July 8, 2009
View from the Yellowstone National Park Old Faithful webcam around 2PM on Wednesday, July 8th.
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May 22, 2009
View from the Old Faithful webcam on Friday, May 22, 2009.
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Yellowstone Park reports record June visitation
Park visitation for first six months of the year tops the one million mark
by Yellowstone National Park
July 8, 2009
Coming off a slow start, visitation to the world’s first national park has rebounded to set new records.
Visitation to Yellowstone National Park was down or flat January through April, but began to rebound in May. Figures now available for June show that upward trend is continuing on into the start of the busy summer season.
Nearly 644,000 people visited Yellowstone in June. That’s up 8.5 percent from the previous year. It’s also up compared to the 609,000 visitors recorded in June 2007, the only other time in history that the number of park visitors in June topped the 600,000 mark.
For the first six months of the year, just over one million people visited Yellowstone. That’s up 9.3 percent over 2008, and again tops the previous record January through June total of 978,000 visitors set in 2007.
All park entrances reported visitation increases compared to 2008, with the Northeast, East, and North entrances showing the greatest percentage increase. The statistics also show more people are traveling in RVs and fewer are traveling by bus when compared to 2008. Early numbers also show some park campgrounds also filled more nights this June than in 2008. More
camping and in-park lodging information will be available in a few days.
July is typically the park’s peak visitation month, followed by August, June, September, and May. Overall visitation to Yellowstone National Park for 2008 was 3,066,579; down just 2.7 percent from the record 3,151,343 people who visited the park in 2007.
Detailed park visitation information is available online at http://www.nature.nps.gov/stats/park.cfm.
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.
The National Park Service is offering three fee-free weekends to encourage Americans to visit their national parks. The next fee free weekend is set for July 18-19.
All communities near and on the way to Yellowstone are open all year, with local businesses offering a wide range of recreation opportunities.
A wealth of information and assistance planning a visit to Yellowstone can be found on the park’s web site at http://www.nps.gov/yell.
Reservations and information on in-park campgrounds and lodging is available by contacting Xanterra Parks & Resorts at 866-GEYSERLAND or online at http://www.travelyellowstone.com.
Information on lodging, camping, services, and activities near the park in the Montana communities of Gardiner, West Yellowstone, and Cooke City, is available by contacting their respective Chambers of Commerce or from Travel Montana at 800-847-4868 or http://visitmt.com/.
Those interested in visiting the Wyoming communities of Cody and Jackson should contact their Chambers of Commerce, or Wyoming Travel and Tourism at 800-225-5996 or http://www.wyomingtourism.org.
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