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May Visitation Up 20 Percent in Glacier National Park

Unseasonably warm spring conditions attracted the second most visitors in May

By Dillon Tabish
Snowmelt rushes through Jackson Creek before dumping into Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park on March 27, 2015. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

Glacier National Park is poised for another record-breaking summer.

Visitation is already up 29 percent over last year’s record mark, and in May there were an estimated 134,741 people who ventured into the park, a 20 percent increase over 2014, according to the latest data from the National Park Service. Favorable weather and unseasonably warm spring conditions attracted the second most visitors in May on record, barely behind 2007’s total of 137,220.

As usual, the masses were mostly pouring in through the West Entrance; an estimated 81,493 entered through West Glacier.

The busy May is likely foreshadowing another bustling summer. The next four months are historically the busiest in the park. An estimated 334,074 visitors flocked to the park last June. July attracted a monthly record of 699,650 people followed by another record in August, 675,119. There were 353,497 visitors in September.

Last year saw an annual record number of visitors to Glacier with 2.33 million.

The park’s main thoroughfare, Going-to-the-Sun Road, remains closed to vehicle traffic past Avalanche, and park officials have not offered an estimated opening date for the entire western stretch to Logan Pass.

All 50 miles of the Sun Road opened to vehicle travel on July 2 last year. Late-spring snowstorms hampered the road’s opening.

The road fully opened June 21 in 2013 and June 19 in 2012.