Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

We wished we had more to say about Eugene, Oregon, but we only ventured out of our hotel to grab a quick dinner.  We think the fast pace of our trip finally caught up to us.  After a good night's sleep it was time to head back to Portland with a couple of quick detours along the way.

One of our first detours lead us to a fork in the road, literally!  Just off Highway 5 and a little east off Highway 34 stands a large fork in the road....ok, its not in the road but beside the road.  Either way you have to check out this roadside oddity!

Fork in the road off Highway 34

Back on Highway 5 and near Salem we exited Highway 5 onto Highway 22 and traveled east to Highway 214 and on into Silver Falls State Park.  

View of Mount Hood from Highway

The area between Highway 5 and the park is an amazing drive full of quaint small towns and farms producing everything from flowers to food - even Christmas trees!

Amazing color in the fields off Highway 214

This is not sand but a beautiful white flower known as Sea Foam or Foamflower, grown for medical purposes

Many Christmas tree farms are in the area surrounding Silver Falls State Park

Many Christmas tree farms are in the area surrounding Silver Falls State Park

Once we arrived at Silver Falls State Park it was easy to tell why people call it the "crown jewel" of the Oregon State Parks system.  This park is the kind of standout scenic treasure that puts Oregon on the nation map.  Silver Falls is nestled in the foothills of Oregon's Cascade Mountains, less than an hour east of the state capital of Salem.  Over 9,200 acres of property make this the largest state park in Oregon.

South Falls

The park contains the Trail of Ten Falls, which is a spectacular, nationally recognized hiking trail weaves through dense forested landscape.  The trail passes a series of breathtaking waterfalls along a rocky canyon.  One of the prettiest and most famous falls is South Falls which offers a 177-foot curtain of water you can walk behind.

North Falls

Canyon creating the falls

Exhausted from our beautiful hike we headed back into Portland where we had our last Oregon hotel reservation waiting for us and a ride home on a silver bird the next day.