Following a rising trend of visitation noted in the first half of 2009, Yellowstone National Park attracted a record number of visitors this summer, with nearly 2.3 million tallied during June, July, and August.

According to park officials, the summer count was up 124,000 over the previous summer record of 2,173,371 set back in 1999.

Nearly 753,000 visitors came to the park this past August alone, the park reported. That’s up 3 percent compared to the August 2008, and just a little more than 11,000 shy of the all-time August record of 764,237 set in 1998.

Park visitation year-to-date is up 8.1 percent compared to the same period in 2008, and well above the previous January through August visitation record of 2,511,790 set in 2007.

Yellowstone Recreation Visitors

........................................2009.....................2008......................Change

June.................................643,844.................593,406....................+ 8.5%

July..................................900,515.................806,110....................+ 11.4%

August.............................752,983.................731,063.....................+ 3.0%

June through August........2,297,342...............2,132,578....................+ 7.7%

Total Year-To-Date...........2,654,378................2,454,517...................+ 8.1%

All park entrances have seen an increase in visitors year-to-date when compared to 2008, the park notes. The West Entrance remains the park’s busiest, with 1,090,306 visitors for the year; and nearly 300,000 in August alone. The greatest percentage increase in visitation was again recorded through the East Entrance, up 16.3 percent from August 2008.

July is typically the park’s peak visitation month, followed by August, June, September, and May. Additional visitation information is available online at http://www.nature.nps.gov/stats/.