Silver Falls Hike & True Primal Soup Review

Well, here in Western Oregon, unrelenting rain, high winds, and a mysterious lingering illness in Max's respiratory system have kept us from getting out for longer than a day hike, but we found the best day hike we possibly could! This Wednesday we went to Silver Falls State Park, outside of Salem, Oregon to hike the Trail of Ten Falls, a 7-ish mile hike through a canyon where you see...you guessed it!...ten waterfalls.

Looking out from the eye of the earth

This is one of the most unique areas I have visited for a couple different reasons. First of all, the trail winds behind three of the falls, giving you the opportunity to stand behind a thundering curtain of water. We went in the midst of a two-week rainy spell (I'm from the Northwest originally, and even I thought it was a LOOOOT of rain) and these waterfalls were at their finest. The North Falls were my favorite. The giant rock cave that you walk through behind the falls is eye-shaped, so when you stand behind the waterfall looking down-valley, you have the erie feeling that you are looking out from the eye of the earth. Second, this place is so unique because of how big all of the waterfalls are, and how concentrated they are in one area. Many of the falls are over 100 feet, and you can see them all in under 8 miles.

And of course, it was raining all day, but we're really glad we went. We were also really glad that we brought some True Primal Soup with us to test out for lunch! It was a little extra work to light up the stove just for a day hike, but with how cold and wet we were, we really appreciated it. Some of you may have already read my Paleo-Friendly(ish) Canned Soup Round-up, where I lamented the fact that there wasn't actually a true paleo canned soup. But my prayers were answered! True Primal has created the first canned soup that follows all the Paleo "rules," all the way down to no preservatives, fillers, or flavors, which I think is the hardest thing to find.

The most remarkable thing about this paleo/primal canned soup is that it doesn't have the "canned" soup taste to it, which I find even Amy's Soups have. Probably because they don't use any of the things I just mentioned. It tasted like something I cooked in my own kitchen. Also super convenient is the pull-tab lid, just in case you forget your can opener, which is highly probable. Max and I were a little skeptical looking at the nutrient profile, since each can has only 270 calories, and 20 grams of protein (way better already than most canned soups, but not that much for a hungry hiker). We remedied this by adding hefty amounts of butter, but with that as the only addition, one can each filled us up for lunch and kept us going until the end of the hike.

True Primal Beef & Vegetable Soup

They only have one flavor right now, Beef and Vegetable, but I hope they will come out with more flavors soon! And I think the best part is, they are reasonably priced! You do have to buy a 12-pack through Amazon since individual cans are not available yet, but it works out to about $3.60 a can which is very comparable to Amy's canned soups. I will definitely be buying these for future trips!