While Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is allowing free entry to national parks for three weekends this summer to boost visitation, it seems many park travelers already are heading back to the national parks, at least in the case of Yellowstone National Park.

According to park officials, more than 260,000 visited Yellowstone in May alone, a huge 20 percent increase from last year’s level. For the first five months of the year, nearly 360,000 people came through the park's gates, a nearly 11 percent increase over the same period in 2008.

Park officials attribute the bullish visitation numbers to better spring weather and an indication that the country is moving out its recession. It didn't indicate if lodging offerings were a factor.

Visitation figures for the first five months of the year are also up compared to the five-year average of just over 340,000 visitors. It will be interesting to see whether the trend continues through the summer, as the weak U.S. dollar already is leading to higher oil prices, which in turn are pushing gasoline prices back towards $3 a gallon.

Yellowstone Visitation

2009 2008 Change

January 24,770 26,864 - 7.8 %

February 28,355 33,557 - 15.5 %

March 17,317 19,147 + 9.6 %

April 24,831 24,433 + 1.6 %

May 261,763 217,938 + 20.1 %

Total Year-To-Date 357,036 321,939 + 10.9 %

Most of the park is inaccessible by automobile during the winter and early spring. May represents the first month most major park roads are open to wheeled visitor traffic and when visitor services begin to reopen for the busy summer season.

The park’s East Entrance saw the greatest increase in visitation, up nearly 21 percent in May compared to the previous year. The West Entrance remains the park’s busiest, with nearly 115,000 visitors passing through the gate in May, up nearly 17 percent from 2008. The South and North entrances also showed impressive increases compared to last year’s levels.

Nice spring weather like the park experienced in May is typically reflected by stronger visitation numbers. An analysis of past visitation trends also indicates park visitation typically rebounds as the country begins to pull out of an economic downturn.

The winter and spring seasons represent a small but important portion of the park’s annual visitation, which topped the 3 million mark the last two years. In comparison, as many people will visit the park during two weeks in July as typically enter during the entire first five months of the year.

Visiting the national parks remains a good value. A seven-day pass good for both Yellowstone and Grand Teton is just $25; a pass good for entrance to any national park for an entire year is just $80. Even better, the National Park Service is offering three fee-free weekends to encourage Americans to visit their national parks. The first is right around the corner: Father’s Day Weekend, June 20-21.