Big 2021 Yellowstone Fourth of July weekend

It was a big Yellowstone Fourth of July weekend this year, as almost 50,000 vehicle entries were recorded over the holiday, representing an 8 percent rise over 2019.

Traditionally, a Yellowstone Fourth of July weekend is a big event. That was true in 2021, as the National Park Service recorded 46,845 visits over the four-day event. This is not a precise comparison because of where the Fourth fell on the calendar; the National Park Service is comparing holiday weekends, and in 2019 the holiday weekend fell on July 5-8. Take away July 8, 2019 from the equation, and the numbers are fairly comparable. (The comparison to 2019 vs. 2020 is apt; 2020 was a COVID summer, with skewed numbers due to limited travel.) Still, the numbers show some healthy visitation to Yellowstone this summer despite hot and dry conditions; May 2021 visitation set a record, and we’ll be interested to see the June numbers when they are posted.

Here are the numbers for vehicle entries by gate:

Park entrance	Vehicle entries
	Friday, July 2, 2021	Friday, July 5, 2019	% 2021/2019
East	1,148	1,473	-22%
North	2,106	2,026	4%
Northeast	570	862	-34%
South	2,049	2,226	-8%
West	5,228	5,680	-8%
Total	11,101	12,267	-10%
	Saturday, July 3, 2021	Saturday, July 6, 2019
East	1,257	1,405	-11%
North	2,263	1,983	14%
Northeast	667	861	-23%
South	2,203	1,730	27%
West	5,470	5,377	2%
Total	11,860	11,356	4%
	Sunday, July 4, 2021	Sunday, July 7, 2019
East	1,210	1,430	-15%
North	2,119	1,810	17%
Northeast	604	751	-20%
South	1,767	1,744	1%
West	5,359	4,511	19%
Total	11,059	10,246	8%
	Monday, July 5, 2021	Monday, July 8, 2019
East	1,751	1,205	45%
North	2,364	1,605	47%
Northeast	736	649	13%
South	2,444	1,764	39%
West	5,530	4,407	25%
Total	12,825	9,630	33%

File photo courtesy National Park Service.