S ERVING THE S ILVERTON A REA S INCE 1880
50 C ENTS
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A U NIQUE E DITION OF THE S TATESMAN J OURNAL
V OL . 135, N O . 20
W EDNESDAY , M AY 4, 2016
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
North Fork Park closed until early June
Crews work to remove fire debris
ZACH URNESS
STATESMAN JOURNAL
A popular park along the Lit-
tle North Santiam River won't
open at its normal time this sea-
son.
North Fork Park, known for
its emerald swimming holes
and scenery, will remain closed
past its traditional May 1 open-
ing date.
Marion County Parks coordi-
nator Russ Dilly said crews still
needed to remove downed tim-
ber and debris from a fire last
season to ensure visitor safety
before opening the park for the
season. He said crews were ex-
panding North Fork's parking
area as well.
Dilly said he hoped the park
would open by June 1, but
couldn't guarantee it.
Marion County will open oth-
er parks in the Little North Fork
area, including Salmon Falls
and Bear Creek Campground,
along with a handful of other
parks.
Here's a breakdown of the
parks that will be opening May
1.
Scotts Mills
Located along Butte Creek
northeast of Silverton, the 13-
acre park is a much-loved desti-
nation with a swimming hole be-
low a small waterfall.
Picnic tables, playground
equipment installed last year
and fishing also are popular
pastimes.
Directions: Highway 213
east, past Silverton five miles
RIDING INTO
SILVER FALLS’
BACKCOUNTRY
and turn right onto Mt. Angel
Scotts Mills Road NE for 2.3
miles into the small town. Stay
right on Crooked Finger Road to
the park on the left.
Salmon Falls
A 30-foot waterfall drops into
a clear emerald pool at one of
the most scenic parks in Marion
See PARK, Page 5A
PHOTOS BY DANIELLE PETERSON/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Residents of The Salvation Army's Lighthouse Shelter visited
Silver Falls State Park last week.
Lighthouse Shelter
residents explore
Silver Falls’ beauty
KAELLEN HESSEL
STATESMAN JOURNAL
PHOTO COURTESY OF SEALEGS MEDIA
Joe Cooper rides the new Catamount Trail at Silver Falls State Park.
Mountain bike-specific trail open to cyclists
ZACH URNESS
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Three years ago, Silverton resi-
dents Paul Prough and Dewayne
Powell had an audacious idea.
The duo loved mountain biking
at Silver Falls State Park but some-
times ran into trouble on a trail sys-
tem crowded with different user
groups.
“A couple of times I was speed-
ing downhill and had to slam on the
breaks to avoid running into peo-
ple riding horses,” Powell said.
“They were not happy with me. It
was definitely a problem.”
To remedy the situation, Powell
proposed building a mountain bike
trail in the park’s remote back-
country, far from the waterfalls
that lure almost a million people to
Silver Falls each year.
The idea succeeded beyond his
wildest dreams.
A galvanized Mid-Valley biking
community arrived in droves, vol-
unteering their time, money and
machinery to build what became
known as the Catamount Trail.
Parks officials jumped on the
bandwagon, keen to lure new and
younger park visitors.
The 4.5-mile trail officially
opened May 1 with a celebration of
an idea conceived by Powell but
created through communal effort.
The Salem Area Trail Alliance,
the nonprofit group that supported
the project, will lead tours of the
trail and offer bike shuttles begin-
ning at 11 a.m. at the 214 Trailhead.
“It’s overwhelming to look back,
see all the work we’ve done and
know this trail will be here for my
children to ride,” said Ty Hurl, a
longtime volunteer on the project.
“It’s a cool feeling, knowing that
you helped create something a lot
of people are going to enjoy.”
Considered an “enhanced”
cross-country trail, the route has
turns, berms and rock features
that will make it fun for mountain
bikers but won’t be too difficult for
average cyclists.
“It also has amazing scenery,”
said Beth Dayton, a surgeon from
Salem who helped organize volun-
teers and trail parties. “Really
See SILVER FALLS, Page 5A
Cascade Foothill
Winegrowers hold
‘coming out ball’
VICTOR PANICHKUL
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Mt. Angel’s Festhalle,
usually home to beer
events, was the stage for
“Taste. Learn. Celebrate.”
on Saturday. The event
was an opportunity for
wine lovers to taste wines
from 15 members of the
Cascade Foothills Wine-
growers, an association
made up of vineyards and
wineries east of Inter-
state 5 — an area not on
the radar of most wine
lovers. About 200 wine
lovers from the Mid-Val-
ley gathered to enjoy
wines poured by 15 differ-
ent wineries from an of-
ten-overlooked part of the
valley.
The event was also an
opportunity for a little
wine education, with har-
vest equipment, grape-
See WINEGROWERS,
Page 6A
CATAMOUNT TRAIL
In a nutshell: An enhanced
cross-county trail designed for
mountain biker but open to
hikers and trail runners at Silver
Falls State Parks. No waterfall
views.
Length: 4.5 miles
Difficulty: Intermediate
Starting point: 214 Trailhead
Notes: Must ride up Lookout
Mountain Road 0.4 miles, follow-
ing pink paw prints, to reach
beginning of trail, which then
takes riders downhill and back
around, returning to 214 Trail-
head.
Directions: From I-5 near Salem,
exit onto Highway 22 headed
toward Bend and Detroit. Follow
Highway 22 7 miles to an exit for
Highway 214 and follow signs to
Silver Falls State Park. Just after
entering the park’s boundary,
watch for a sign on the right
pointing to the 214 Trailhead.
Follow this gravel road to the
parking area. If you reach the
South Falls Day-Use area, you’ve
gone too far.
Online at
Silverton
Appeal.com
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PHOTOS
» Photo galleries
After living on the
streets, surrounded by
pavement and “ugliness,”
a field trip into Oregon’s
great outdoors reminds
one resident of The Salva-
tion Army’s Lighthouse
Shelter that there’s “a
world of beauty” out
there.
“It’s hard to see beau-
ty,” she said, “when you’re
struggling to put your life
back together.”
She was one of eight
transitional shelter resi-
dents who this week took a
break from their daily re-
alities of job hunting and
overcoming barriers, to
explore Silver Falls State
Park.
Tuesday’s outing was
the first of many field
trips shelter residents
will take this spring and
summer. The trips began
in 2015 with visits to the
Oregon coast, Multnomah
Falls, a Volcanoes base-
ball game and a fishing
spot. The trips were such
a hit that plans call for one
See SHELTER, Page 3A
Shelter residents David Kelly, left, Marshall Weaver and Gary
Erickson visited Silver Falls State Park last week.
INSIDE
Births......................................2A
Calendar ...............................2A
Classifieds..............................3B
Life..........................................6A
Marriage licenses................2A
Obituaries.............................2A
Police logs.............................2A
Sports......................................1B
trip every two to three
weeks during the warmer
part of 2016.
Half of this week’s
group embarked on a 5-
mile hike, called the Win-
ter Falls Loop, that
brought them to seven of
the park’s 10 waterfalls.
The other half stayed be-
hind by the South Falls
Lodge and reclined in the
sunlight, played in the
creek and wandered
around the day-use area.
As the motley bunch
ducked behind waterfalls,
scampered up hills and
paused to catch their
breaths, they joked about
what they’d do if they saw
a bear, shared stories
from their differing life
experiences and talked
about everything from
the financial crisis to
movies. One particularly
flexible hiker even per-
formed some trail yoga.
“It smells like Christ-
mas,” Ted Bennett said of
the evergreen trees.
The trips give both
staff and clients a chance
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