Road Trip through Oregon Day 3 - Portland to Silver Falls State Park

 

This is the third day of our trip. Check out my blog on Day 1 here, and Day 2 here. This morning, we checked out of Evermore Guesthouse after some continental breakfast, grabbed some free snacks and we are back on the road. Our destination is Silver Falls State Park. This park is known for its loop trails that features several waterfalls. Even the areas without a waterfall are magically scenic.

Silver Falls State Park

The first waterfall we come across is Winter Falls.

Winter Falls

Next up is Middle North Falls, which you can hike behind.

Middle North Falls

Middle North Falls is absolutely breathtaking.

Behind Middle North Falls

Next up is Drake Falls. Drake Falls is a smaller waterfall. 

Drake Falls

Next up is Double Falls.

Double Falls

Next up, Lower North Falls.

Lower North Falls

Next up, Lower South Falls, another breathtaking waterfall that you can hike behind. 

Lower South Falls

Lower South Falls

The featured photo on top of this page is taken by hiking behind Lower South Falls. Here's another picture of Lower South Falls. 

Lower South Falls

Next up is South Falls. Another waterfall you can hike behind.

South Falls

South Falls

South Falls

This rounds out our waterfall loop hike. Just to clarify, we did the small loop, and started out by going right, which is counterclockwise. Majority of people make a left and go clockwise. There's no right or wrong way of doing the loop, but by going against the grain, you will encounter a lot less people (since most people will be passing you by going the opposite direction). This is a major benefit to us. The big loop comes with 10 waterfalls, and is called the Trail of Ten Falls. It's a lot longer (7.8 miles). The smaller loop we did is only about 5 miles and has 7 waterfalls as described above. It's easy to also visit North Falls (one of the remaining 3) by simply driving to it. 

Next, we leave Silver Falls State Park and head to the very little known, Downing Creek Falls. Along the way, we see quite a few road side waterfalls. This one is located close to Big Cliff Dam in Gates, Oregon.

Roadside waterfall near Gates, Oregon

Downing Creek Falls is an absolutely magical place and one of my favorite spots of this entire trip.

Downing Creek Falls

There are several waterfalls along the short hike to Downing Creek Falls, none of which are named (like the one below). The area is like a fairytale. 

Next, we head to our hotel for the night. Tonight, we are staying at Suttle Lodge, a Michelin hotel. Suttle Lodge has beautiful water views and boats available as it's located on Suttle Lake. Interestingly, there's no TV here either.

View right outside our room

Front door of Suttle Lodge

For dinner, we chose Black Butte Ranch's The Lodge restaurant. This is the view from our dinner table:

Dinner table view from The Lodge

For appetizers, we ordered the Wild Boar Chops:

Wild Boar Chops

This is a new addition to their menu and it's DELICIOUS. Wild Boar Chops made with buckwheat, wilted greens, yukon gold potatoes and cherry gastrique. Delicious.

For entree, I had the Seared Alaska Halibut and Teddy had the Mary's Half Chicken.

Seared Alaska Halibut

Mary's Half Chicken

Everything is delicious here. After dinner, we took a walk around the lake here and enjoyed the amazing view with some wine.

Another amazing day. Check out tomorrow's blog here!