Middle North Falls

• 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.

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.