MOOSE, Wyo. — Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) has released its visitation statistics for September, noting that the month was busier than usual.
According to GTNP’s Wednesday announcement, September 2023 stands as the second busiest September on record for the park, notching more recreation visits than June of this year.
This September, GTNP had 602,607 recreation visits, second only to September 2020, when it had 603,789 recreation visits. For comparison, September 2022 had 441,995 recreation visits, and September 2019 (an example of pre-pandemic visitation) had 517,265 recreation visits.
“Historically, June, July and August were the most visited months of the year, however, this year, July, August and September have been the most visited months thus far,” GTNP’s announcement said.
GTNP reported that the park’s total recreation visitation for this year has reached 3,059,238 thus far, already surpassing 2022’s total of 2,806,223, representing a 21% year-to-date increase.
The park also shared that trail use from June to August this year showed a 1.2% increase over last year, and a 12% increase over 2019, citing data from trail counters.
“For the month of September, trail use increased 4% compared to September 2022,” the park said. “Year-to-date backcountry overnight stays also increased 4.3% this year compared to the same time frame in 2022.”
Yellowstone National Park also saw an unusually busy September this year. See the National Park Service’s website for more on park visitation statistics.
