Silver Falls State Park is about 25 miles east of Salem Oregon. It is nestled in the lower elevation of Oregon's Cascade Mountains in a temperate rain forest. I have been there five times and have yet to see the sun. Never-the-less, rainforest atmosphere makes for some spectacular easy hiking.
But the main attractions of the park are the 10 different waterfalls of varying sizes. The highest, and most known is South Falls (177 ft. drop), which is a short walk from the park's main parking lot. From there, you can take a 6 or an 8 mile hike up the Canyon Trail and see most, if not all the falls (five of which are over 100 ft.) You can also drive along the main park road and see a couple of them from roadside pullouts.
The trail ends at Upper North Falls, which is probably my personal favorite. It is a level half mile walk from the North Falls parking lot along the river till you reach the falls. Upper North Falls only drops 65 feet, but it is a still quite spectacular, as you can see from the picture.
This photo also illustrates the technique I briefly discussed in my last blog...you see a foreground, a middle ground and a background. Your eye goes right to the falls because of its brightness, but then you pull back to see the bush in the foreground, then the pools at the bottom of the falls, and then back to the falls again.
I had to use a tripod for this shot as you need a 1/2 to 1 second exposure to give the falls the dreamy, flowing look. Because waterfalls generate their own breeze and the shutter speed is slow, you can see some movement in the trees and the bush on the ground. I personally like seeing some movement as it makes the image more alive. If you haven't been to this park, I hope you can do so some day.
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