Cascadia State Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cascadia State Park
Park entrance
Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
Type	Public, state
Location	Linn County, Oregon
Nearest city	Cascadia
Operated by	Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

Cascadia State Park is a beautiful state park in Oregon, a state in the United States. It's located near the town of Sweet Home, right by the South Santiam River in Cascadia. This park is a great place to visit! You can enjoy a day out, camp overnight, explore fun hiking trails, and see the amazing 150-foot Lower Soda Creek Falls.

A Look Back in Time

Long ago, before settlers came, Native American groups like the Molalla and Kalapuya tribes often visited this area. They came to gather huckleberries, fish in the rivers, and hunt.

Nearby, you can find Cascadia Cave. This cave is very old, about 8,000 years old! It's a special place with many petroglyphs, which are ancient rock carvings made by American Indians. It has the most rock engravings in western Oregon.

Later, settlers moving through the Willamette Valley created a special path here for their horse-drawn wagons. You can still see the marks from these old wagon wheels near where Soda Creek meets the South Santiam River.

In 1896, a man named George Geisendorfer opened a resort here. He believed the mineral water from Soda Creek had special healing powers. His resort was quite fancy, with a hotel, tennis courts, a croquet course, a garden, and even a bowling alley! The hotel later burned down. In 1940, the state of Oregon bought the property, turning it into the park we know today.

Explore the Trails

Cascadia State Park has two main hiking trails for you to explore.

• The Soda Creek Falls Trail is about one mile long. It follows Soda Creek all the way to the beautiful Lower Soda Creek Falls.
• The River Trail is a shorter loop, about three-quarters of a mile long. It takes you down to the peaceful South Santiam River.

River Trail at Cascadia State Park.

Amazing Plants and Trees

Oregon Iris at Cascadia State Park.

The park is covered by a thick forest of tall Douglas-Fir, cedar, and hemlock trees. Their branches create a cool, shady roof over the ground. This shade helps many different kinds of plants grow, like soft ferns, green mosses, and various mushroom species.

When spring arrives, the forest floor comes alive with colorful wildflowers. You might spot Oregon trout lily, fairy slipper, western trillium, camas, fawn lily, Hooker's fairy bells, snow queen, false Solomon's-seal, stream violet, Oregon Iris, and Pacific bleeding heart. It's a wonderful place to see nature's beauty!

How to Get There

Cascadia State Park is easy to find! It's located along U.S. Highway 20. If you're coming from Sweet Home, it's about 14 miles east. If you're traveling from Sisters, it's about 59 miles west.

Gallery

• 

  Autumn colors at Cascadia State Park on the South Santiam River.

• 

  The South Santiam River at Cascadia State Park.

• 

  Soda Creek Falls at Cascadia State Park.