Silver Falls State Park is located 30min east of Salem. This large state park boasts 10 beautiful waterfalls. We hiked the trail to North Falls (136 ft) this beautiful waterfall has a amphitheater-like surrounding where you can walk behind the falls
Recently in Willamette Valley Category
Opal Creek Wilderness has the largest continuous area of low-elevation old growth forest left in Oregon. It's a remarkable place for it's biological diversity, a place where man has not disturbed the delicate balance of Gods creation.
Oregon is blessed with a 120 mile long fertile river valley, boarded by Mountains on either side.
The agricultural richness of the valley is in part a result of the Missoula Floods, which inundated the valley approximately forty times between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. The floods were caused by the periodic rupturing of the ice dam of Glacial Lake Missoula, the waters of which swept down the Columbia River and flooded the Willamette Valley as far south as Eugene. The floodwaters carried rich volcanic and glacial soil from Eastern Washington, which was deposited across the valley floor when the waters subsided. The soil in the Willamette Valley is half a mile deep in some areas.
During the 19th century, the valley was largely inhabited by bands of the Kalapuya tribe of Native Americans. The Hudson's Bay Company controlled the fur trade in the valley in the 1820s and 1830s.
The major agricultural products of the valley include many varieties of berries and vegetables. The valley also produces most of the grass seed, Christmas trees, and hazelnuts sold in North America. But it is greenhouse and nursery stock that have become the biggest agricultural commodity in the valley
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A beautiful Garden in Silverton Oregon, where you can see hundreds of varieties of plants and flowers.
In this land called Oregon there are places Man has rarely tread. The Molalla River flows through a corridor of dense forests and rugged Mountain terrain. I had a opportunity to explore this area and seek out some of its natural beauty. We were searching for Joseph�s pool, named after the Mountain Man who once trapped in this area. The location is not well known and can only be gotten to by a several mile trek over steep Mountain terrain. We were determined to find this treasure of natural beauty and we did.
"Willamette Mission is one of the most significant and beautiful historic sites in the Willamette Valley. The park occupies land where the first mission for American Indians was founded in 1834 by the Reverend Jason Lee. Members of the Methodist Mission were later active in the formation of Oregon government. A monument is located in the park providing information on this settlement. A landing for the Wheatland Ferry -- the first to carry the covered wagon across the Willamette River in 1844 -- is in the park." Oregon Parks
