Park visitation in 2007 more than 2 million

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

Despite a late opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, visitation in Glacier National park last year climbed about 6 percent from the previous year and topped the 2 million mark.

All told, the Park had about 2.094 million visits, up from 1.972 million the year before. Of those visitors, the bulk came from June through September — about 1.77 million.

The Park Service doesn't call them visitors in its figures, as it's possible to count the same person numerous times through the summer, but it is an indication of how well the summer season went.

Economic numbers back up Glacier's figures however.

"It was a very good summer," said Jan Metzmaker, the director of the Whitefish Visitor and Convention Bureau. The office, among other things, tracks receipts from the city's resort tax.

Resort tax numbers for the summer were up 10 to 11 percent over last year and last year was up from the year before that, she noted.

The higher numbers were despite the fact that the entire length of the Going-to-the-Sun Highway didn't open until July 1 — one of its latest on record.

Metzmaker noted that state travel promoters as well as the Whitefish agency did a lot to promote the shoulder season and to show visitors that just because the Sun Road was closed, it didn't mean they couldn't have a great vacation.

The Sun Road also closed earlier than usual — in mid-September — as crews were working to both rehabilitate the road and shore up damage from flooding in November 2006.

That flood washed out large portions of the road near the east side tunnel. A temporary bridge was put in place over one large hole to make the road passable during the summer months. It was then removed last fall and most of the repairs were completed on the east side. Paving will have to be finished there this spring.

All told, about half of all visitors to the Park go through the west entrance and 127,696 people stayed in concessionaire lodging in the Park, which was up slightly from the year before.

The Park did see lower numbers in some areas.

Glacier had slightly fewer people in its motor campgrounds — 168,056 in 2007 compared to 176,181 in 2006, but backcountry camping was up from 26,002 in 2006 to 27,993 in 2007.

Some campgrounds in 2006 were closed because of the Red Eagle Fire as well as grizzly bear problems.

In 2007, those backcountry sites reopened — at least partially. Plus, the weather was good. The summer season saw virtually no rain, which stoked wildfires across Northwest Montana, but the Park didn't see any major fires, which kept visitor usage up.

Amtrak is also reporting higher numbers and more inquires. As airline service becomes less and less reliable,