More than 2.9 million people visited Glacier National Park in 2018, making it the second-busiest year in its 109-year history.
According to data released by the National Park Service this week, 2,965,308 people visited Glacier between January and December 2018. The numbers show a 10.3 percent drop from the previous year when more than 3.3 million visited the Crown of the Continent.
The depressed visitation was due in part to the Howe Ridge Fire that closed off vast sections of the park during August and September, usually one of the busiest times of the year in Glacier.
Visitation to the park has grown rapidly in recent years, with 2016 seeing a 24 percent increase over the pervious year. Officials thought the National Park Service centennial buoyed much of the visitation in 2016, but 2017’s record breaking numbers proved that Glacier’s popularity had not subsided.