Silver Falls State Park building viewpoint, day-use area for 2022

Visitors to Silver Falls State Park will have a new viewpoint and an expanded day-use area to visit in a couple of years.

The Oregon State Parks Department is planning to renovate and expand the North Falls Day-use Area at the park — a project that aims to thin the crowds at the notoriously busy park.

The expansion is expected to be complete in 2022, coinciding with the parks department’s centennial celebration, the Statesman Journal first reported Monday.

Silver Falls saw more than 1.1 million day-use visitors in 2018, according to the most recent data provided by the parks department, with the majority flocking to the South Falls Day-use Area.

There, visitors have access to a visitor center and viewpoint over South Falls, as well as a Creekside picnic area, gift shop and the Trail of Ten Falls, a 7-mile hiking trail that loops through the park.

“It’s definitely one of the primary goals to reduce the demand on South Falls,” park manager Guy Rodrigue said Wednesday. “We’re pretty much at capacity.”

North Falls has always provided an alternate access point into the park, but it’s lacked the infrastructure to support many visitors, Rodrigue said.

The upcoming project aims to fix those issues, transforming North Falls into a full-fledged day-use area.