Random Rambler: Oregon Coast 2011

Day One: Drive up the through Utah and Idaho, Shoshone Falls, Twin Falls and Baker City, OR.

Days 2 and 3 (Multnomah Falls area and Bridal Veil Falls, Vineyard)

Day 4: We got a bit of a later start today, but no matter we are on vacation. We had 5 hours to kill between the 11:00 checkout at this hotel, and the 4:00 (and no earlier) check in at our next stop. Luckily we knew of this before hand so I had researched some things to do the night before.

I finally actually located an area I wanted to do last year but ultimately failed to locate. For some reason I thought it was in the southern section of the state, but actually it was only about an hour to hour and a half from McMinnville, and 2 hours from our next destination. It is the Silver Falls State Park and is only $5.00 a carload to visit.

Oregon Wine Country is sure pretty. (both from the DBP Album)

On the edge of the park sits this lookout. Rather pretty view here.

A couple more miles down the road we found the ranger station, paid our $5.00 and headed towards the park.

Silver Creek, South Fork

I love the moss that is everywhere up here. Apparently it is a pest to the locals, but I think it is pretty.

Landis walking into the park.

Most of the falls are either visible from the parking lot, or are a less than a mile hike to get to. They do provide a map, but we had a very hard time figuring it out until we actually got to a few of the locations. I am unsure how they could make it any more clear, but we made quite a few wrong turns and had to make some corrections. It was worth this small inconvenience though as the waterfalls here are absolutely stunning!

There is a little bridge above the south falls, and this is the view from it. This is not a view I have ever experienced before. Can you imagine if you saw this as you were floating down this creek?? At this point, I would totally abandon ship. And as you will see in a moment, I think I would have made a wise decision in doing so.

Yikes!

South falls 177 feet high! Absolutely stunning!!

After struggling with the map a little bit, we finally found the trailhead to the loop around these falls at only 2/10 of a mile. It is really, REALLY worth doing. We missed where the trail splits for the loop on the way down, but if you stay to the left the whole time, I think the trail is going to be ultimately easier to do.

I like the interesting star shape it creates when it hits the pool below.

I LOVE this trail. Somehow, even though the waterfall is higher, and there is MORE cliff above your head, it isn’t as scary to hike as Pony Tail Falls was.

It was hard to keep the mist off the lens. Luckily I brought a lens cloth down with me. (not that it helped this picture. Honestly at this point in the trail I probably could have wiped, went to take this shot, and STILL had the same effect.)

Just beautiful.

I Really just love this waterfall.

And the view from the bridge below.

A view of the pretty forest surrounding the falls.

Almost back up to the top is a small side trail to Frenchie Falls.

Not terribly impressive after what we just saw, but at like, 50 feet off the trail, its worth taking the detour to see.

More moss.

A wild Iris. I have these in my garden as well!

After really enjoying that hike we again, after having some difficulty with the map, found ourselves traveling north towards the North Falls.

Before hitting that trail head, we did see a pull out for the lookout to North Falls. I love how the waterfall is naturally framed by the forest. Now I am just going to go ahead and tell you now, these shots did require my telephoto lens. Lets see…

Here it is without the telephoto. Now if you do not have a telephoto lens, do not fret. A few miles north, you can still get some amazing pictures, as you will see shortly.

I rather liked this shot as well.

This is such a beautiful State Park. I think I would enjoy camping here one year. Not much further up the road is the parking lot for the trail head to North Falls, as well as Upper North Falls. We decided to do Upper North Falls first as Landis’s mom was with us, and it was the shorter of the 2 hikes. (only 2/10’s of a mile.) It is actually a fairly easy, level hike.

Look at the size of these clovers!!!

Vicious looking plant!

I thought this waterfall at a mere 65 feet wasn’t going to be all that great, but there are sure a lot of different ways to frame it and play with it. I love it!

An artist was here painting the falls.

View downstream of the North Fork of Silver Creek.

That hike was a bit much for Mom, so she went back to the truck while we went down the North Falls trail. I am glad we did the other hike first, as at 3/10’s of a mile this hike is not very far, but it is DOWN and slippery.

North Creek just before the falls.

The top

First View

I just cannot get enough of this temperate rain forest. It is so beautiful!

Another waterfall you can hike behind.

I like this panoramic.

Good Shot of the pool.

see the itty bitty people? At 136 feet, this is actually shorter than the south falls, but it does seem more powerful.

This 3/10 mile hike is a little tough to do it goes rather down, and the trail is rather wet and narrow.

We made it back up and, after washing the mud from our hands in the stream (did I mention slippery?) we started heading north again, until we realized we had reached the end of the state park, so we turned around to head back south. The Winter Falls lookout was full when we passed before, and had a spot open so we stopped here.

After taking these pictures of the top of the falls, I got a call from my dad. Apparently this waterfall sits at the top, and in the exact center of the valley, and I actually got a signal here. (hint for if you are here and need to make a call). They had arrived at the hotel. It’s after 4:30, holy crap where had the day gone! I was like a kid in a candy store here, and had no idea I had spent so much time here. I gave him the instructions to get into the hotel, we hiked down a little bit (apparently there is a lookout not too far down to view the falls, but we didn’t get that far before turning back.)

All in all I must say this is probably the most amazing state park I have ever been in. If you are anywhere NEAR the area, plan a day here. It is amazing!

Also, there is the Trail of the 10 falls you can do which is an 8 mile hike that will take you to, behind, and over all of the falls I shot today, and then some. I really would like to do it one day myself. Of course, if 8 miles seems daunting, then, as seen, there are these absolutely stunning waterfalls that you can drive up to, or take a very short hike down to. Wow, just WOW! I loved this park.

After that we started out towards our room in Lincoln City.

Windmill – DSP Album. We have been seeing various parts going down the freeway for a while now, that at first we thought where plane parts, then I finally determined they must be windmill parts. In the Columbia Gorge we saw a much higher frequency of them (I am guessing due to the sheer number of them on either side of the river. Lots of wind here I guess.) Anyway, all of the actual windmills I have seen have been from afar, this one was actually pretty close to the road.

View from our deck.

View of our deck. I am really happy with the room I found. This was a Duplex, with, as you can see, a private hot tub, on a private deck, on the beach. I spent a lot of time in that hot tub, listening to the ocean, it is an experience I will never forget.