beautiful, funny, sad & true

Went for a hike today with my friend LJ, who suggested Silver Falls State Park, which is the largest state park in Oregon.  I’d never been there before, and she hadn’t been there in like ten years, so it was the perfect way to spend a sunny day.  The park is full of waterfalls, some of which you can even walk behind, which I have to say is one of the coolest things ever.

Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself.

This next one was our second favorite.  From above, you don’t even know what’s about to hit you.

Vertigo much?  The protective poles had been removed from this particular overlook, so I walked as close to the edge as I dared and stuck my arm over the edge to take a picture looking straight down over a hundred feet.  Like I said, though, we had no idea what we were in for.  The trail goes clear down behind the falls, which, if you haven’t experienced before, is absolutely amazing.  More to come on that later.

Continuing on. . .

The next one was our favorite.  Talk about not knowing what to expect. . .the trail went around behind this one too, and we were also able to get a ton of great pictures from behind the falls.

The power of the water, and the wind that the falls created, was staggering to behold.  From there, the trail wound around to the opposite side of the falls, and we happened to be there at the perfect time of day, so we were able to see rainbows in the mist from the falls.  It was incredible enough that I shot a wee little video.  I’ve tried for like half an hour to get it to view inside this entry, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why it’s not working, but it ain’t happening, so just click on the link if you want to watch it.  It’s really beautiful, I promise.

waterfallmini

After another mile, we crossed a little bridge and finished the loop back to where we started, except on the other side of the ravine.

Such a beautiful place, and we only had time to do half of the loop.  The thing to do would be to bring a caravan of friends in multiple cars, and then you’d be able to park one car at one end of the trail and a second car at the other end.  This would ensure that you wouldn’t have to backtrack, and that you could walk the entire network of trails, which could easily turn into an all-day journey.  Also, you should eat breakfast before you start out. We were starving by the time we got back to the state capital of Salem, where we split a chicken sandwich, a delicious chipotle salad, and french fries.  Oh, and tator tots, which are McMenamins’ specialty as far as I’m concerned.

Definitely a place to go back to multiple times, and if it’s the hottest part of the summer, I recommend bringing (or wearing) a swimsuit so that you can swim in the warm, shallow rivers.

Random day trips = awesome.  This one = SUPER AWESOME.