Silver Falls: Tree Climbing Tour with Sunset & Guide

5.00

(34 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

Your first real memory is the harness — heavier than I thought, kind of awkward at first. Our guide, Jamie, joked that everyone walks like penguins until they get used to it. The air smelled sharp and green, like moss after rain (even though it hadn’t rained in days). There were six of us, all strangers but somehow not really, because we were about to climb trees together in Silver Falls State Park. I kept glancing up at these massive trunks and thinking, “Wait, we’re actually going up there?”

The practice part was honestly more fun than I expected. Jamie showed us how to use the ropes — she made it look so easy, but my first try was all elbows and nervous laughter. My hands got sticky from the sap. Someone’s kid asked if squirrels ever fall out of trees; Jamie said she’d never seen it happen but wouldn’t bet against it. After maybe an hour we hiked a short way into the old-growth forest, where everything felt quieter and older somehow. That’s when you realize how tall these trees really are — 200 feet looks different from below.

I didn’t expect the climb itself to be so… slow? Not boring-slow, just careful-slow. You feel every inch as you go up. At one point I stopped to catch my breath and just listened — wind moving through leaves way above me, some distant bird calling out like it owned the place. When we finally reached the canopy, the light had gone all gold and soft. Jamie pointed out a woodpecker nest; I tried to spot it but got distracted by how far you could see — layers of green fading into blue shadows.

Coming down was a whole other thing: rappelling by headlamp after sunset felt weirdly peaceful (and a little spooky). The forest changed once it got dark — cooler air on your face, everything quieter except for our voices echoing off trunks as we hiked back out. I still think about that view from up top sometimes; not sure photos would do it justice anyway.