Golden and Silver Falls State Park

Here's a quick stretch of the legs, Golden and Silver Falls State Park near Coos Bay, Oregon.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_and_Silver_Falls_State_Natural_Area

While the park is off the beaten path it is relatively easy to find an the falls are gorgeous.    As you can see, the hikes are short.  Silver falls, the left hand trail is short, leading to a viewing area surrounded by dense forest of Douglas Firs, Maple and other hardwood species.  This trail is the old  Allegany to Scottsburg pack trail in use when roads were scarce in these parts.

Silver Falls is approximately 100 feet high, falling over yellow rock to the stream bed below.  Some huge boulders are at the bottom, evidence there have been some falling rocks in the past. This is about a 20 minute hike.  When you've got the pictures, return to the parking area for the next leg of the journey.

 The right hand fork from the parking area immediately crosses a narrow footbridge and follows the other fork of the creek around the mountainside.  Soon, you begin hearing the roar of the falls and just a short distance further, you'll see the falls through some of the tree branches.  Golden Falls is approximately the same height as Silver Falls, and it appears that similar amounts of water fall to yet another boulder strewn landscape.  We got our feet wet just a bit on this fork from some standing water on the trail.  But we were there in the rainy season and it rained and snowed while we hiked.  contrary to popular belief, there is a drier season along the Oregon Coast.  It just rains less during the summer months even though the coastline is shrouded in fog.

The Trail continues on until at last you break out on top the bluff about 60 minutes into your hike.  This is a great spot for photos from a slightly different perspective.
As I mentioned earlier, these are relatively easy hikes, and not too long, but the challenge is in finding the park in the first place.  From Coos Bay, take the Coos River Road East from town and follow it all the way to the tiny community of Allegany.  Don't blink at this point for two reasons.  First is you might miss this community which boasts more four-legged inhabitants than two, and the second is that there is a sharp turn in town and you could end up skewered or a tree.  Continue on through Allegany, fighting the urge to turn off the main road.  within a few miles, you come to the parking area which dead ends the road.  It's all walking from here. Golden and Silver Falls is a short diversion from your trip up or down the coast and can be a cool refuge on a warm day.  Either way, it's well worth the time and the short distance to find this treasure of the Oregon Coast.