Silver Falls State Park

To say we were astounded by our hike today in Silver Falls State Park is to put it mildly. This State Park tucked back away from the Oregon coast not far from the capital of Salem, is an absolute treasure.

We saw one incredibly beautiful waterfall after another on a walk that wasn't in any way, shape or form strenuous, yet had the trail mostly to ourselves (seeing only 10 other hikers the whole time).

We're certain the place must pump with tourists come summer, and so maybe we scored on the timing front, but we're still pinching ourselves about the beauty we've encountered today in virtual privacy.

Everything is cloaked in the vivid greens that only a wet, mossy environment can support, yet with super tall forest trees all around.

You can even walk behind several of the waterfalls which is pretty rare (without getting your feet wet or impaling yourself on fallen logs).

We had driven into the park yesterday, unsure of what to expect, and found a really lovely campsite in heavy rain and so bunkered down until morning (albeit with electricity - thanks Oregon State Parks!)

This morning, in only light drizzle, we set off to do most of the Trail of Ten Falls, taking in seven of the big boys. And by 'big boys' I mean that Indy started counting the little rivulets running down mountainsides and got to ten 'waterfalls' before we'd even seen our second major set of falls, so there's a lot of water running every which way for the eyes to take in.

We made the hike more of an adventure for the boys by spending ample time behind the 'mystical' water falls making magical wishes, and by picking salmonberries the whole way (which were abundant).

At one stage I found myself yelling out apologies to the area's bears because I'm sure Dash ate enough to rob them of dessert for a few nights.

Starting at the South Falls, we took the Canyon Trail to Lower South Falls and then the North Canyon Trail to Lower North Falls.

We detoured to Double Falls, then back to Drake Falls and Middle North Falls.

Nath left us just after crossing the river and he powered on ahead to Winter Falls and then took the trail back to Bessie at South Falls, while the kids and I kept plodding away, finishing up ourselves at Winter Falls (a total of seven kilometre for the boys - which is a record for Dash on his own two feet and not far off Indy's best, which remains still the 10km walk he did with James and Alex at Thredbo -- there's nothing like peer pressure to make a kid want to keep hiking!!)

After Bessie the Bus picked us up, we enjoyed lunch at an overlook with views to North Falls before leaving the park and driving through more idyllic agricultural land dominated mostly by Christmas Tree Farms.