Glacier has busiest September on record

Glacier National Park recorded its busiest September ever, with just under 489,000 visitors turning the gates. That number is impressive considering the west side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed for two weeks from Avalanche Creek to Logan Pass for road work.

The previous busiest September was in 2016, when 482,592 people visited the park.

Through September, Glacier had seen 2.936 million visitors, which means it likely will eclipse the 3 million visitor mark this year for the second time in its history. The last time that happened was in 2017, when it saw 3.3 million visitors. Last year it was just under 3 million, with 2.965 million visitors.

St. Mary, Two Medicine, Polebridge and the Camas entrance were all down a few percentage points over last year for September, whereas the west entrance was up about 50 percent. Last year, however, the Howe Ridge Fire had closed the Sun Road on the west side entirely for a portion of the month.

For the year, the west entrance is up 18.6 percent over last year, while St. Mary is down 4.6 percent.