177-foot South Falls

On a beautiful day we visited Siver Falls State Park southeast of Portland. The Park is truly a gem, and a geological wonder too. In any other state in the continental U.S., the 14 square-miles would surely have been designated a National Park long ago. But, it has to compete with the world-class waterfalls residing in the Columbia River Gorge.

An eight-mile loop trail with 900 feet of elevation gain begins at an interesting lodge, constructed originally by the CCC in the 1930’s. The Trail passes 10 waterfalls, five of them dropping over 100 feet.  

Instead of doing the long loop trail on this visit, we hiked a short distance to the top of South Falls at 177 feet. We descended down the cliffs and stopped at a nice viewing point befor the trail passed behind the Falls. 

South Falls

Nature Store near Lodge

Well-maintained trails

Trail behind South Falls

South Falls area

North Falls

Nice trail leading to North Falls viewpoint

Sunset over Portland for a change of pace

Good folks at South Falls