It's been a record-setting year when it comes to visitors to Yellowstone National Park, and by the time you read this another big record may have set, as more than 3 million visitors have already passed through the Park gates so far this year.

For the first time ever, visitation for the first nine months of the year to Yellowstone topped the 3 million mark.  The previous January through September visitation record was 2,977,353, also set in 1995.    

The park needs to host just over 7,500 more visitors in the months of October through December to break the annual record visitation mark of 3,151,343 set in 2007. That number will certainly be reached; it may already be reached by the time you read this.

Yellowstone Recreational Visitors

All park entrances have recorded an increase in visitors for the year-to-date when compared to 2008.   

The West Entrance remains the park’s busiest, with 1,275,455 visitors for the year, up 6 percent from 2008.  The Northeast Entrance has reported the highest percentage increase in visitation at 21.3 percent, with the East Entrance not far behind with a 15.5 percent increase compared to the first nine months of 2008.

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