Two of Oregon’s tallest waterfalls sit side by side off a one-lane gravel road, and almost nobody’s heard of either one
Munson Creek Falls gets called the tallest waterfall in Oregon’s Coast Range, and that’s true. What almost nobody mentions is that the second- and third-tallest drops in the entire range sit less than a five-minute walk from each other, inside a park so quiet it barely shows up on most Oregon coast itineraries.
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Golden and Silver Falls State Natural Area sits about 24 miles east of Coos Bay, past the small community of Allegany, where the final three miles narrow down to a one-lane gravel road. It’s the kind of approach that quietly filters out anyone who isn’t actually looking for it.
Silver Falls drops 259 feet — a 223-foot sheer plunge into a 36-foot cascade — and Golden Falls isn’t far behind at 254 feet, according to the Northwest Waterfall Survey. Only Munson Creek Falls, up in Tillamook County, stands taller anywhere in the Oregon Coast Range.
Three short trails fan out from a single parking area: one to the base of Silver Falls, one to Golden Falls, and a longer route that climbs to the top of Golden Falls for a straight-down view of its 300-foot cliff. Combined, they run about 3 miles round trip with roughly 500 feet of elevation gain, and none of the three is rated harder than easy.
The access road has a stranger history than the falls themselves. Four homesteaders blasted it into these cliffs back in 1901, and from 1912 to 1916 an actual automobile stage — barely wider than a Model T — ran the route between Allegany and Scottsburg. Golden Falls is named for Dr. C.B. Golden, an early visitor and Oregon’s first Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias; Silver Falls came later, named mostly to match.
The lower trails and picnic area wind through a grove of Oregon myrtle, a slow-growing hardwood that takes 80 to 120 years to mature and grows almost nowhere outside the coastal forests of southwest Oregon and northern California. Mixed in with old-growth Douglas fir and big-leaf maple, it makes for one of the greenest, shadiest short walks on the whole coast.
Show up right now, in late summer, and don’t expect much — Silver Falls can thin to almost nothing by August, and Golden Falls isn’t much fuller. Come back once the fall rains settle in around October, and both falls go from a trickle to the kind of full, roaring drop that actually earns the one-lane drive.
There’s no day-use fee posted for this one, unlike its much bigger, much busier namesake near Salem — just a small lot, picnic tables, and vault toilets, dogs welcome on leash. Fuel up and grab supplies in Coos Bay before you head out, since there’s nothing but forest once you pass Allegany.
Two of the tallest waterfalls on the entire Oregon coast, a free park, and a trailhead most Oregonians couldn’t point to on a map — what’s not to love?
Trip tips: grab a rental car to get out here, lock in your hotel before the good rooms are gone, or skip both and book a camper van instead.
Rules and fees change — always confirm current requirements before you go.
