Park visitation up in January

Following two consecutive years of record-breaking visitation, Glacier National Park could be off to another strong start this year, with a record 15,674 visitors passing its snow-covered gates in January.

Park attendance for the first month of the year reached 12,167 in 2007 and 12,111 in 2015.

The West Glacier entrance welcomed 13,997 of Glacier’s January visitors this year, according to estimates released Tuesday by the National Park Service. The entrances at Polebridge and St. Mary logged 906 and 620, respectively.

Overnight stays in the park dipped slightly from last year, falling from 118 to 99.

With just 11 miles of Going-to-the-Sun Road open, Glacier is still deep within its slow season, and last January’s visitation total amounted to less than half of 1 percent of its overall total for 2015.

But at the time, last January marked the second-busiest in the park’s history and kicked off a year that broke the annual attendance record despite wildfire closures and thick smoke affecting portions of the busy summer season.