The Peabody Award-winning TV series Portlandia taught us that the Dream of the ‘90s is alive in Portland. And for nearly two decades during visits to Dawn’s folks at their hillside Silverton, OR, home we have coveted the fantasy of retiring young and weird.
Perhaps our favorite activity in Oregon is sitting on the ‘rents expansive deck overlooking pine covered hillsides and the Silver Creek Reservoir, sipping wine while watching the bats emerge from beneath the shingles of the house at dusk
A close second, however, is Silver Falls State Park. This out-of-the-way gem of a state park features a seven-mile loop trail dripping with moss-shrouded woods, weeping bluffs and no fewer than 10 waterfalls of various degrees of wonder and magnificence. The trail curves deep into cavernous rock hollows behind three of the cascades. You will get wet.
In true slacker fashion, we had never made it to more than five falls on any of our many visits. So while visiting last month we decided to hike the loop and catch all 10! And this time we made it to eight. We could hear the ninth but weren’t willing to climb another set of stairs, and we were simply too lazy worn to take the 0.2 mile spur to the tenth. Next Time.
The beauty of the park speaks for itself, so let’s get right to Dawn’s amazing pictures …