Not only did September's visitation count in Yellowstone National Park set a record, but it also pushed the park's year-to-date visitation to a record high, according to park officials.
And with three months left to go this year, the finally head count could be amazing when compared to past years.
According to Yellowstone officials, this past September marked the first time Yellowstone ever lured more than half-a-million visitors to its wonders. The tally of 550,504 surpassed by some 60,000 the previous September record of nearly 490-thousand set just last year.
If you've been keeping track, this September was the fourth record-breaking month in a row for Yellowstone, according to park officials.
Year-to-date, Yellowstone visitation climbed above 3.41 million, which is well above the 3.14 million visitors who came to Yellowstone through the first nine months of 2009. With three months to go in 2010, year-to-date visitation has topped last year’s record annual visitation record of 3,295,187, the park said in a release.
Visitation figures were up at all five park entrances when compared to year-ago levels. The West Entrance remains the park’s busiest, with nearly 216,000 visitors in September.
July is typically the park’s peak visitation month, followed by August, June, September, and May. In 2009, the park recorded just over 150,000 visitors during the months of October, November, and December.
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I am proud to say we were one of those visitors in the month of Aug.
We have been told for years that people don't visit national parks anymore because they're all playing video games. I never believed that claim. This is clear proof that it is false. We need a lot more national parks across the country, so all Americans -- even if they live in New England or the Midwest -- have the opportunity to visit parks nearby. Visiting Yellowstone is great, but we also need parks near our major population centers.
We visited Yellowstone in August of this year for the fourth time with our Granddaughter (her first visit).
I could not believe the amount of people and very heavy traffic. Most folks were from other countries.....maybe we need more Americans in the parks! Is their a record of what percent of countries are represented?
Anonymous, this information is dated by four years, but it's probably still in the ballpark. It comes from the Park Studies Unit at the University of Idaho.
The Thorofare was nice and quiet when I was there in August!
Just think of how many more visitors the park would have had if AMTRAK served it directly
as it did, once upon a time!