Silver Falls State Park with Thad

     October adventure! After reading an article in AAA’s Via magazine, I decided that I wanted to go on a camping trip to Silver Falls State Park in Oregon and invited my boyfriend, Thad, to go with me! The article and pictures suggested going in late October, which meant we were surrounded by beautiful fall colors, however, camping in late October means it's pretty chilly and very rainy. But we stayed warm and dry for the majority of the trip! Mostly thanks to my new little tent, the Marmot Limelight 3 person tent. Very spacious, easy to set up and take down, and kept all of the rain outside with very minimal condensation buildup in the corners for the five days that we were camping.

     This was my first ever time going on a road trip without my parents, and also my first camping trip without my family. It was a little weird. I mean, there's been plenty of small road trips for school and with friends, but never one this long where I was the driver. The overall experience was good though, and Thad was an excellent co-pilot, providing good music and snacks on the road. The only part about the road trip that was kinda scary was when we got lost. Luckily we didn't get that lost and had service and maps to get us back on the right track, but there was definitely a moment of panic and realization that we had to solve the problem all on our own. But we did it!

Here's some pictures and details from the trip:

     Little bit of background: within Silver Falls State Park there are ten main waterfalls and there's a trail that you can take that lets you see all ten of them that is about five miles round trip.We opted to do the smaller trails around the park and saw five of the falls. The first trail and waterfall that we did was the South Falls, pictured above, that is a one mile loop and then there's a second trail that leads to the Lower South Falls, pictured below.

     Looking down over the edge from behind the waterfall was really cool looking! 

     The next day we did the Winter Falls Trail. It was hard to believe that what is pictured above is the Winter Falls, considering how small it is. But hey! Our guess is that it's called the Winter Falls because it freezes up and looks really cool in the winter and/or fall isn't when it is flowing the most.

    Past the Winter Falls the trail continues on and across this really cool stone bridge to the Twin Falls (not pictured).

There were also a lot of these trees along the trail that were covered in moss that I called "furry trees".

    The last waterfall that we got to that was past the Twin Falls was the Middle North Falls, pictured above. Doesn't it look magical?! 

    And that was our camping trip to Silver Falls State Park! The original plan was to stay four nights, but it was just so rainy and cold that it wasn't worth it, so we only stayed three nights. But it was so beautiful! I've always loved spending time in the forest and being surrounded by all the trees and breathing all the fresh air. I don't think I would camp here again in October, but definitely in the spring or summer! It would also be cool to see all of the waterfalls frozen in the winter, but I like being warm way too much to camp in really cold weather. :P

     Next post: my spring 2019 plans! It's gonna be big!!! To make sure you don't miss out on any of my posts, you always have the option of subscribing. Just click the subscribe button that shows up on the home page of the blog and enter you email. :)

What we ate: Tuna Mac

Turkey and cheese sandwiches with Doritos

Ramen

Oatmeal

Yogurt

Yummy chocolate donuts :P

Small things we did: Played UNO in the tent

Used a map to navigate!

Listened to Disney movie songs on the road

Cooked and washed dishes in the forest

Attempted to make a fire (too rainy and wet, sadly)

Did one hike a day

Drove about fourteen hours total