Detroit Lake

We lucked out and got a camping spot at Detroit Lake for a night. The lake is about a 2 hour drive from Portland and is a very popular camping spot. We definitely want to go back to Detroit Lake and spend more time so we can do a bit more exploring. Next time we will have to rent a kayak so we can really see all the lake has to offer. 10/10 would recommend and go again!

Day One: Detroit State Recreation Area

My husband and I headed out on Saturday after lunch. The drive out is so pretty, lots of tree farms. After checking in and finding our spot we walked down to the lake from the campsite, huge plus that we didn't have to drive anywhere! After getting the lay of the land we inflated my inflatable paddle board and headed for a few hours hang by the lake.

We only had one flotation between the two of us so we tried to paddle with both of us on it, that was pretty difficult to say the least. So we took turns paddling out on the lake. It was crazy how clear and deep the lake was. At one end you can see beautiful views of Mount Jefferson. After some fun in the sun we decided we should get the campsite all setup so we could start cooking dinner.

We setup the tent then I cooked up some brats while Josh got the fire started (tip: The campground had bundles of fire you could purchase for $6). The mosquitos were a little bad so the smoke from the fire overall kept them away. We had clear skies so we were able to walk down to the lake and see the moon and a few stars.

Day Two: Silver Falls State Park

We woke up early, made breakfast then packed up the campsite. It was pretty chilly in the morning so we decided to head home and stop by Silver Falls State Park on the way back.

On the drive to Silver Falls we stopped by a cute little coffee shop in Mill City called Rosie's Mountain Coffee House. They are known for their scones but we ended up getting a chocolate coconut macadamia cookie that was amazing! Next stop was a quick stop at the Detroit Dam, which has a sidewalk for pedestrians to walk across the top of the dam (images below are from looking left and right while on the dam). Then we continued our drive through winding roads with tons and tons of Christmas tree farms.

Once we arrived at Silver Falls we parked at the South Falls parking lot, it was just starting to get busy when we got there around 10am. We then did part of the Trail of Ten Waterfalls which took us 5 miles wandering in the woods around all sorts of huge waterfalls. The falls, as expected, where pretty slow going due to it being summer but still pretty to see (tip: Make sure to grab a trail map or picture of the trail map, we had to borrow someones to make sure we were on the right path). When we made it back to the car, the parking lot was almost full up. We then finished our journey home eating the well deserved chocolate coconut macadamia cookie.