Marion County

• Dalai Lama.

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Another shot from silver falls state park. I have to confess that the idea for this shot came from my wife who was having a hard time getting her camera phone to expose the moss correctly. So I took this shot while showing her how a manually setup camera can easily do what confuses an auto mode.

Thanks for visiting

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

Lower South Falls is one of four waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park featuring a trail which passes behind the falling water. Unlike the other three, the confines of the overhang behind the falls are quite cramped, and as such the trail has been constructed bordered with a very tasteful stone wall that blends into the landscape quite unobtrusively, which gives the falls a bit of a rustic feel more typically associated with areas like the Columbia River Gorge.

While South Falls is unquestionably the most impressive waterfall in Silver Falls State Park, Lower South Falls is no slouch either. With a drop of 93 feet the falls are only the 5th tallest in the park, but still a waterfall of major significance.

The Opal Creek Wilderness area has several phenomenal sights within its boundaries. Three Pools are an easily accessible swimming holes on the north fork of the Santiam River. There is the possibility to cliff jump from multiple locations.

The quieter side of Three Pools is the south bank of the Little North Santiam. Which is what I have photographed here. Because the water is more shallow and runs slower you will find smaller children here during the summer months.

Nine months of the year, you can hike this trail and enjoy a pleasant experience. There's a craggy rock pillar in the middle of the river, and a marvelous grotto with two mouths in the cliffs near the pillar north of this spot.

Title for photo came from an engraved stone above the second floor door/window

The Opal Creek Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the Willamette National Forest, on the border of the Mount Hood National Forest. It has the largest uncut watershed in Oregon.

Opal Creek and nearby Opal Lake were named for Opal Elliott, wife of early Forest Service ranger Roy Elliott.

If this be not love, it is madness, and then it is pardonable… -William Congreve

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I first visited Oregon couple of years ago on a summer road trip along with my wife. We both enjoyed the state's natural beauty so much that we decided to head back up again this year when we had a chance. Last time we were there we spend a whole day searching for the illusive Abiqua falls but were unlucky in finding it. This time I was better prepared and had an idea about the approximate location of the trailhead. Plus we were lucky that we met some locals who directed us to the exact start point of the trail.

The trail is completely located within private property but the owners had allowed nature lovers to explore the area, which was totally awesome and I hope everyone to venture to this trail respect the instructions posted. You basically can drive up until you see a white metal fence blocking the road and the trail to the falls start to the left of the road. Once you start the hike, the trail immediately divides into three different paths and the left most one seems to be the shortest and the easiest. So that’s basically my tips for this hike, also make sure good hiking boots and some food as this hike is a bit hard without those.

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

South Falls is the highlight of Silver Falls State Park, and due to its proximity to the city of Salem, is likely one of the most popular waterfalls in Oregon outside of the Columbia River Gorge. The falls are produced where South Silver Creek plunges 177 feet over a huge overhanging basalt cliff with a large pool occupying the bottom of the amphitheater. While South Silver Creek isn't nearly as voluminous as North Silver Creek, South Falls will still swell to impressive volumes during the wet season and is without question the most powerful waterfall in Silver Falls State Park during the high water season.

Like North Falls further upstream, Middle North Falls has certain characteristics which one could argue give it an edge when comparing it to the park's main attraction, South Falls. Despite being considerably shorter, Middle North Falls is a markedly amorphous waterfall which changes physical shape in a very dramatic way as the volume of water in North Silver Creek changes. The 106 foot tall falls take the form of a narrow column of water during the summer months, funneled to perhaps 5 feet wide at most by a narrow runnel in the bedrock. With greater stream flow in the winter and spring months however, North Silver Creek sheets out across the 60-foot wide creek bed and turns the falls into a broad curtain of water, with part of the falls impacting on a twisting chute of basalt which then slides to join the more volumnous half of the creek in the plunge pool.

Middle North Falls is one of four waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park which features a trail which traverses behind the falling water. Unlike the other three, the trail leading behind Middle North Falls is a dead-end, constructed purely to allow access to additional views of the falls.

• Mary Wollstonecraft.

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Let’s take a break from all the lighthouse pictures and start some of the awesome waterfalls in Oregon. We went for waterfalls on our third day and the Upper Butte Creek falls was our second stop of the day. Road to this falls in not paved and its quite a bone jarring ride to get here.

Once you park the car there is a loop trail about 1.1 miles long, going all the way to the fall. This falls provides an awesome view from the left side of the falls and then you can access a path to get to the base of the falls and actually even go behind the falls. The fall is about 20ft in height but stunningly beautiful.

If you are in the Salem, OR area please make this a must visit as this is totally worth it. Thanks for visiting hope you like this one.

These falls run into the Opal Pool, a favorite swimming hole in the area.

This summertime swimming hole is a favorite for those in the know. Be forewarned it is always cold.

Bright yellow light a quarter to a half mile away made it a tough shot. Exposing for the sky, the elevator was overexposed

Light mist falling.

Salmon Falls is the largest waterfall along the Little North Santiam River, as well as the river's natural barrier to upstream fish migration. The falls drop 24 feet in a pair of side-by-side plunges with a fish ladder bypassing the falls on the far bank. Fortunately the ladder is more or less enclosed within the natural bedrock and only a small concrete structure is visible to indicate the presence of human interference. A small county park provides access to the falls as well as picnic facilities. As of November 2012 part of the short trail leading down to the river below the falls was heavily eroded.

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

• Arthur Young.

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Here is another shot of the Upper Butte falls from our Oregon trip. This shot was taker directly from in front of the falls as I wanted to show the beautiful curtain form of the fall. This is one of the most memorable locations on our Oregon road trip and riding through a bone jarring stretch of forest road was totally worth it.

Hope everyone likes it..

• Marcus Aurelius

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I sometimes still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to see the stunningly beautiful Abiqua waterfall after it eluded me twice. I am originally from a part of India where there are waterfalls everywhere and spend a lot of my teenage years venturing out to see some of the hidden waterfalls near my home as most of the popular ones were ruined by naked commercialization. So even if I had to make two trips and endure some pretty sketchy 4WD driving and some hiking, it really was nice to see a waterfall this famous maintaining its wilderness. This is one of those spots I want to return just for the sake of being there.

• John Galsworthy.

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If uniqueness is used as the measuring parameter, the Middle North Falls or Marion County, Oregon will be in anyone’s top 10 list of waterfalls in the pacific northwest. During our first visit to Oregon, we got delayed getting to this fall and couldn’t even see the trailhead at night. So, when we planned a second trip to Oregon I was careful to allocate extra time and we reached the trailhead just as the sunset was about happening.

In our panic, we started hiking in the wrong direction and lost about 10-15 mins before realizing our mistake. After returning to the hike and finding the correct trail, we managed to reach the falls with some light still around.

Unfortunately, the standout feature of the waterfall, the wide curtain like span of the falls was not present. Later I find out that this fall has no prescribed shape and changes dramatically based on the volume of water in North Silver Creek. Plus, summer is not the best time for waterfall photography in Oregon, the best time is late spring or fall. Hopefully, I get to visit this beautiful place again.

My first Milky Way shots of the year

This fall is pretty in the summer but much more dramatic in the winter with the 3 - 4 different cascades of water coming down. In the summer you can easily wade into the pool for a nice dip.

Sullivan Creek is the largest tributary of Cedar Creek, itself one of the larger feeders of the Little North Santiam River. As the creek drops to it's confluence with Cedar Creek, it cascades down this series of pretty and rather impressive falls. Some published accounts suggest the falls are between 40 and 60 feet tall, however on a more recent survey the measurement of the falls was 162 feet tall. This is likely not an accurate measurement of the entire falls either, as there are at least two more tiers just upstream which are not visible from the road, and this may bring the total height of the falls to over 200 feet.

Though the entire falls are not visible from below, absolutely zero effort is needed to enjoy this waterfall. The stream crashes down the final steps of the series of cascades into a pool immediately adjacent to the road, which offers a nice opportunity for wading and cooling off in the summer.

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

The Breitenbush River is a tributary of the North Santiam River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains a rugged, forested area of the Cascade Range east of Salem. The North and South forks flow west, joining 0.25 miles (400 m) east of the small community of Breitenbush. The combined stream flows generally west-southwest through the Willamette National Forest. It joins the North Santiam at Detroit.

The water is very high and fast right now. Later in the year these falls become lazier.