Glacier National Park breaks visitation record

When it doesn’t rain in June, people flock to Glacier National Park and this year they did just that, breaking an all-time attendance record in the Park for the year.

According to figures released last week, the Park has seen 2,352,699 visitors this year, eclipsing the previous record set last year of 2,313,226, despite smoke and haze from wildfires in late July and August in Glacier.

On a percentage basis, Polebridge saw the largest increase with a 26.2 percent jump.

The Reynolds Creek Fire, which temporarily shut down the east side of the park for a few days put a dent in visitation to St. Mary, as it saw an 11 percent drop over the previous year. The Goat Lick also saw a drop, likely from the Sheep Fire and the fact that it was closed for repairs later in the fall.

Polebridge’s surge meant that nearly 75,000 people went through the gates at the North Fork outpost.

Backcountry overnight stays were up almost 10 percent to 32,775, while concessions lodging was down about 10 percent, as the Rising Sun Motor Inn never reopened after the Reynolds Creek Fire hit on July 22.

The fire burned an eight-mile swath of land along the Sun Road. Despite the disturbance, people still flocked to Glacier, as they could still get to other regions of the Park, including Logan Pass.

June weather also likely helped a lot. June is normally the wettest month of the year, but this year it was warm and dry and the Sun Road completely opened on June 11, nearly a full month earlier than 2014.

National Parks are proving popular destinations across the country. The National Park System was on pace by the end of November to break its nationwide record of 293 million park visits set in 2014.