A string of ten remarkable waterfalls, spaced out among the Silver Creek Canyons, creates one of Oregon’s most popular parks. This dramatic view of South Falls offers a beautiful sampler from the picturesque Silver Creek State Park. Less than an hour’s drive from Salem, Oregon’s capital city, the two forks of Silver Creek have sliced a passageway through a thick outer shell of basalt, creating this delightful canyonland of scenic waterfalls.
     Located in the Willamette Valley among a temperate rainforest, the Silver Creek area was rescued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Part of a Civilian Conservation Corps restoration project, young men of the corps repaired what the lumbering industry left behind; a land with nothing but tree stumps. CCC efforts replanted trees, constructed a lodge, and setup a trail system along the North Fork and South Fork of Silver Creek.
     Here on the Trail of Tens Falls, visitors descend over footpaths lined with ferns, mosses and wildflowers. Overhead, moss covered hemlocks and cedars provide the perfect perches for a wide variety of birds. The Canyon Trail, requiring a three to five hour hike, leads guests to the entire collection of waterfalls, ranging from majestic 177 foot South Falls to the delicate cascade of Drake Falls. Half the waterfalls in the park plunge more than a hundred feet. In this view, showing a pathway behind the falls, a large grotto has formed underneath the fall’s rim, displaying the powerful forces of Silver Creek. The line of visitors under the falls hints at the park’s popularity.