Silver Falls State Park – 08/16/2025

A rare August atmospheric river was forecast to hit the NW with a potential to drop 1-3 inches of rain in the mountains and an inch or more in the northern Willamette Valley. By Sunday the system was projected to be moving on and giving way to sunny skies. We adjusted our plans accordingly and had decided to visit Silver Falls State Park on Sunday after the rains subsided to see how the waterfalls looked with the additional rainwater.

We got a little rain on Friday, and more overnight, but by early Saturday morning it became apparent that the river had stayed to the north and mostly missed the Salem area. Around 9am we decided that there was no reason to wait an additional day and quickly packed up and were on our way to Silver Fall by 10am.

We parked in the busy South Falls Day Use Area and hung our State Park Day Use Parking Permit. (Parking is $10.00 for one day.)

Our plan was to hike the Trail of Ten Falls in a clockwise direction starting with South Falls.

South Falls Lodge and Cafe

South Falls

South Falls

For the loop you can either hike behind South Falls or continue to a footbridge over South Fork Silver Creek below the falls. The majority of people go behind the falls which is normally the route we take as well, but it looked pretty busy behind the falls so we headed for the bridge.

South Falls from the bridge.

After crossing the bridge we turned right to continue on the Canyon Trail along the creek.

Hedgenettle

Largeleaf avens

The next waterfall up was Lower South Falls, approximately a mile from South Falls.

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Like South Falls the trail goes behind Lower South Falls.

Lower South Falls wound up being our favorite today.

We continued on the Canyon Trail past a junction with the Maple Ridge Trail which provides an option for a shorter loop back to the South Falls Day Use Area.

It was nearly another mile on the Canyon Trail to the third waterfall, Lower North Falls on the North Fork Silver Creek.

Self-heal

Footbridge over the North Fork Silver Creek.

The recent rain was most obvious with this waterfall. We’ve visited the waterfall twice in July when it typically looks like this.

Just after passing Lower North Falls we detoured left on the short spur to Double Falls.

Double Falls

Back on the Canyon Trail the next waterfall up was Drake Falls followed shortly by Middle North Falls.

Drake Falls

Middle North Falls

Middle North Falls is another waterfall that you can hike behind, but unlike South and Lower South Falls it is not part of the loop. We detoured on the spur trail that led downhill behind the falls.

We returned to the Canyon Trail and continued on to a junction with the Winter Trail. Winter Falls all but disappears in the Summer and even with the recent rain we didn’t expect that there would be enough flow to make the half mile roundtrip detour worth it.

The Winter Trail footbridge through the trees.

A third of a mile beyond the Winter Trail we passed Twin Falls which is the most difficult of the waterfalls to get a good view of.

After the leaves fall off the trees there is a decent view of Twin Falls from the trail as you are coming from the Winter Trail junction, but today this was the best view we had.

Near Twin Falls the Twin Falls Trail split off to the left which led uphill to the new North Canyon District (post). If you found the need for a restroom while you were on the loop the only one outside of the South Falls Day Use Area is located at this new trailhead.

We opted not to make the climb up to the new North Rim Trail and stuck to the Canyon Trail for another mile to North Falls.

Required picture of these large boulders in the creek.

North Falls

North Falls

North Falls is the other waterfall that you can hike behind and we followed the Canyon Trail underneath.

Rainbow below North Falls.

Scouler’s corydalis

We climbed the steps on the far side of North Falls to the junction with the Rim Trail, but before continuing the loop we detoured to Upper North Falls. It’s approximately four tenths of a mile from the junction with the Rim Trail to Upper North Falls.

To reach Upper North Falls you pass under a footbridge coming from the North Falls Trailhead and Highway 214.

Bleeding Heart

Upper North Falls

Upper North Falls

After visiting Upper North Falls we returned to the Rim Trail and followed it nearly 2-miles back to the South Falls Day Use Area where we had another half miles back to our parked car.

North Falls from the Rim Trail.

Salal berries. These were the only ripe edible berries that we came across. They aren’t the best trail berries, but these were fairly juicy and sweet prompting me to have a couple.

Winter Creek at the top of Winter Falls. Our suspicion of low water flow was confirmed.

Given where we parked and various detours our GPS showed an 8-mile hike with approximately 600′ of elevation gain.

Despite the atmospheric river being more of a seasonal creek in our part of Oregon there had been enough rain to make a noticeable impact on the falls which was fun to see. It was another reminder that Silver Falls State Park is worthy of a visit anytime of the year. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Silver Falls 2025