Regional Industry & News

New Shoshone Falls overlook opens in Jerome

Area of the Snake River Canyon was previously out of reach for most visitors

JEROME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — A new 40-by-20-foot overlook is giving visitors safe access to an area of the Snake River Canyon that was out of reach for most people for years.

Kathie Womack, visiting from Illinois and staying with family in Gooding, said seeing the park for the first time was one of the highlights of her trip.

“Looking down at the water and the falls here, the beautiful falls, that, it took my breath away when I first walked up here and looked,” Womack said.

“It’s just gorgeous, I can’t get enough pictures of all the beautiful scenery and I’m amazed with the color of the water, it’s beautiful,” Womack said.

Bill Bridges, Chairman of the Snake River Canyons Park Board, said the board has been working to make the overlook a reality for years.

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“The celebration of getting the overlook open. We’ve been working on it for about nine years and filling out paperwork and everything. We finally got it and we got some money all of a sudden we’re in, we got the money and we started in December,” Bridges said.

The park offers restrooms and parking, including ADA spaces, as well as informational signs. More QR-code features are expected to be added to those signs, allowing visitors to access information in different languages.

“Don’t ask me how they do it, I didn’t ask, but we’ll get those up and we’ll have those up before Christmas,” Bridges said.

Bridges said there is no entrance fee this winter. A five-dollar per-car fee is expected to begin in the spring.

The park’s plans are not finished. The board is working on a new trailhead with access toward Vineyard Lake.

“Come out now and see what we’ve got, and then come out in the spring and see the water,” Bridges said.

Bridges said there are also plans to finish additional safety fencing around the overlook.

For visitors like Womack, the new access is already making an impression.

“I can’t wait to get my son here, he will be thrilled with it. I took a lot of pictures to mostly show him, so, it’s wonderful,” Womack said.