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National Park Attendance Breaks Record Third Year In A Row

If you visited one of America’s national parks last year, you were not alone. The attendance at the nation’s parks set a record.

For the third straight year attendance records were broken as parks such as Zion, Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain experienced historic levels of popularity.

All those visitors caused headaches, stemming from overcrowded roads and trails.

At many parks, visitors waited an hour or more in cars to get through entrance gates and then spent the day trying to outmaneuver fellow visitors for parking spots and room on popular trails.

Overall visitation to national parks is on track to surpass 325 million for 2016 when the final figures are in.

Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park alone drew more than six million sightseers.

Al Macias, former KJZZ news director, retired as KJZZ's news director in 2022. He rejoined the station as a features reporter in 2023 and also as a part-time editor in 2024.