Montana state parks experiences record visitation

Montana State Parks (stateparks.mt.gov) announced today that from January 1 through June 30, 2015, state park visitation is up 21% from 2014.

In the first six months of 2015, Montana’s state parks saw over 1 million visits; compared to 850,000 visits at this time last year. For June 2015, visitation was more than 385,000; a 23% increase from 2014.

Some of the increase in visitation can be attributed to the mild winter and dry spring which brought people out to enjoy the parks earlier in the season than usual. 

“Our June weather is typically rainy and cool, and we have a lot of open availability for camping,” said Amy Grout, Flathead Lake District Park Manager. “This year, we had July-like weather in June. Folks took advantage of it and the campgrounds filled up early.”

In addition to fuller campgrounds, day-use areas have also been full as visitors try to beat the heat with a picnic in the shade or some water-based fun.

“We’ve had weekends where our day-use parking area was so full that people had to park outside and walk in,” said Grout. “I can’t remember that happening before.”

The high visitation experienced by Montana State Parks has also been seen at Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Glacier’s May visitation was up 20% and Yellowstone has reported a 24% increase in its visitation from 2014.

While this year’s uncommonly warm weather has had an impact, it is not the only thing driving visitors to state parks. Outdoor recreation is on the rise in Montana.  Over the last decade, Montana State Parks visitation is up 25% and with strong numbers through the first half of 2015, that trend looks as if it will continue.