Title: March 24, 2024 - North Falls, Silver Creek State Park
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants
Type: Hiking
Trail head: North Falls Parking Lot
Trail: Upper North Falls, Silver Creek, Winter Falls
Destination: Loop
Actual Destination: Winter Falls Parking Area
Distance: 4.86 miles
Start Time: 12:26
End Time: 4:06
Moving Time: 2:45 (1.77 mph)
Elevation Rise: 1,073'
Descent: 1,030‘
Maximum Elevation: 1,858'
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| Getting ready to hike in the rain |
Description:
Last night was a long night. My CGM kept alerting me to a low blood sugar level. I am suspecting most of them were false.
12:51 - reading: 62. I had a granola bar. After a few minutes, the levels rose to an acceptable level.
4:45 - reading: 54. This is really low and when I saw it, the level had gone down to 51. So I went downstairs and had a scoop of peanut butter and a scoop of Nutella. But even before I took a bite, the reading was up to 98. Was this a false low?
5:42 - Reading 64. I was pondering what to do and decided to go to the bathroom. Had to go downstairs. Got another scoop of peanut butter. Already the readings was in the 80’s
6:11 - Reading 64. Ignored and went back to sleep.
I finally got up around 7:45,
definitely not rested. David had gotten up before me and went out for
a walk. We had breakfast around 8:45. Lawrence and Andrea are up at
9:15. There had been a request that we not have an early start. That
is fine with me,
Upper North Falls
Lawrence made French toast for those who had not eaten. David and a little bit of me worked on a jigsaw puzzle, that is until word was given that we should get packed and go. You might be asking where are we going? Back up to Silver Creek State Park is the answer. The “backup” is that Andrea and Lawrence have taken us up here before-it is a wonderful place. So it is a good choice by Lawrence and Andrea. It will be David’s first time there.
It is raining-all of us grab
our rain gear, including the rain pants Sherri bought yesterday.
Andrea makes us lunch. We pile into our car-because there is enough
room. Andrea is driving. It is only a short 40 minute, 25 mile drive
to the North
Falls
parking area. This is our first time hiking from this trailhead.
North Fork Silver Creek
Did I say that it was raining?
And raining pretty hard? It was. There were some people at the
parking lot whom this was a bit much and they just returned back to
their cars. Us? Never! We are in full rain gear mode.
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| Trail to North Falls |
Our first stop will be Upper North Falls. (Hint: keep track of which North Falls we are at throughout our adventure.) It is a short walk to these falls. As we get closer, the rocks look a bit slippery, particularly with all the rain. But the falls look pretty nice under these gray skies. This was a good set of falls to start with.
We retrace our steps, going under the road and then down the trail, following the North Fork of Silver Creek. The trail then descends about 75’ by way of stairs. This gets us level with North Falls--no elevation attribute with this one. But the trail continues on the other side of Silver Creek. The secret is that the trail goes behind the Falls so there is no bridge.
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| Stars to North Falls |
Turns out David took a picture which reminds us all of the eye of Suaron from the Lord of the Rings. All which it needs is a piercing red glow of an eyeball. We stop and have lunch here before moving on. It is a bit cool, but this large overhang keeps us well sheltered from the rain. After about 20 minutes, we move on.
Gary and North falls
We traveled down the trail for
about a mile. This mile is a gentle downhill. We gawk at the little
water rivulets descending down off of the steep slopes on the other
side of the creek. Also, there were little moss covered creeks on our
side of Silver Creek. We see the next set of falls-Twin
Falls.
After seeing the other falls above this one, this one is ho-hum. But
if it was not set around the other falls in the area, it would be
worth ranting and raving about.
North Falls
The rain is still there, but
it is decreasing. And so does the trail descend. We wander past the
trail to Winter
Falls.
The next set of falls is the Middle North Falls-remember to keep
track of all of the North Falls. Each is different. This is another
“go behind the falls” trail. Only this time it is an offshoot of
the main trail and dead ends. Not sure if it is the rain, being
tired, having been to this fall before, or we just had the behind the
falls experience a little while ago, but I am not as enthralled with
this one. Even though last year I thought it was pretty good.
Our next stop is Drake Falls. As I was writing this up, I was thinking that Drake was not that big of a deal. But now when I am looking at the pictures, I am thinking that Drake may not be getting its due and it is being eclipsed by the other awesome falls in this park. It has the same problems that falls around Yosemite Valley have. They are awesome in their own way, and yet compared to the Valley’s falls, they seem inconsequential.
We had a small discussion
among the five of us. Andrea, Lawrence and David will continue a
short way down the trail and see Lower North Falls, while Sherri and
I start our return trip via Winter Falls.Sherri and I do pretty
good-Sherri actually gets a couple hundred yards in front of me. My
excuse is I am taking pictures. But is this just an excuse for a lack
of energy?
Double Falls
Behind Middle North Falls
Drake Falls
I caught up with her at Winter Falls. The three have already passed us and will pick up the car and bring it around to the Winter Falls Parking Area. After getting a good, long look at Winter Falls, we climb up to the rim and wait. I read while I wait. That would be about half an hour or so.
Andrea drives us back to Salem. There we rest and recuperate. Lawrence serves us the leftover curry chicken he made last night. Still good. We enjoy each other’s company and then go off to bed.
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| Gary and David at Upper North Falls |
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| Andrea and Lawrence at Upper North Falls |
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| Sherri, Andrea, Lawrence |
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| Lawrence and Andrea at Upper North Falls |
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| The Hiking Men: Lawrence, Gary, and David |
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| Upper North Falls |
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| North Falls |
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| Trail to North Falls |
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| Stairs down to North Falls |
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| North Falls |
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| North Falls |
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| Mossy Trees |
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| North Fork of Silver Creek |
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| Path through the moss |
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| Mossy Creek |
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| Mossy Creek |
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| North Fork of Silver Creek |
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| Middle North Falls |
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| Looking out from behind Middle North Falls |
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| Middle North Falls |
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| Double Falls |
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| Winter Falls |
Flowers and Plants
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| Scpuchers Corydalis-I think |
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| Salmonberry |
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| Moss |
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| Moss |
