Nearly 1 Million Visitors at Yellowstone National Park in August

Yellowstone National Park has had an extremely busy summer season in 2021. In a press release today (9/14), park officials released attendance numbers for August, and if you visited the park last month, you were one of the 921,844 guests who came through the gates. That's an average of nearly 30,000 people per day.

It was the busiest August ever.

Numbers were up 4.5% from 2020 and up 12% from 2019. The previous August visitor record was in 2017 (the year of the total solar eclipse), when 916,166 people swung through the park, either to watch the solar event, or as part of their eclipse travels through Wyoming.

Yellowstone National Park is busting records this year.

It's always been pretty crowded in Yellowstone, but this year is going to be a record. To date, the park has tallied 3,590,904 recreation visits in 2021. Those numbers are up 40% from the same period last year and up 15% from 2019.

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While it may get slightly less congested now that school is back in session, tourists from around the world are likely to continue to pack the park until the roads are mostly closed for the season.

The "shoulder season" can be a great time to visit.

If we get a nice long fall (yeah, right!) September can be a good time to sneak in a quick, end-of-summer trip to Yellowstone. The aspen trees are likely changing to gold already and you might experience less crowding this time of year. You are currently required to wear a mask at all indoor facilities or crowded outdoor areas. Also, those elk can be a little aggressive right now, because they're feeling frisky for mating season.

Check Yellowstone National Parks Current Conditions before you jump in the car.