Visitation declined at Rocky Mountain National Park in 2023 for the second straight year, and its ranking on the list of busiest national parks fell from fourth to fifth behind Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Zion and Yellowstone according to figures released by the National Park Service.
Visitation at Rocky in 2023 was 4,115,837, a 4% decline over the previous year and 7% below 2021 figures. It was 12% below the park’s record attendance in 2019 of 4,670,053. Since then, park officials have imposed a timed-entry reservation system during peak periods which they say is needed to prevent overcrowding.
Other factors may be related to the decline, though. The park saw year-over-year increases in February, March, April, November and December of 2023, according to public affairs officer Kyle Patterson.
“As you may recall,” Patterson said, “last year the park experienced a very wet spring and early summer. Snow and wet weather in May through August likely had an impact on summer visitation.”
RMNP’s position on the list of busiest parks tends to fluctuate between third and fourth, and it hadn’t been at No. 5 on the national list since 2014. Great Smoky Mountains led the way in 2023 with more than 13 million, accounting for more than 14% of overall national park visitation. Grand Canyon came in at 4.7 million, followed by Zion at 4.6 million and Yellowstone at 4.5 million. Yellowstone moved to fourth place from seventh in 2022 with a 27% increase of 1.2 million.
Rocky reported more than 70,761 tent campers, 34,314 backcountry campers and 28,329 RV campers in 2023. Mesa Verde actually had more RV campers (28,868) than Rocky Mountain.
As usual, the reservation requirement for Rocky Mountain National Park will go into effect Memorial Day weekend and will continue into October.
Colorado’s other national parks recorded increases in 2023. Great Sand Dunes attracted 512,219, Mesa Verde 505,194, Black Canyon of the Gunnison 357,069.
Colorado National Monument was No. 10 on the list of national monuments with more than 486,000 visits.
Visitor numbers for other parks of note in the region:
- Grand Teton (Wyoming): 3,417,106, (eighth busiest)
- Glacier (Montana): 2,933,616 (11th)
- Bryce Canyon (Utah): 2,461,269 (15th)
- Arches (Utah): 1,482,045 (21st)
- Capitol Reef (Utah): 1,268,861 (22nd)
- Canyonlands (Utah): 800,322 (28th)
- White Sands (New Mexico): 729,096 (31st)
