A million people visited Yellowstone in one month. That’s never happened before

More than a million people visited Yellowstone National Park in July — and that had never happened before, park officials said.

Yellowstone officials said 1,080,767 people visited the park in July. It was the most-visited July on record and the first time visitation exceeded 1 million.

The park is on track to smash its previous visitation records. By July, this year had more visitors than any of the previous five years.

“Increases to Yellowstone’s visitation have accelerated rapidly over the past 12 months and we continue to be on pace to set record numbers for 2021,” Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a news release. “We are actively developing defensible short- and long-term solutions.”

Sholly said officials are focused on protecting park resources and improving the experience for visitors as more people visit. Park officials also want to consider the potential impacts high visitation has on staffing, infrastructure and nearby towns.

Yellowstone’s visitation boom mirrors what’s happening at many of the National Park Service’s most popular sites.

The National Park Service previously said it was expecting one of the busiest summer seasons on record this year after the coronavirus pandemic halted many vacation plans in 2020.

Some national parks have been overrun by long lines, no parking and overcrowded attractions this summer. Before the summer started, national parks were shattering visitation records.

“We are anecdotally seeing record levels of visitation in many of the most popular destination national parks, and those places are the big parks you think of like Yellowstone and Yosemite and Grand Teton and Acadia, the Great Smoky Mountains,” Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, National Park Service assistant director of communications, told McClatchy News in June.

How can you avoid crowds?

Officials have said the best way to experience the parks during a crowded season is to plan ahead and be flexible.

Tourists can reduce the time they spend waiting at an entrance station by buying a national parks pass online before heading to a park. They should also check the park’s website for road closures and other changes.

Additionally, no one should visit a park without knowing where they’ll stay the night, officials said. Campgrounds and hotels fill up in advance, and camping isn’t permitted in some areas.

Being flexible on arrival times also helps reduce the amount of time spent in traffic. Going to main attractions during peak hours will likely lead to getting stuck in a crowd, park officials said.

Smaller and lesser-known parks aren’t seeing the same levels of visitation this year, Anzelmo-Sarles said. Tourists can always check out an alternative park in the area or plan to visit a different destination.

The Department of Interior also has a list of 10 alternatives to popular national parks.

This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 10:36 AM with the headline "A million people visited Yellowstone in one month. That’s never happened before."