It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…

Our first winter camping trip!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

 We planned on driving up to Silver Falls State Park Friday night after seeing that sunshine was in the forecast for the entire weekend. The park itself is beautiful, but it is a true temperate rain forest, and the weather can leave a lot to be desired at times (unless you are a hard core Oregonian and you embrace the rain…which I don’t 🙂

We pulled into the park around 6 pm and we had no problem finding a spot. We were one of only 4 campers in the entire park. For a state park, the sites are huge and actually quite private – even in the winter. The grounds are perfectly maintained and the host was extremely friendly!

Christmas decor!

Hot Coffee and Trader Joe’s cookies after hike!

Festive!

While Todd unhooked the trailer and set up, I got busy decorating the inside with a few Christmas goodies. Our daughter works at Pier One and had picked me up a few things to make the Bambi look a bit more festive. We were set up in no time…we’re getting pretty efficient at it….and enjoyed a nice dinner and movie. We awoke Saturday morning to a beautiful frost that made the entire campground look like a winter wonderland!

After a hearty breakfast, we packed a lunch and walked over to the day use area to check out the South Falls and Visitor Center. The South Falls hike is a rather short hike that takes you to the two most famous falls. We had planned on starting there, but a large group of boy scouts arrived at the same time, and we decided to take the Rim Trail instead. This was a trail that we had never walked before, but it did not disappoint. The trail is about six miles, but  it is a fairly easy walk with only a 500 foot elevation change. You pass at least six waterfalls on this trail, many prettier than South Falls in my opinion! It was a beautiful day for a hike, the skies were blue and the air was crisp! Some of the trail was a bit slippery but that is to be expected in such a wet area.

A very frosty morning!

View out the window

We returned to our camp right before dusk and enjoyed some hot coffee and peppermint Joe-Joes from Trader Joe’s….a holiday favorite. It was a perfect December day. We’re already planning a return visit. This is a park I’d love to visit during all of the seasons! We can’t wait to go back!

Covered bridge across river

Green!

One of the many falls you hike by!

Early morning!


The old lodge decked out!