Record crowds in Glacier

The dry spring wasn't all bad. Glacier National Park's visitation zoomed to record levels in June as the Going-to-the-Sun Road opened nearly a month earlier than last year.

The Park saw 414,671 visitors, up a whopping 24.1 percent from last year. To date Glacier has seen 642,438 visitors, an increase of 25.8 percent.

All regions of the Park were up, except for the Camas Road, which was down slightly from last year.

The dry weather also let people get into the backcountry. Backcountry camping was up 114.9 percent over last June. Last year it snowed into late June. This year, there were 3,900 June overnight stays in the backcountry, compared to 1,815 last year.

The Sun Road opened to Logan Pass from the west side on June 11 this year. Last year it opened on July 2. An early opening of the Sun Road equates into more visitors.

The robust visitation has continued through July and barring any large wildfires in Glacier, the Park should meet or exceed last year's record visitation numbers.

Gas prices have also helped with travel. Gas is about $2.80 a gallon locally, whereas last year it was closer to $3.70 a gallon.