Recreation visits to Yellowstone National Park fell by a third last year as it and neighboring communities scrambled to rebuild from June’s historic flood.
The park reported 3,290,242 visitors in 2022, down from 4,860,242 in 2021 — its busiest year on record — the National Park Service announced Tuesday.
It marked Yellowstone’s least busy year since 2013, even falling short of 2020, during which the park saw 3,806,306 visitors even though it closed, due to the pandemic, from March 24 through May 17 and continued to limit entry through June 1.
Park visitors watch as Old Faithful erupts on June 22 in Yellowstone National Park. Crowds were relatively light on the first day of the park's reopening after devastating flooding.
Attendance in 2022, which was trending up slightly from 2021 before the flood, cratered through the summer, the park’s busiest season: In July, when only half the park was open but entry restrictions had been lifted, it received barely over half as many visitors — 596,562 — as it did during the same month in 2021.
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Thousands of tourists were evacuated from the park during the flood or arrived — and then had to leave — during the subsequent nine-day closure.
Many thousands more canceled or rearranged their plans to visit Yellowstone last summer after news of the flooding broke, even though most of the park became accessible through the three southern entrances within weeks of the reopening. But parking lots around the biggest attractions, like the Old Faithful geyser, still filled to capacity as soon as tourists were allowed back inside.
“Operationally, it’s busy,” Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly told the Star-Tribune on July 8. “But there’s definitely less traffic in the park.”
Despite the strain on gateway communities, many of which rely heavily on park tourism, nearly every resident interviewed by the Star-Tribune in the aftermath of the flood spoke positively about the Park Service’s transparency and speed as it worked to restore access.
Yellowstone’s two northern entrances remained closed until October as the Park Service patched or rerouted the severely damaged highways linking them to the rest of the park. The Northeast and North gates reopened to the public on Oct. 15 and Oct. 30, respectively, in time for winter tourism. Only the North Gate stays open for car travel year-round.
Monthly numbers recovered some, but not completely, by December, when the 30,794 park visitors were only about 20% below the previous year. Between July and December, in total, the park counted 2,031,488 recreation visits, compared with 3,272,244 in the second half of 2021.
PHOTOS: Yellowstone reopens after massive flooding
Yellowstone National Park
A Boy Scout troop from Littleton, Colo., pets Mr. Bates, a dog owned by park visitor Mary Carbrey of Sacramento Calif., as they all wait for Yellowstone National Park to begin letting visitors in on June 22 at the East Gate.
Yellowstone National Park
Visitors with qualifying license plates wait in line to enter Yellowstone National Park at 7 a.m. Wednesday at the East Gate.
Yellowstone reopening
Park visitors speak to each other outside of the Shoshone National Forest as their cars sit in line to enter Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday at the East Gate.
Yellowstone National Park
Tourists exit their vehicles and look at the line of cars behind them while waiting to enter Yellowstone National Park at 7 a.m. Wednesday at the East Gate.
Yellowstone National Park
Mountains are backed up by a blue sky on June 22, 2022 in Yellowstone National Park.
Old Faithful
A bison eats grass next to Old Faithful geyser in June in Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park
A ranger confirms that a truck can enter Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday at the East Entrance. The park used a license plate system to limit visitors as it recovers from last week's massive flooding. Wednesday was the first day that visitors were allowed to enter Yellowstone.
Old Faithful
Visitors stand in line at the information desk inside of the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center on June 22 at Yellowstone National Park. Park visitation was down significantly in June, when flooding closed Yellowstone for nine days.
Old Faithful
Park visitors watch as Old Faithful erupts on Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park. Crowds were relatively light on the first day of the park's reopening.
Rebecca Roland
Yellowstone Park Ranger Rebecca Roland stands outside of the East Entrance on Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park
Visitors with qualifying license plates wait in line to enter Yellowstone National Park at 7 a.m. on Wednesday at the East gate. The park opened an hour later for the first time in nine days.
