On the heels of July’s record visitation, Glacier National Park set another all-time mark for the month of August.
An estimated 675,119 people visited the national park last month, the most on record for August, according to the National Park Service. The previous high was 673,399, set in August 1983. Last month’s visitation was also the third highest total on record, behind this July and July 1983.
A year ago, an estimated 626,556 people visited the park.
The year-to-date visitation hit 1.88 million last month, a 5.7 percent increase over the same period last year.
This summer has been the busiest on record in Glacier and the year-end visitation is on pace to break the all-time mark of 2.20 million, set in 2010.
July saw an all-time high for visitors for any month, with 699,650 people.
In August, an estimated 292,679 people entered Glacier through the West Entrance, the most of any entrance by far. Many Glacier drew 89,816 people, a 9.4 percent increase over last August. Polebridge drew 14,658, a 19.6 percent jump. The Izaak Walton/Goat Lick section drew an estimated 42,758, nearly 24,000 people more than a year ago.
Overnight stays in the park were down 10 percent last month compared to a year ago. There were 38,548 lodging overnight stays, a 4 percent decline, and 33,843 RV overnight stays, a 10 percent decline. Backcountry overnight stays dropped 67 percent, from 15,035 to 4,887. The amount of tent campers slightly increased, with 41,309 overnight campers.
Operations and services in Glacier Park are transitioning to new hours for autumn. Read more here.