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Silver Falls State Park, OR
Thanks to an internet acquaintance, we learned about the Silver Falls State Park. This park has a 9 mile hiking trail, with 10 major waterfalls along the route. Known as the Trail of Ten Falls, it was too good to pass up, especially since we’ve hiked most all the waterfall hikes along the Columbia Gorge. It was a beautiful day, so the timing was perfect.
Right away, we were impressed by the falls we saw. The falls tumble over basalt lava flows, and erode the softer ground underneath. This makes for some excellent opportunities to walk behind the falls for a truly unique perspective. We opted for the slightly shorter route (6 miles) which gave us most of the major falls. Really a beautiful park, and highly recommended (although we hear that on the weekends it gets very crowded). Here are a few highlights; more images in our Flickr album (see blog roll).
South Falls, 177 ft.
South Falls from behind
A different view of South Falls from behind
Middle North Falls, 106 ft.
Top of Middle North Falls
Bottom part of Middle North Falls
Lower South Falls, 93 ft.
Winter Falls, 134 ft.
Horsetail Falls, Columbia Gorge
Took advantage of the great weather to take a hike up to Horsetail Falls. A nice hike, with three falls. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go all the way to Triple Falls as a landslide has blocked the hiking trail. But it was a nice hike, and the views of the Gorge are spectacular.
Lower Horsetail Falls
Middle Horsetail Falls
Underneath Middle Horsetail Falls
A view of the falls from behind
Main view of Middle Horsetail Falls
Upper Horsetail Falls
This was a little disconcerting, it was a long way down
And this kept us from getting to Triple Falls
A view of the original road tunnel
A view of the Gorge, looking east
Latourell Falls and “town”
Our time in the Pacific Northwest is drawing to a close, and today we took one of our last waterfall hikes. This time, it was to Latourell Falls, about 40 miles from Portland in the Columbia Gorge. Not a difficult hike, maybe 1.5 miles and modest uphill. But a great view of Latourell Falls.
The bottom falls are an easy walk from the parking lot. A very short, steep, paved path takes you to a terrific view of Lower Falls. Then, a nice hike through heavy forests takes you to the upper falls, an entirely different look. There were some trees that exhibited strange growth patterns.
After that, we took the long ways down to visit the old 1880’s lumber town of Latourell. It’s mostly gone, but this was a bustling town in the late 1880’s. It boasted 6 saloons, hotels, and presumably other attractions for hard working men. It became a popular spot for Portlanders, who too a ferry up the Columbia, hiked to the town, and partied. Some even walked to the falls for a look. There isn’t much left, we found an old structure in the woods, as well as some of the last of the now deserted homes.
A view of Lower Latourell Falls, 246 ft high.
Upper Latourell Falls, probably some 200 ft tall.
Remains of an old structure in the hills
One of the remaining old homes, now abandoned
Romola by a strange tree
John by a strange tree
This bridge built by the CCC in the 1930’s
Falls Creek Falls, Washington
The Columbia Gorge is well known for its many waterfalls. The best known ones are on the Oregon side, but there are some spectacular falls on the Washington side as well. This week we hiked to the eponymous “Falls Creek Falls”, about 60 miles from our home base in Vancouver, WA. It was a terrific hike.
The hike itself starts next to Falls Creek, and there are small water falls and larger pools that look most idyllic. Certainly photogenic! As you head towards the Falls, you walk alongside (and across) the Creek, so you hear and see the creek all the way up. It is just under 2 miles, all uphill but moderate. And when you get to the Falls you are greeted by a magnificent sight… the Falls themselves.
It is a two stage Falls, Upper and Lower. Both are quite scenic and very camera friendly!
Falls Creek, at the start of the trail
Part way up you can see the rocky Falls Creek bed
In fact, you have to cross it several times
Just as you get close, you can see the Upper Falls
And here is a full shot of the Falls. Both Upper and Lower are visible.
A slightly different angle of the Falls
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