Enjoying Falling Water and Dodging Frozen Water!

Our second stop on this trip was Silver Falls State Park near Sublimity, OR. We arrived on Monday, 3/19, long before dark and dry. Yeah! This is another great Oregon state park with lots to do. The campground is lovely, but the waterfalls are the real draw.

The crown jewel is the Trail of Ten Falls, a 7-mile loop with, not only views of ten gorgeous waterfalls, but the option to walk behind four of the larger falls. That is so cool! The only downside was that pets were not allowed on the Ten Falls Trail so I took over 100 Riley-free pictures - quite an accomplishment for me! The falls range from the diminutive 27’ Drake Falls to the towering 178’ Double Falls. We had a beautiful, sunny day for our hike and it was thoroughly enjoyable! Rog and I laughed because we’ve done long hikes to waterfalls far less spectacular than some of the unnamed spillovers along the trail. Highly recommend adding this hike to your bucket list!

Winter Falls (134') and Upper North Falls (65')

North Falls (136')

Behind North Falls!

Stairs on the trail to North Falls.
Loved the weeping walls of moss and ferns.

Middle North Falls (106')

Rog on the trail as it winds behind Middle North Falls.

Double Falls (178')

Lower South Falls (93')

The trail behind Lower South Falls... just so cool!

South Falls (177')

The trail also passes behind South Falls.

Tubes created when the lava flowed over mature trees.

It took us nearly five hours to do the Ten Falls loop from the campground, a bit longer than we thought it would, but Riley aced his coach day. After breakfast, we had walked him two miles roundtrip to the off-leash dog area for some ball time. We decided to set up the X-pen so he wouldn’t have full run of the RV. He is, after all, still a puppy and there’s no sense tempting fate. Then he got a yummy new bone just before we left. I needn’t have worried about the time, he was totally sacked out when we returned. He rolled over for tummy rubs and had to be cajoled into getting up and going for walkies. Have I mentioned that Mastiffs make awesome travel companions? 😊

Camp Buddies.

Handsome Puppy Brother.

Rog was excited to test out his new mountain bike. Although he’s had his Niner for several months, this was his first time out in the woods on single track trails. Other than the weather, which was cloudy with intermittent showers, he had a great ride. The bike and his wet-weather riding gear all performed to expectations. Riley and I snuggled together in the RV, watching the rain and complementing ourselves on being way too smart to be playing outside. Lol.

Rog takes off and Riley stands vigil. Where did Daddy go?? Lol. 

Catamount Trail.

Oh yes, loving this!

Tired, wet, muddy and cold. And he calls this fun. Lol.

Our original plan was to spend four nights at Silver Falls and then move to Oakridge, OR so Rog could try out the extensive mountain bike trail system there. With 4 inches of snow forecast for Oakridge, we scrapped those plans and changed our reservations to South Beach State Park near Newport, OR. Apparently, that wasn’t enough to please the weather gods.

The campground at Silver Falls had absolutely no cell service, so we went in search of internet connectivity to keep tabs on the weather. The forecast kept getting more interesting, now calling for snow at Silver Falls on Friday evening. No worries we thought, we’ll be out of here Friday morning. However, Thursday morning it started snowing and sticking! Riley had a blast and I love the snow, but driving the motorhome in it, not so much.

Uh Oh. This is starting to stick!

Riley does crazy dog in the snow. 

We drove up to the lodge to use their wifi and saw that the forecast had changed yet again. Now calling for 4-10 inches of snow at Silver Falls! Uh Oh. We checked the route out of the park and it was already getting sketchy – we saw two cars that had slid off the road. Yikes! We decided it was leave now or risk not getting out at all. We high-tailed it back to the RV and were loaded up and on the road in record time. It was a good call. We made it to South Beach without any problems and the forecast just keeps getting better… Silver Falls 8-14 inches of snow and at Oakridge, our original destination, they’re calling for 12-18 inches! I think we’ll enjoy our beach time. 😊