We reported earlier on how many visitors streamed into all national parks last year. Here’s a breakdown of just how one of the more popular parks fared—and a graph that could help you plan to call when things aren’t so busy. Yellowstone National Park visits in 2023 were next to the highest ever.
Why low numbers of Yellowstone National Park visits in 2022?
The park saw 4,501,382 recreational visitors in 2023. That’s up 37% over 2022 (3,290,242 recreation visits). Why were the numbers lower in 2022? The Park Service says that was likely due to the historic flood event. The flood closed the park from June 13 through June 21. Three entrances reopened June 22 and two remained closed until October.
In 2023, visitation was the second busiest on record. The busiest year was 2021 with 4,860,242 recreational visits. Like many of the other national parks, you can probably thank the COVID lockdown of 2020 for those numbers. More than half of the visits for both years occurred in June, July, and August. “Visitors looking to travel to Yellowstone in the summer must plan a visit well in advance,” says the Park Service.
What about away from summer for Yellowstone National Park visits? Check out the graph above. It compares visitation numbers from 2019 on through 2023. The high peak months are pretty much the same year-over-year. If you want to see Yellowstone—without huge crowds—get cracking. And take your long johns!
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Thank you, Russ and Tina! DW may want to visit it while traveling in our RV. If so, then we’ll visit it, but it probably will not be winter. Safe travels! 🙂