Known as the “crown jewel” of Oregon State Parks, Silver Falls definitely lives up to its nickname! It’s located near Silverton, just about an hour east of Salem right at the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. It is the largest state park in Oregon.
Silver Falls is the perfect place to spend a day hiking and exploring all of the waterfalls. There are a total of 10 absolutely gorgeous waterfalls here!
You can opt to do shorter hikes like the 1.8 North Falls Trailhead or the 2.6 Maple Ridge Loop or the 5 mile Winter Falls Loop however the 7.2 mile loop known as the Trail Of Ten Falls is the most spectacular with breathtaking views of all the falls and takes about 3-5 hours to do. The trails are all in pretty good condition and are easy to moderate to hike.
The park is referred to by the North Falls and South Falls areas. There is a lodge and restaurant located in the South Falls area where you can grab a bite to eat at a rustic style cabin. There is also a nature store located in this area.
You can start your hike out in the South Falls or the North Falls area where parking is only a few dollars, either way you can’t go wrong. If you’re not much for hiking you can always catch a few of the waterfalls by driving through and just walking a short distance from the road, just grab a map from the day use area and you can see which ones are in close proximity.
The most famous and most photographed is the stunning South Falls waterfall. It is 177 feet of stunning cascade.
You can even walk behind this waterfall into a grotto that has a bench for relaxing and taking in the view from behind. This is too cool to be missed, definitely a sight to be seen. You can feel the waters power as you meander through the grotto and come out on the other side.
Trail going into the grotto behind the South Falls waterfall
The North Falls are also spectacular and can be seen right from the road amongst the sea of trees it is nestled in.
Seriously where else can you find 10 beautiful waterfalls in the same area that can all be explored in one day?!
