Chasing Light and Waterfalls at Silver Falls State Park

Silver Falls is one of Oregon’s most popular state parks, and for good reason.

It is the largest state park in Oregon with an area of more than 9,000 acres, and it includes more than 24 miles of walking trails, 14 miles of horse trails, and a 4-mile bike path.

But the pièce de résistance is its Trail of Ten Falls, a 7.2-mile loop featuring ten waterfalls, some of which are over 100 feet tall.

I woke up at 4:45 am to make the 1.5-hour drive and arrive in time for sunrise. As I neared the park during blue hour, I could see a few wispy, high clouds that are typically a good sign for a possible colorful sunrise.

My first target was the Upper North Falls. From my research, it appeared like it was the waterfall that had the best chance of showcasing the sunrise behind it.

When I arrived at the trailhead, it was dark and cold. I could hear the rushing waters of North Fork Silver Creek as they skirted by the edge of the parking lot.

The trail to the falls is short, just 0.3 miles, and runs along the creek. The roar of the falls can be heard from a decent distance as you approach. With one final bend of the trail, the 65-foot waterfall came into view. 100 cubic feet per second of water tumbling off the upper ledge and exploding into a fine mist that drifted all the way down to where I stood.

Given that it was so close to sunrise, and I could see just a tiny bit of cloud and light above the falls, I got to work trying to set up a composition. I tried a few different angles, attempting to minimize the distraction caused by the large logs scattered throughout the scene.

Given the large dynamic range, it was difficult to dial in a shutter speed that worked for the sky, the falls, and the creek. Ultimately, I ended up doing an exposure blend on the final image between one frame exposure for the sky and one frame exposed for the falls and creek.

After Upper North Falls, I headed to the main parking lot at South Falls. On a whim, I decided to reconnoiter South Falls before heading out around the Trail of Ten Falls. Arriving at South Falls, the scene was engulfed in a mixture of low cloud and mist from the spray of the crashing waterfall.

Given the moody scene, I thought there might be an image or two to be had. I decided to stick around for a bit and see what I could come up with. Unfortunately, being the main starting point for the trail, it got more crowded by the minute. Oregonians are famous for getting outdoors in pretty much all conditions, so when it’s a nice sunny day you can certainly bet on crowds at a place like Silver Falls.

After checking the Sun Surveyor app, it looked liked sunset at South Falls wouldn’t actually be that interesting. However, if the low clouds remained I was hopeful for some interesting light rays above the waterfall around noon. With a couple of hours to kill, I decided to head back to the rig and make some breakfast.

I relocated to an empty area of the parking lot and pulled out my camp table, stove, propane, and cast iron skillet. From the fridge, I grabbed a beef sausage link, spicy ketchup, and a carb balance tortilla. Yes, I have all that in my truck :-) I’ll go more into the 4x4 adventuremobile that gets me to remote places another time.

After a quick lunch, it was decision time again. Unfortunately, the low clouds had burned off with the increased sun. With my plans foiled, the sky bright blue, and no interesting clouds in sight, I decided to move on with getting some errands done instead of waiting around for sunset.

After getting home and spending a few hours post-processing the images, I was happy with the image I was able to come away with from Upper North Falls. I managed to pull a bit of color out of the sky and I think it looks nice above the falls.

The moodier image of South Falls came out a bit underwhelming. Due to the influx of people I wasn’t as patient with setting up my compositions and didn’t do as much experimentation as I normally would. The result is a nice, but relatively standard image.

All in all, it was a great morning in a beautiful location and exactly the type of thing I left my job in tech to do.