Road Trip USA: Oregon Camping - Silver Creek Falls
Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at 11:36AM 
Magnificent South Falls at Oregon's Silver Falls State Park.
Out and about on the back roads and state parks of Oregon in my little camping rig. Life is great.
Only 40 miles from where I have been staying near Keizer, Oregon is Silver Falls State Park.
The western slopes of the Cascades Mountains are extremely damp and lush.
It rains so much here there is moss hanging from the trees.
I arrived on a cool, but dry, afternoon in early June. After setting up camp I went out on my bicycle to explore the well maintained trails.
I have been all over the world . . . and this part of Oregon is by far the GREENEST! Ireland and Scotland are not even close.
There are many miles of bike paths throughout the park, which I rode on day two of my stay. This is the Ridge Trial. I love the look of the orange pine needles covering the trail. 
The Ridge Trail passed through some marvelous old growth forest.
A steep climb brought many views of this old forest.
In many places the forest floor was a carpet of ferns!
A new wonderment at every turn of the bike path.
Trees felled by storms lay about here and there . . . and will decompose to supply nutrients to the next generations of tall trees.
I found myself stopping often just to take in all the beauty. What a bike trail!
A damp stand . . . .
Layers and layers of greenery . . . SOUTH FALLS
After a long bike ride in the forest, the overcast sky began to clear, so I packed up my camp site and drove to the South Falls trailhead. Here, the view of the South Falls from above. I met a nice family from Thailand here. It's a small world.
The path down and behind South Falls offers many fine spots for photography.
A very beautiful waterfall.
The trail goes behind the cascading falls . . . a very impressive sight.
There were a fair number of tourists on this day . . . and we all stood kin silence under the falls listening to the powerful 'song' of the water falling from above.
The bright sun suddenly appeared along the path to the Lower South Falls. . . making the already green environment explode with luminosity. Incredible green!
The picture post card view.
Silver Creek.
A nice bridge view . . . there were many other photographers, most with big tripods, wanting to use the bridge as a vantage point . . . but they were all complaining that people walking on it caused it to shake.
The two-mile path to Lower South Falls followed Silver Creek most of the way.
This is a very busy trail with lots of curious children.
A magical place.
The path rose for quite while before a view of the creek was visible again.
A steep zig-zag of stairs down to the fall's base.
After the winding and steep stairs down, I was rewarded with my first view of Lower South Falls.
The Lower South Falls through the trees.
A beautiful view.
Oregon!
The path here also continued behind the falls.
The roar of the falls became very loud as you neared it.
Another fabulous forest waterfall view.
I got a little wet behind the falls.
Through the mists . . .
Directly behind the falls.
My last glimpse of the Lower South Falls as the sun began to shine again.
Up the steep steps and onto the ridge for a view of the creek in bright sunlight.
I walked back up the path to my camper and left the park. I spent a wonderful three days in a beautiful place. The camping sites and facilities were first rate.Oregon Countryside and Gallon House Bridge
Hops for your beer: Oregon is a major world producer of hops . . . a very labour-intensive crop.
Oregon fields of grain.
This cooperative farmer stopped so I could take this photograph. Thank you.
A small road sign indicated 'Gallon House Bridge' . . . it must be very special, I thought.
And very special it was too. Gallon House Bridge is the oldest continuously used covered bridge in Oregon.
A perfect country road 'find.'
A very well-maintained old bridge.
To walk an Oregon country road in June . . . .
Oregon . . . good people, beautiful countryside.
Reader Comments