If I hadn’t made it a bucket list item to visit the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, Oregon, I’m not sure I would have sought out a hike at Silver Falls State Park. But there’s only so much time you can spend at a tulip festival when you don’t have kids, and I had anticipated being at the tulip farm for about 2-3 hours (which turned out to be quite accurate).
So prior to going to the tulip fest, I researched what else we could do in the area, since Woodburn is about a 45 minute drive from Portland! And I’m all about maximizing my time in an area. It turns out there’s not much out in that area, and even this gem of a state park that is Silver Falls was yet another ~40 minute drive south from Wooden Shoe Farm, which would put us even further south of Portland for our return trip.
At first I debated if we should go… Then Melissa of Roux Roamer, who is an Oregon native and a photographer by trade, personally told me she highly recommended the hike. Alright, if a local tells you she likes it, you have to go, right?? Plus, I also got to meet her in person at the tulip festival and she is legitimately a sweetie!
In the end, I am SO glad we chose to go because a beautiful sunrise with tulips followed by this gorgeous and fun canyon hike at Silver Falls State Park was literally the highlight of my Portland trip! It was not only the thrill of chasing multiple majestic waterfalls, but the verdant mossy greenery of these forests literally astounded me and took my breath away. I’m all for chasing waterfall journeys that are just as beautiful as the waterfall you seek! (e.g. Havasupai)
I don’t think you absolutely need a guide for this hike because the trails are demarcated so well, but there reception out there is spotty, so I do think it is nice to have an IDEA of how you want to do your trail and how much you have time for that day (because I know I like to budget blocks of time when I travel!).
And that’s where this post might be helpful 🙂 Read on to learn more details about each waterfall we checked off and how to customize your day hike!
If you’d like to skip ahead in the article, here are the quick links as always:
- Silver Falls State Park Basics–Parking, Fees, Etc.
- Trails and Trail Lengths in the Trail of Ten Waterfalls
- South Falls
- Lower South Falls
- Lower North Falls
- Double Falls
- Drake Falls
- Middle North Falls
- Winter Falls
- Twin Falls + North & Upper North Falls
- Other Things to Note on the Trail of Ten Waterfalls
Silver Falls State Park Basics–Parking, Fees, etc.
Silver Falls State Park is actually the largest state park in Oregon, with hiking, biking, and even horse trails! The earliest inhabitants of the Willamette Valley were the Kalapuya and Molalla dating back to about 14,000 years ago. European settlers eventually started coming around as early as 1812 and the diseases they brought started wiping out the natives. By 1850s, these natives were completely displaced and relocated to reservations. =(
Silver Falls City then became a small logging community, starting in 1888. At some point, as the land was cleared, a private owner of South Falls even sold admission to watch people push cars over the falls! One guy even canoed over the 177-foot waterfall as a stunt! (Not smart…can’t believe that guy didn’t die.)
Then in 1935, FDR actually bought the private land that had been logged and turned Silver Falls into one of his largest Recreational Demonstration Projects. The trees eventually all grew back and it’s hard to tell they were ever logged before now…hallelujah!
The canyon formation itself dates back to 15 million years ago when the ocean that had covered Oregon receded. This area actually used to be part of the Oregon Coast until volcanoes, basalt lava flows, and falling ash changed it into what it is today. The softer parts of the basalt eroded away to create natural walkway paths/caves behind the waterfalls today. You can kind of make out the cave-like area behind the waterfall above–that’s where you can walk behind it! There’s 4 waterfalls on this hike where you can walk behind them.
It’s pretty incredible itself what a natural wonder this park is, but it’s also interesting to remember its past going back to the geologic formation of the canyon and the natives who were displaced. With that being said, please do respect the nature here, and follow that saying: Take only Memories, Leave only Footprints.
Parking:
Think of this state park as being broken into three parts, South, North, and Middle.
It’s actually even larger, spanning 9000 acres but the main attraction around the Trail of Ten Waterfalls is broke into 3 sections.
There’s 2 main parking lots, but the largest parking lot is near South Falls, aptly named for being in the south part of the park. This is also where Google Maps will map you if you type in “Silver Falls State Park” into the app. I suggest parking here to start your hike, but you are also welcome to try parking by North Falls (which we didn’t see). The maps say parking is more limited up there. We also saw a small parking lot near the “middle” where Winter Falls Trailhead starts, but strangely, it is not labeled in their trail map as having a pay station.
Fees:
$5 per vehicle to park for the day. The machines take Visa and MasterCard or exact change.
Park Hours:
The South Falls Day Use is the largest area and here are the hours to notes as they do lock the areas.
November- January: 8:00am- 5:00pm
February: 8:00am- 6:00pm
March: 8:00am- 8:00pm
April- August: 7:00am- 9:00pm
September: 7:00am- 8:00pm
October: 8:00am- 7:00pm
Pets:
Pets are not allowed on the Canyon, Twin, Maple Ridge, and Winter Trails. Dogs on leashes (6′ max) are allowed on the Rim Trail, Bike Path, and 35 miles of backcountry trail. They can be off leash in the South Falls Day Use Area.
Trails and Trail Lengths for the Trail of Ten Waterfalls
The best thing about this state park is that there are 10 waterfalls in the span of about 8 miles and you can customize your hike to how you want, as Melissa shared with me. Most of the trails are loops and will take you back to the parking lot where you started if you decide not to go any farther.
The basic trails are listed below.
- South Falls loop (<1 mi)–you can walk a very short walk to this waterfall from the South parking lot making a loop around the whole waterfall from top down, and even behind it! The trail map say it’s a mile, but it seems shorter than that to me and doesn’t really seem like a hike, but more of a walk/view.
Waterfall count: 1 - Maple Ridge Loop (2.6 mi) – Pass through South Falls and instead of looping back up to the parking lot, continue down Canyon trail until Lower South Falls. Loop back up the Maple Ridge Trail.
Waterfall count: 2 - Winter Falls Loop (5 mi) – Instead of taking Maple Ridge Trail back to the parking lot, keep going on Canyon Trail to add on 5 other waterfalls (Lower North Falls, Double Falls, Drake Falls, Middle North Falls, and Winter Falls) ! Take the Winter Falls trail to the Rim Trail which will lead back to the South Falls parking lot.
Waterfall count: 7 - Trail of Ten Falls (7.2 mi) – Instead of taking Winter Trail, keep going along Canyon Trail to Twin falls, then North and Upper North Falls. Take the Rim trail all the way back to the South Parking lot.
Waterfall count: 10
There are other little waterfalls too, but these 10 are the main ones that people view on the trails! Read on for pictures and some tips on each of the ones we saw!
Travel Pearl: The reason I also suggest to park at South Falls Trailhead is because it’s easier to build your hike length starting from here. Most people park here anyway. I recommend looking at the trail map if you want to better plan your hike, but the trails were marked very well and easy to follow!
South Falls (177 ft)
The first waterfall you’ll see from the main parking lot is South Falls. This is probably the most photographed of the falls, and the one that they apparently used to make shows of washing cars down… whatever floats your…car? Ha. A little ways past the nature store and the lodge, you’ll see the trail that leads down to South Falls.
It’s a very short walk from the parking lot to this waterfall and you’ll hear the falls for sure since it’s one of the largest ones. If you want, you can take a little walk into the open cave behind the falls! But just be forewarned that you will get a bit wet. I don’t think I actually got any pictures from behind any waterfalls because I was worried about getting cameras/phones wet!
This waterfall is one of 4 on the Trail of Ten that you can walk behind the waterfall. If you don’t want to walk behind it, you can also choose to walk down the loop to the little bridge in front of the falls and see it from there.
The little loop around this waterfall can be good for people who just want a simple view of a nice waterfall without walking too much. I estimate it’s actually less than a mile, even though the map says it’s a 1 mile loop. That might include walking to the top of the falls and down and around.
It can be nice for families with younger kids, which I saw lots of around this area–even for field trips! There’s plenty of day use areas for picnics and your pets just beyond the lodge (to the right) if you don’t plan to hike too much.
Lower South Falls (93 ft)
With South Falls to your back, continue along the Canyon Trail which is to the left of the little bridge viewpoint for South Falls. You’ll hike for another 1.3 miles along the creek and walk down some stairs to see Lower South Falls. The path here can be muddy and a little rocky, so just watch out, but the gorgeous green moss on the trees are beautiful especially when the sun is out!
You can also walk behind this waterfall, and you’ll definitely have to walk behind it to continue on your trail! No choice on avoiding walking behind this one like for South Falls! But it’s a stunning one as well and walking behind that curtain is pretty cool because the water veil is quite wide and makes for great pictures!
Again, be warned you’ll get wet and put away your cameras that you don’t want getting wet! But the view here is spectacular!
If you don’t want to go any farther than these two waterfalls, continue past Lower South Falls and you’ll see a split in the road. Take the road to the right to Maple Ridge Trail, which will loop you right back to the start of your hike! This Maple Ridge Loop is about 2.6 miles total, as stated above.
Travel Pearl: If you want to keep going, just continue on the Canyon Trail! However, if you don’t want to do double the hike (~5 mi) or don’t have time, then you may want to take the Maple Ridge Trail back to the beginning as the next waterfall is at least a mile away from this junction point.
Lower North Falls (30 ft)
A little over 1 mile away from Lower South Falls along the continuous Canyon Trail is Lower North Falls. It’s not quite as impressive as the first two, at a whopping 30 feet tall. But get ready for a little string of waterfalls once you see this one!
Double Falls (178 ft)
Literally once you pass Lower North Falls, you’ll see a little branch off to the side to Double Falls. It takes you a very short ways up the hill to the left, and I think Double Falls is pretty cool to take a moment to walk up and see.
It’s the tallest waterfall, although it sounds like it’s almost two waterfalls, right?? The waterfall is not as wide but it certainly is tall! You can feel the waterfall mist even from far away. Take your picture from farther away to see the top of the falls as it gets much harder to see the closer you walk!
Drake Falls (27 ft)
The least impressive of the falls to me, and rightfully so since it is the smallest in comparison out of the Trail of Ten. The waterfall was named after a Silverton photographer June D. Drake who campaigned in 1900 to get Silver Falls park status using his photographs to help sell his point. It was rejected by NPS in 1926 due to all the stumpy logs from leftover logging. It was FDR to the rescue in 1935!
Though not a tall waterfall, the water rushing through here is no joke. It’s a fast waterfall. I didn’t really bother to take a full picture of it.
Middle North Falls (106 ft)
Yet another waterfall that you can walk behind in a cave-like trail, Middle North Falls is about 0.4 miles after Drake Falls. It’s easier to see the whole thing from farther away, actually. When you get closer, you see the view in the photo above. We chose not to walk behind this one because I’m not sure the trail goes through and you’ll just have to walk back the way you came to continue on the trail!
Nothing wrong with doing that of course! If you have loads of time, walk behind it and then come back the way you came. You have to walk a little off the main trail to see this one too, so you will retrace your steps back up to the trail as well.
After Middle North Falls, the trail will reach a junction point again and split. You can continue on the trail straight to Twin Falls Trail (to see Twin Falls and beyond…) or veer right across a bridge onto Winter Trail to see Winter Falls.
I’ve said this before, but the great thing about this hike is that ALL the trails and waterfalls are labeled SO nicely and it’s hard to miss where you are. There really isn’t reception out there, but the signs are more than helpful!
Winter Falls (134 ft)
We chose to take the Winter Trail and cut our hike down to 5 miles instead of ~8 since we had been up since 4am and still had to drive back to Portland. The picture taking took a little bit more time than it would have to just hike straight through everything. We were taking our time to enjoy the scenery too!
Winter Falls is about 0.5 miles from Middle North falls along the Winter Trail and it’s viewed from a spot where you are facing about the middle of the waterfall from the side.
Winter Falls is also one that’s hard to capture the entire thing. The waterfall runs deep down into the canyon and you can’t see the whole thing from where I’m sitting. The little bench is super nice though to take a break and here is where we finally saw some other hikers who could help us take a picture together! Sometimes selfies just don’t cut it haha
The trail starts to head upwards before you reach this waterfall and then continues upwards after this waterfall until you reach the road again. This is where the trailhead for the “middle” of the Trail of Ten starts, at a little parking lot at the top. We stopped to drink some water and eat some Chex Mix snacks for “lunch” before trekking back to our starting point.
After Winter Falls, there are no more waterfalls and you follow the Rim Trail, which is also parallel to a bike trail for a portion of the walk back to the South Falls entrance. It gets to be a bit long of a walk back without the waterfalls to break up an almost 2 mile hike, but it is still pretty!
Travel Pearl: Just note that this part of the forest on the Rim Trail back is a lot darker and covered, so if it has rained recently, the trails are way more muddy here and hence why good shoes are recommended!
It was a whole different experience walking back through this section of the forest. The sunlight shining through made it very ethereal and I felt like I was in a Twilight movie…ha! Watch out for hanging spider webs and threads too. And as always, stay on the trail!
Twin Falls (31 ft), North Falls (136 ft), and Upper North Falls (65 ft)
If you were to continue on the Twin Falls Trail instead of taking the Winter trail, you could hike another 0.3 miles to see Twin Falls. Technically we could have thrown this into our Winter Falls Loop and just back tracked to the Winter Trail since Twin Falls isn’t TOO far from the junction point where the trails split. But, we were lazy, and it seems like a small waterfall too in comparison.
North Falls and Upper North Falls are farther beyond Twin Falls, but it is at least another mile on the Canyon Trail to reach North Falls, and another 0.3 miles from North Falls to Upper North Falls, which is off the trail loop. The distance is totally doable if you have the time to complete the trail! We had a long day already and wanted to get back to Portland.
Fun fact: North Falls is the only waterfall you can see without exiting your car. But you should exit your car, c’mon. I guess we could have stopped to see it when we drove out of the park!
Stop by Winter Falls on the way back to hit your last waterfall on the way back to the South Falls parking lot, if you decide to hike this loop!
Other Things to Note on the Trail of Ten Falls Day Hike
- There are no bathrooms on the trail, so make sure to go at the trailheads.
- Take all your trash out with you–there are no trash cans on the trail.
- No swimming is allowed near the waterfalls, but there is a designated area at Upper North Falls.
- BLACK BEARS and COUGARS are a possibility here–RARE, but potentially could be sighted. Know what to do in case a bear or cougar attacks beforehand! And report sightings to the park ranger.
- Can’t stress this enough, but stay on the trail! Try not to cause erosions by going off path.
- I would advise against bringing strollers due to the unpaved trail and rocky areas.
What Should I Wear/Bring?
It does get muddy in certain areas of this hike if it has rained, and also it gets wet and slippery behind the waterfalls. There are some rocky areas and the trail is unpaved in pretty much most parts, so I highly recommend good walking/hiking shoes if you go beyond just the South Falls area. I wear Merrells for my hiking treks (linked above), but something with good grip should be decent. The hike is classified as “moderate” but I didn’t think it was that hard.
Other than that, bring enough water and snacks if you hike a little longer, but just remember to bring your trash out! I like using my Platypus soft water bottle because it gets flatter as you drink the water from it, making it light and easy to store, and it’s really not that expensive.
The Day Hike pamphlets also recommend a basic first aid kit–I’m guessing since it can be pretty remote out there without a ton of hikers at times. I honestly didn’t carry much for this hike!
And as it does rain in Oregon quite a bit, a waterproof jacket of some sorts is nice depending on the weather. But it’s also nice to have to protect any camera gear you might have. My husband used a lightweight Columbia rain jacket shell to tuck his DSLR inside when we walked behind waterfalls. It’s inevitable you will get wet. I am wearing my favorite Patagonia down sweater hoodie here. This color is discontinued but I linked a blue one that I would totally get too! I love that it’s SO lightweight and warm at the same time because I get cold easily. And the down in this jacket is traceable down, 100% recycled, so it’s much more humane and responsibly sourced which I also LOVE about this jacket and Patagonia in general.
Hope that information was helpful and that you get to see the waterfalls for yourself! It’s a high density of waterfalls all in a short hike, so I think it was super worth it to see and breathtaking to stroll through these magnificent forests! Feel free to help me pin on Pinterest if you liked this post, or better yet, subscribe if you like these detailed posts! 🙂
Happy Hiking! 🙂
xoxo,
Jas
Again, as a fan, I enjoy reading your hiking journal all the time. Will share your info and tips with my connection for sure. Thank you.
Hehe thank you! You are my favorite ❤️
Oh I love waterfalls! If we make it down to Oregon I would love to do this hike!! Thanks for yet again another very comprehensive post, Jasmine ?
Aww Louise thank you so much! I’m glad you found I helpful and I hope you get to do it!!
Amazing and informative! Will bookmark this for sure when I go back to Portland!
awww thank you so much Yue!! 🙂 it’s really a pretty easy hike and amazing density of waterfalls!! xoxo!
I love love love waterfall hikes, and I’ve been wanting to do a PNW trip for the longest time–I’m definitely gonna have to add this to the list!
YAY!! I’m so glad 🙂 this one is def a gem of a state park!
Alas, North Falls is the most spectacular. The grotto behind the falls is huge. The creek constricts through a narrow passage and the sound amplifies. Next time ?
Wow that’s great to know!! Thank you for your comment and recommendation!