Jackson Hole Daily | Yellowstone records busiest month ever

Jackson Hole Daily | Yellowstone records busiest month ever

By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.

August 5, 2010

More people visited Yellowstone National Park in July than in any other month since the park was established in 1872, National Park Service officials announced Wednesday.

The total of 957,000 recreation visitors entered the park’s gates, breaking last July’s record by 60,000 people, or 6.4 percent. June was also a record for that month in the park with 694,841 people.

“We set all kinds of records,” Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said. “This is the second record month in a row that we’ve had a visitation record, the second year in a row that we’ve had a record July. It’s the all-time-high visitation for any month, and it’s the first time that our visitation for the first seven months of the year has topped the 2 million mark.”

The record number of visitors is attributed, in part, to the slow economy, Nash said.

“It may be a bit counter-intuitive, but I believe national park visitation benefits from our current national economic situation,” he said. “Visiting national parks is a great value, and you can plan a trip to places like Yellowstone and Grand Teton more easily reflecting your time and your wallet than you can many other vacation destinations.”

The South Entrance, the park’s gateway from Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park, recorded more than 210,000 visitors last month, up from 195,000 for July 2009, an increase of 7.9 percent.

“That continues to be the second-busiest entrance to Yellowstone,” Nash said.

Park employees have noticed the increase in visitors, Nash said.

“Everyone I’ve spoken with, no matter their job in the park, has talked about how busy they are in their respective job and how busy the park is,” he said.

Visitors are likely to notice a shortage of hotel rooms and campsites, as well as traffic congestion.

“If you’re looking for a room [or a campsite] in the park, we’re full in the early morning,” he said.

The chances of visitors experiencing a wildlife jam are also much greater than in years past, Nash said.

“This has been an extraordinarily good year for wildlife viewing,” he said.

So far this year, Yellowstone has shown increases in visitation compared with 2009 every month except May. Last year was a record year with more than 3.3 million visitors.