MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. — Yellowstone National Park hosted 316,662 recreation visits in October 2021, down 12% from October 2020s, 359,889 visitors, which was the busiest October on record.
Recreation visits this October were up 85% from October 2019s 171,339 visits. Several short-term, weather-related road closures likely impacted visitation in 2019. The park recently closed nearly every road on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. ahead of the Nov. 8 planned closure due to winter weather.
So far in 2021, the park has hosted 4,789,644 recreation visits, up 28% from the same period last year, and up 20% from 2019.
The list below shows the year-to-date trend for recreation visits over the last several years, through October:
2021 – 4,789,644
2020 – 3,753,531*
2019 – 3,979,154
2018 – 4,078,771
2017 – 4,084,762
2016 – 4,212,782
Yellowstone’s road corridors and parking areas equate to less than 1,750 acres or 0.079% of the park’s 2.2 million acres. Most visitors stay within a half-mile of these corridors.
All roads in Yellowstone, with one exception, are now closed to automobile traffic until late April. The exception is the road from the park’s North Entrance to the Northeast Entrance and the communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana, which is open year-round, weather-permitting.
Conditions permitting, most park roads will open to over-snow travel, snowmobiles and snowcoaches, on Dec. 15.
