Oregon Trip - Part 2 - Silver Falls State Park and Oregon Gardens

Silver Falls State Park lies in the mountains east of Salem. We camped at the park for two nights and took the 7 mile canyon trail which takes you by 10 major waterfalls. The winter/spring in Oregon was very wet so the falls were gushing pretty good.

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South Silver Falls Creek feeds into South Falls and Lower South Falls

First, time to fill up our water bottles

South Falls plunges 177' and the trail takes you behind the falls

The view from behind the falls looking down South Creek

A fine trail takes you through the canyon and by all ten waterfalls

Lower South Falls drops like a curtain 93'

A trail takes you behind this fall too

The curtain of falling water

A nest of fledglings were tucked up in the basalt cave behind the falls

Lower North Falls forms a 30' drop in the north fork of Silver Creek

Several logs are stuck in the falls

North Middle Falls dropping 106' is one of the most dramatic. A separate trail leads you behind the falls.

Upper North Falls drops 65'

North Falls plunging 136' shoot out from a narrow crevice. A huge cavern the size of an amphitheater has been formed behind the falls.

The view of North Falls viewed from behind in the amphitheater carved out of the basalt cliffs. Note the over-hanging cliff at the top of pic. This was one of the most impressive views and a dramatic example of the power of erosion over the ages.

Oregon Gardens, located in the town of Silverton, is a wonderful garden exhibition operated by the association of Oregon nurseries. A dozen beautiful garden plots reflecting different landscape themes are located on 80 acres.

We took a tram which takes you on a 45 minute tour of the gardens. The following pics show a few of the impressive garden themes.