Silver Falls State Park, OR – Trail of Ten Falls
Silver Falls State Park is often referred to as the ‘Crown Jewel’ of Oregon’s State Parks, and for good reason. The park is about an hour and a half drive from Portland, and at only $5 for parking, it is definitely worth a visit. They have several hiking trails and bike trails, but the most popular route is the Trail of Ten Falls. As the name suggest you will see 10 major waterfalls, although I will point out when we went in February there were many more along the cliff walls, that I only imagine just come and go with the seasons and thus not earning them any prestige. There are so many waterfalls that whoever got to christen these falls seems to have gotten pretty lazy since only four of them have non directional names.
Not only are there a lot of waterfalls to look at on this hike, but you also get to go behind four of them! There seems to be some disagreement on the actual distance of the trail, the official map says 7.2 miles, but then the sign at the trailhead read 8.7 miles. If I had to guess I would say it was closer to the longer side since a few of the waterfalls are off spur trails, my GPS couldn’t handle the canyon walls and cliffs so I can’t give a more accurate estimate to what we did. But, if you aren’t up for that long of a distance, you can cut through on the Winter Trail allowing you to cut the distance in half while only missing a couple falls if you stick to the west half. Or you could always do shorter out and backs from the various trailheads.
Most people start at the larger South Falls parking lot. Based on an insider tip, Andrew and I decided to start at the North Falls Trailhead and make our way counterclockwise around the trail so we could end with an easy secluded flat portion along the rim. This trailhead has only about 30 parking spots, so if you plan to go here be sure to arrive early. At 8:30 (park opens at 8) we were maybe the 10th car, and by the time we left around 1:00, there were cars lined up all along the street, and people waiting for us to leave so they could have our spot – and this was in the middle of winter mind you!
1) Upper North Falls
We decided to start with the 0.3 mile spur to the Upper North Falls. In hind sight it may have been nice to save this for the end so that we would have one final fall to admire before heading home, but while large and impressive at 65ft, it isn’t as grand as some of the others, so maybe it was just fine as our first fall of the day (and we had it to ourselves which is always a plus!)
2) North Falls
The 2nd Fall of the day was an impressive 136ft tall and known as the North Falls. After climbing down some stairs along the cliff into the canyon, this was the first fall we got to go behind. As waterfalls form, the plunge pool can erode the rock underneath the lip of the waterfall creating a cavern sometimes called a basin. The one behind the North Falls is enormous, so we were well away from any spray from the falls. The enormous basin contrasted with the skinny fall creates a very dramatic effect. For the park’s centennial (2022) they’re building a new ABA rated scenic viewpoint trail so that more people can admire the North Falls– so that’s something to look forward to! Through volunteering with Trail Keepers of Oregon (TKO), I even got to help lay some of the groundwork for that new trail!
3) Twin Falls
After hiking along the Canyon Trail following the North Fork Silver Creek for just over a mile past North Falls, we came to our third official waterfall, the Twin Falls. This one is about 31ft tall, and has a nice rock in the middle splitting it into – you guessed it – two ‘twin’ falls. I told you the names were creative. The vantage point from the trail wasn’t the greatest for this one, but it’s still nice to see the variety in types of falls.
I’ve heard you get another view of the Twin Falls from the Winter Trail (a popular way to cut through at around the halfway point if you want to shorten your overall distance – if you choose this option be sure to do the west half of the loop as you will still see the majority of the falls that way). If you want to avoid some elevation gain on the Trail of Ten, it would probably be better to make a spur to Winter Falls as your 4th fall. We decided to wait to see the Winter Falls until the end, but that meant we got to climb the 134ft of elevation from top to bottom, and then back up again to return to the Rim Trail.
4) Middle North Falls
Our next waterfall, was another one you get to walk behind – the Middle North Falls. This one was a wide sheet of water with 106 foot of fall. This one was really cool because it was like standing behind a a sheer white curtain. You are a lot closer to the water on this one, so this was our first falls where we actually felt the spray. Unlike the other falls you walk behind, this one was a spur instead of part of the actual trail. So you can decide how far you want to go past/behind the falls for your perfect shot, but then you have to make your way back to the North side of the Creek to continue on your hike.
5) Drake Falls
The Drake Falls was our fifth stop. This was one is the smallest fall at about 27ft in height. Compared to its sister falls this one isn’t super impressive, but it’s not like you’re going out of your way to check it out. Like the twin falls, this one doesn’t have the best vantage point, but they have constructed a deck so you can at least get a little better of a view. Ironically, this seems to be the only one named after someone, June Drake. I guess he was a very modest man, or maybe he was just an ‘okay’ guy, so no one wanted to name the more grandeur falls after him, but they still wanted to recognize him.
6) Double Falls
This next one was one of my favorites, the Double Falls. There was a short spur off the main trail down a very cold and windy canyon to get to this one. At a cumulative height of about 178ft this one is the tallest of the 10. It gets it’s name because there are two tiers to the falls. The spur trail gets you right to the basin, so be prepared for water spray.
7) Lower North Falls
Just past the spur of the Double Falls is the Lower North Falls. We almost missed this one had it not been for some other hikers taking photos. (These falls would be more obvious coming from the other direction). These falls were another short sliding style at a whopping 30ft. It was kind of cool seeing the giant logs resting on it though.
8) Lower South Falls
The next fall, the Lower South Falls is about 1 mile further along the trail. We missed the actual confluence point, but at some point between these two falls we started walking against the current instead of with it – switching from the North Fork to the South Fork Silver Creek. We were probably distracted passing other hikers, because as it was getting later in the morning and we were getting closer to the main parking lot, the trail was getting more crowded.
The lower South falls was another impressive near 100ft waterfall, 93ft to be exact, that the trail took us behind. Again this one was a wide sheet of water. If you are going to get wet from any of the falls, it will be this one which had the shallowest basin behind the falls.
9) South Falls
After climbing a long set of stairs to get to the top of the falls we had another 1.3 miles to get us to probably the most visited of the falls, the South Falls. At 177ft it’s the second tallest in the park, only losing to the double falls by 1ft, but this one is all in one drop. And it’s again another waterfall you get to walk behind. There’s also a bridge across the creek at the base for a dramatic view of the falls.
Bonus Fall: There was also a kind of lame-compared-to-the-others trickle-esque waterfall just shy of 50ft in height, Frenchie, along the trail near the south falls. I guess this one isn’t year round, only coming out in winter/spring so it doesn’t make the official list. It was barely off the trail, so worth checking out if you have the energy, but it was mostly hidden by foliage so not the greatest views, and it didn’t inspire me enough to pull out my camera.
10) Winter Falls
After a quick bathroom break at the main restrooms, we continued along the Rim Trail to finish our hike. We had one more waterfall to capture, the Winter Falls. The Trail of Ten Falls just takes you over the top, but you can’t really appreciate a water fall from the top! So we took the winter trail cut through down to the base where we could properly view this 134ft tall fall. Despite the rumors, this waterfall should be available year round, it’s just that since it’s water volume is so low in the dry summer months it will be reduced to a trickle – so if you want to enjoy it’s majesty, come when the name suggests, the winter.
We had a mile hike along the Rim back to our car with one final view of the majestic north falls (#2) on the way. Overall it was a magnificent hike that I would highly recommend to anyone in the area. Although if you can manage a weekday visit it would probably be best for avoiding crowds.
2 Comments
Angie
Welcome to Vancouver, WA, neighbor! If you’re looking for some local training routes or local multi day adventures, let me know.
Angela
Yes Angie! I’ve already started looking into some of the oregon scenic bikeways for when it warms up a bit but I’d love ride recommendations!