Visitation in Glacier National Park was down 2.2 percent in June compared to the same month last year.
According to statistics released by the National Park Service on Tuesday, 544,088 people visited the park this June, down from 556,304 in June 2018. In the first six months of 2019, 795,792 people have visited the park, down 3.6 percent from the first half of 2018 when 825,651 people visited.
The West Glacier entrance remained one of the most popular areas of the park, with 234,814 visitors in June, up 4.8 percent from June 2018 when 224,097 people came through the west gate of the park. Visitation was up 4.8 percent at Polebridge and 3.2 percent at Many Glacier. Visitation was down 7.5 percent at St. Mary’s, 21.8 percent at Walton, and 4 percent at Two Medicine.
While overall visitation was down, the number of visitors who stayed in the park increased slightly from 76,411 in June 2018 to 76,932 in June 2019.
Park Spokesperson Lauren Alley said weather has a major impact on visitation to the park this time of year.
“June visitation is always a wildcard,” Alley said. “You have rainy days where very few people come and you have sunny days where everyone comes at once.”