Saturday 9-9-23 Hiking Silver Falls Trail

 

A log display at the visitor center

We woke to a gorgeous morning with the temperature in the low 50s. We got up and had pancakes for breakfast. Today we're going to hang around our campground and do a little hiking.

After breakfast we went on a five mile hike to Silver Falls. We walked to the visitor center and picked up the Hot Springs Nature Trail. As we hiked this trail we saw small springs flowing down the mountainside. When we got to Silver Falls trailhead we hiked it to the falls. The trail was 1.2 miles up the mountain. We had to watch where we stepped because there were big rocks and tree roots in the trail. At places we used the roots of the trees as steps, the roots were huge. The scenery was amazing with all the tall pines, pictures can’t describe how tall they were. There were lots of ferns and other growth. The Laughing Water Creek flowed along side the trail. You can hear it and at places you can see it through the trees. The forest was thick with old and new growth, it reminded me of an enchanted forest. We crossed over bridges made of logs, they went over the creek. Some of the bridges needed work because the logs were rotting away. We crossed the creek at one place on a single log bridge, theses are my favorite. When we got to the fall area we climbed a wooden staircase that twisted down the mountain to get a view of the waterfall. Then we climbed up the mountain to the overview of the falls. Silver Falls is a beautiful fall. After taking pictures we walked to a trailhead that had three trails. One went to the Grove of the Patriarchs trail. The actual trail is closed because it was destroyed by a flood a couple of years ago. Fourteen years ago when we were here we did the trail and what I remember it was a short trail with old growth trees and it was beautiful. We took the trail to the Grove of the Patriarchs parking lot. It was .5 mile. As we hiked this section we saw some more of the falls, which was pretty. The Laughing Water Creek was even magnificent from here because it formed deep pools of water as it cascaded down the mountainside. You can’t even see the trail from the parking lot. We saw a few cars and people there because there were restrooms and water. It’s was too bad the actual trail was closed. After I used the facilities and Larry rested we headed back to Silver Falls. The Silver Falls trail is a loop so when we got back to the trailhead we went to the right and climbed up the mountain a little ways. Most of the hike back was downhill. During the hike we heard a bird screeching at us but we couldn’t see it. On the way up we only passed one lady hiking but on the way back we saw a lot more people. We said hi to two guys and one asked if we went swimming. We said no and I said it’s a little too cold. We all laughed. We passed a young guy who was on his way to go fly fishing. When we got back to the Minnie we were wondering where he was going to fish because you really can’t get close enough to the creek. We had an amazing hike through the forest. The hike started out cool but we were glad we didn’t wear a jacket because by the time we got back we were sweaty. 

 

Single log bridge

 

Laughing Water Creek

 

Upper part of Silver Falls

 

Wooden walkway at Silver Falls

Lower part of Silver Falls

One of the bridges we crossed

We spent the rest of the day enjoying our campsite. After dinner I walked around to get my steps I ended up doing 19,500 steps.

At 8:00 we walked over to the amphitheater to attend the ranger talk at 8:15 by Ranger Tom. It was 45 minutes about land in the United States under the Federal Government. Tom talked how this occurred and who had the power to make it happen. It was interesting and Tom did a great presentation. The amphitheater doesn’t have any benches so you had to bring your own chairs.

When we got home Larry finished his book. Larry is a fast reader, he finished a book he started yesterday, then he started another book and finished it. I started a Triple Sudoku puzzle and finished it. Then I moved onto another puzzle, which was Samurai Sudoku. This one will take longer to do. I’m still working on the Super Sudoku. LIFE IS GOOD!!!