights, including Middle North Falls. (They worked very hard on these names.)
I had been sheepish about taking the orange-tipped plastic broomstick out of the car, but now I put pride aside and took it with me. No one ever cared, of course.
The first falls in this part of the park are the Winter Falls. They have that name, I now surmise, because they’re only there in winter.
But that’s okay. Winter Falls were just a side quest on the way to Middle North Falls, another waterfall you could walk behind.
Middle North Falls
The path behind these falls was much narrower than the North Falls chamber. Not much space between cliff and water.
I kept experimenting with my camera’s slow motion setting because I thought it would be cool, but it was not cool. It was silly.
The path under the cliff stretches a long way. You can see in my selfie below that I’m still under the ledge, far from the waterfall.
Looking at photos online, Middle North Falls is the waterfall that changes the most during the spring melt, which is when all waterfalls roar the loudest. It grows quite wide.
This trail led farther into the park, but my guidebook said none of the waterfalls this way had trails behind them, so I made the steep climb back to my rented Prius, grateful for my rented broomstick.
Two falls left now.
South Falls
South Falls are the park’s headliner. They’re the one with the seven parking lots and a snack bar.
It was 11 a.m. when I arrived, and I had to settle for a parking spot far in the back. Amusement-park-sized crowds milled around.
Depending who you ask, this is the tallest waterfall in the park — or maybe another one deep in the park is a single foot taller. Certainly, these were the highest falls I saw.
The trail itself didn’t feel crowded once I started down. It’s a loop, so everyone heads in the same direction. I did get caught in a small traffic jam directly behind the falls, but what a lovely place to linger.
On the far side of the falls, you can choose to circle back to the parking lots or continue on a pleasant riverside amble to the Lower South Falls.
I continued, although with five of my six waterfalls done, my knee was in revolt. I kept a slow pace, stepping aside for families, joggers, and three different hikers toting wee dogs in baby carriers.
Lower South Falls
The trail approaches Lower South Falls from above.
My broomstick and I hobbled down the stairs they’d built in the woods. Downhill is the worst, so without a question, this was the hardest part of the day.
Another one of those Oregon stone walls separates the path from the falls.
“Tim! I can’t follow this complicated tale of gravity and water.” That’s okay — here it is, but slower.
Walking out
You could walk all the way back to Upper North Falls from here, but this was the end of my trip. A side path took me away from the river, up out of the canyon and into a warm quiet forest.
Somewhere in the woods, my phone found a ten-foot circle of wireless signal and my pocket buzzed with notifications. I sent kiss emojis to Shannon, told people about my heroic broomstick, and took my turn in Yahtzee against my mom. A few steps more and I was alone in the forest again.
Snacking on B&B honey peanuts, I joined up with the main paved path and walked against the flow of all the newcomers just arriving now at what I thought was terribly late in the day, but was only 1 p.m.
On the drive home, I decided to detour to downtown Portland, where I could buy a shaved ice and see some bronze otters. But I believe I’ve told that story.
Thanks for reading!
P.S. If you’re a completionist and want to see the four waterfalls I missed, every waterfall on the trail is on the Friends of Silver Falls website.
