Overall visitation in Glacier National Park surpassed two million last month and could reach the second highest total ever this year with three months remaining, according to the National Park Service Public Use Statistics Office.
The number of recreation visits in the park increased almost 11 percent in September compared to a year ago. There were 255,254 visitors last month, an increase of more than 34,000 from last year. The year-to-date total is roughly 2.07 million, a 13 percent increase over the same time period in 2011.
Roughly 144,429 visitors entered from the park’s west entrance in September. Saint Mary’s saw the largest increase over last year at 30 percent. Almost 90,000 visitors were tallied at Saint Mary’s. Polebridge visitation increased 22.7 percent, hitting 9,822. Overnight stays stayed about the same compared to last September. There were roughly 51,500 overnight stays, roughly 3,000 less than last year.
Overall visitation has surpassed 2 million for first time since 2010. Last year’s total stopped at roughly 1.85 million largely due to a short season for the Going-to-the-Sun road. A record 2.2 million visited the park in 2010, Glacier’s centennial. In 2007, Glacier drew 2.08 million visitors.
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