2 weeks Ago By BILLINGS GAZETTE
BILLINGS — Yellowstone National Park recorded its second-busiest September on record, counting 852,435 recreation visits, the National Park Service reported on Wednesday. The highest September total was set in September 2021 when 882,078 visits were tallied. Last month's visits were a 2% increase over September 2023 but a 3% decrease from the same month in 2021.
So far in 2024, the park has hosted 4,349,689 recreation visits, up 5% from 2023 (4,147,382 recreation visits), and down 3% from 2021 (4,472,687 recreation visits). The high mark for annual visitation also came in 2021, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when 4.86 million people visited.
As visitation ebbs with the approach of winter, the park has shut down the parking lot, trail and boardwalks at Artists Paintpots, south of Norris Junction, to make repairs. The closure is expected to last two weeks as crews repair the boardwalk ramp. More information on Yellowstone statistics can be found online at: irma.
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