{"id":3870,"date":"2026-04-28T15:22:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T23:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/?p=3870"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T23:22:32","slug":"silver-falls-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/?p=3870","title":{"rendered":"Silver Falls State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Now that we are retired, we want to travel more. We live in such a beautiful state that there are so many choices to do short day hikes and see some amazing scenery. Our first day trip this year was the Silver Falls State Park, just east of Salem. In just a relatively short five mile loop, you can see seven amazing waterfalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are ten falls in the park, but the other three are a bit less accessible and, in fact, inaccessible this trip. Our winter had some landslides and downed trees on the northern paths that had not yet been cleared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We packed a lunch and arrived just about noon. Eating first, we set off on the loop. It was early April, but we had a beautiful sunny day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lunch at Silver Falls, Oregon’s largest State Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Starting from the main parking area, we headed for what is probably the most popular falls in the park, South Falls. I think a lot of people, if they don’t have all day, visit only this falls. It’s a fairly easy in-and-out. But you can also start the loop for the other falls from here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From South Falls (which you can hike behind; several falls here are like that), we continued to Lower South Falls. Along the way, we met a woman from Kansas who exclaimed “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!” We’ve been to the midwest (Missouri) and would have to agree with her. Total contrast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lower South Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This trail loop has uphill and downhill and going clockwise is generally the way we go. Mostly uphill at the beginning and downhill at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower North Falls comes next. It’s nice, but “only” 30 feet high. I didn’t include a picture here. After Lower North you come to Double Falls, which is just a few hundred feet up a short trail from the main loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Double Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Continuing along the trail loop, Drake Falls is the next stop. Again, it is a small falls, so I don’t have a picture here. Too many taller, more spectacular falls to focus on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middle North Falls is probably one of my favorites. A toss up between it and Lower South Falls. All the falls are spaced out in such a way that it doesn’t really seem like you’re hiking five miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Middle North Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The last falls along this particular loop is Winter Falls. It makes a nice end to the loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Winter Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But while it makes a nice end to the loop, you still have to make it back to the main parking area. And that’s a part of the trail that is a nice wooded path (for the most part), but nothing spectacular like you have seen on the first 4 miles of the loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a trail we try to do every year and I think it’s been a few years since we did it last. It was a beautiful day and a very scenic hike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that we are retired, we want to travel more. We live in such a beautiful state that there are so many choices to do short day hikes and see some amazing scenery. Our first day trip this year was the Silver Falls State Park, just east of Salem. In just a relatively short five … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Silver Falls State Park”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[277],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3870"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3888,"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870\/revisions\/3888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesimplehouse.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}