Yellowstone National Park Visitor Numbers For 2022 Down 32% Compared To 2021

As a result of the historic flooding back in June, the final recreational visitor numbers last year at Yellowstone National Park, were the lowest they’ve been in 10 years.

The Park reports there were 3.29 million recreational visits in 2022, which is down 32% compared to the record number of 4.82 million visits in 2021.

Last year marked the 150th anniversary of the park, but the numbers for that year were the lowest, since there were 3.188 million visitors in 2013.

In middle-June last year, all entrances to the park closed due to flooding and road damage in various areas of the park.

The East, South and West entrances reopened a few days later on a limited entry basis, and that limitation was lifted in early July.

The Northeast entrance did not reopen until middle-October, and the North entrance reopened at the end of that month, just in time for the rest of the park to be closed to motor vehicle traffic for the upcoming winter season.

The roads connecting those 2 entrances are open year-round.

Beginning Sunday (March 5th), the park is scheduled to start closing off sections of roads to snowmobile and snow coach traffic, so that crews can start clearing snow off of the highways.

The final section of highway is scheduled to close on March 15th.

The West entrance to the park is scheduled to open to motor vehicle traffic on April 21st, but only the roads connecting Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful will be open at that time.