Glacier National Park, a reserve in Montana that holds more than 700 miles of trails, has had a record number of visitors for two months in a row, the Associated Press reported.
Likely drawn by the park's forests, alpine meadows and mountains, 675,119 people visited Glacier in August, and July saw nearly 700,000 visitors. The number from this past August tops the previous record from August 1983 by 1,700 people, while July's figure marked the park's all-time high.
While brief, the summer season has been a hectic one for Glacier.
"This is one of the shortest, most intense visitor seasons that I've experienced," Glacier's superintendent, Jeff Mow, told the Flathead Beacon. "It's striking to me."
Summer 2014 has been Glacier's busiest season ever, and the number of visitors could break 2010's record of 2.20 million people by the end of the year, according to the Beacon.
"In August, an estimated 292,679 people entered Glacier through the West Entrance, the most of any entrance by far," the Beacon reported. "Many Glacier drew 89,816 people, a 9.4 percent increase over last August. Polebridge drew 14,658, a 19.6 percent jump. The Izaak Walton/Goat Lick section drew an estimated 42,758, nearly 24,000 people more than a year ago."
Officials are analyzing the trends to see what will keep people coming back to the park.
"If we come up with a record visitor year, what does that tell us about the dynamics at work?" Mow asked. "What does it tell us about the visitors themselves and their ability to adapt? It is pretty fascinating."
As of the end of August, the year-to-date number of visitors has reached 1.88 billion, a jump of 5.7 percent compared with the same period in 2013.
The park's record visitation in 2010 was the year that Glacier marked its centennial.
While the park is seeing an increased number of visitors, overnight stays in the park were down 10 percent in August year-over-year, the Beacon reported.
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