Yellowstone recreation visits top 3M, again, in 2014

Jan 9, 2015

The crowd at Old Faithful. J. Schmidt photo. — More and more people are visiting popular attraction such as Old Faithful, but a short drive away there is quiet and solitude. (J. Schmidt photo)

Yell Public Affairs

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — According to a National Park Service news release, recreation visitation to Yellowstone National Park in 2014 topped the 3 million mark for the eighth straight year.

Overall visitation to Yellowstone for 2014 was 3,513,486, up 10.21 percent from 2013, making it the second highest visitation year on record.

Recreational Visits

2014 2013 Change

January 26,778 24,699 + 8.42 %

February 28,233 31,053 – 9.08%

March 18,778 18,613 + 0.89%

April 31,356 24,606 + 27.43%

May 310,039 293,250 + 5.73%

June 669,642 624,429 + 7.24%

July 858,857 812,212 + 5.74%

August 773,357 725,136 + 6.65 %

September 571,764 557,925 + 2.48 %

October 194,804 47,506 + 309.60 %

November 11,507 11,169 + 3.29%

December 18,340 17,378 + 5.54%

Total Year-To-Date 3,513,481 3,188,029 + 10.21%

Nearly 1.44 million people came into Yellowstone through the park’s West Entrance in 2014, which also saw the greatest percentage increase in visitors among the park’s five main gates, up more than 14 percent from 2013 levels.

There is a lot to do in Yellowstone National Park, But the view from the porch is nice too. Jody Lyle photo. — There is a lot to do in Yellowstone National Park, but the view from the porch is nice too. Jody Lyle photo.

The discrepancy between in the number of visits for the past two Octobers is due to the government shutdown in 2013.

December’s numbers

December visitation to Yellowstone was up 5.53 percent compared to year ago levels, with 18,340 visitors recorded in 2014 compared to 17,378 during the same period in 2013.

A total of 10,778 visitors came into the park’s North Entrance by wheeled vehicles. Limited snowpack at the start of the over-snow winter season prohibited some snowmobile access for several days, restricting visitor travel on some road segments to snow coach or commercial wheeled vehicles until conditions improved.

The lodges of Yellowstone offer opulence in a rustic environment. David Resvito photo.

A total of 5,004 visitors entered the interior of the park by snow coach or commercial wheeled vehicle, while 3,614 entered on guided snowmobile trips. The last time the park recorded fewer than 3 million annual recreational visits was in 2006, with 2.87 million visits.

Annual Recreational Visitors

Rank Year Visitation

1 2010 3,640,184

2 2014 3,513,486

3 2012 3,447,727

4 2011 3,394,321

5 2009 3,295,187

6 2013 3,188,030

7 2007 3,151,343

8 1992 3,144,405

9 1999 3,131,381

10 1995 3,125,285

Detailed park visitation information and additional information on how these statistics are calculated is available online at https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park.