Glacier National Park visitation down in August

Three solid weeks of smoke from area wildfires resulted in about 14 percent less visitors to Glacier National Park in August. August visitation was at 579,000 people compared to 675,119 last year, but even so, the Park is still at an overall pace to break last year's record mark, as visitation is up 2.1 percent due to a robust start to the tourist season.

Total visitation for the year stands at 1.910 million compared to 1.87 million last year.

But this August's numbers may be skewed a bit anyway. For a few days, many motorists traveled through Glacier National Park whether they were visiting or not, because U.S. Highway 2 was closed due to the Sheep Fire near Essex. The travelers were still counted as visitors.

The fires and smoke really put a dent in overnight stays in the Park, with total overnight stays down 43.2 percent in August. About 15 percent fewer folks stayed in tents compared to last year and about 26.3 percent less stayed in RVs.

Backcountry stays were down too, as some campgrounds were closed due to wildfires and the smoke made hiking difficult.

Visitation to St. Mary and Two Medicine was down and the Goat Lick saw the biggest drop as U.S. Highway 2 was closed to vehicle traffic at times.

Polebridge, however, was actually up, with an increase of 5,000 more visitors. The North Fork had no fires this year west of the Whitefish divide.

September should be an interesting month as well. Snow closed Logan Pass earlier in the month for a few days, but then last week temperatures rebounded back into 70s and 80s and Glacier was very busy once again.