Contributed photo by R.J Sanchez. Wallowa Lake State Park was one of the first state parks to introduce camping for visitors in 1951.

Wallowa Lake State Park is now number 12 on the state’s most popular campground list.

Nightly stays at the park climbed in 2017 to 83,783, a 1.3 percent increase from the 2016 season. Park specialist Shawnae Stanton said the increase in 2015 -2016 was 5.6 percent.

“We saw a slight drop last year because we had construction going on in the B and C loop restrooms,” said Stanton. “It was more in 2016 that we saw the bump in visitation.

With the completed bathrooms getting good feedback, Stanton said she expects the 2018 season to see even more growth.

She said the campground is already fully booked from Memorial Day through Labor Day weekend.

“It’s been kind of amazing, really,” Stanton said. The park had numerous calls over the winter from people who said that they’d checked online and no reservations were available.”

Stanton said she thinks part of the reason for the rise in visitation is the “Travel Oregon” campaign that listed the Wallowas among the seven wonders of Oregon. She also noted recent coverage of the area by magazines Sunset and Outdoor were likely contributors to the area’s new-found popularity.

The park tells visitors without reservations not to chance traveling there with the hope of catching a cancellation.

“Look for other options in the county,” she said.