About Middle North Falls
Middle North Falls took us by surprise as it dazzled us with its impressive 106ft plunge spread out over a width that made it appear to us like it was almost square in shape. We had expected more dinky waterfalls in between the central part of the Trail of Ten Falls (between Lower South Falls and North Falls within Silver Falls State Park so it was pretty obvious that this waterfall well exceeded our expectations.
In fact, the surprises didn’t end with just the size of this waterfall. Indeed, when we got close to the falls, we came to realize that the trail allowed us to go behind the falls while it continued to go beyond the backside of the falls into a large alcove area opposite the creek responsible for the falls. Going behind this waterfall seemed to be a pretty consistent theme among the waterfalls in Silver Falls State Park because this was the fourth waterfall in the reserve where we were able to go behind the falls.
But with the fortuitous location of the alcove on the other side of the creek, we took advantage of it and came to appreciate that we were able to take plenty of long exposure photos from within the large alcove with a direct view of Middle North Falls. The alcove was very helpful in sheltering us from the heavy rains we were experiencing at the time.
From the car park near Winter Falls, we walked roughly 0.7 miles (1.4 miles round trip) to the Middle North Falls. At the fork beyond the bridge (about 0.3 miles or so), we made a left (as going right at the fork would have led to Twin Falls). Then when we noticed the sounds of loud and crashing water to our left, which we gladly followed the spur trail leading closer to the source once that spur became available.
Back on the main trail (as we headed towards Drake Falls), we were able to get yet another view of the falls by looking back at it with the creek meandering in front. This context helped us further reinforce the sheer volume and size of this waterfall.
The start of the approach that we took to get to this falls is right at the Winter Falls car park and trailhead. See the Winter Falls page for specific driving directions.
As for the geographical context, Portland was 42 miles (an hour drive) north of Silverton and 47 miles (also an hour drive) north of Salem.
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Bottom up look at the profile of the falls just before going behind it
Looking around from directly behind the waterfall
Direct look at the waterfall from beneath an alcove sheltered from the rain
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