National parks set attendance record for 2014; Olympic 6th most-visited national park in system

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The national park system in the United States has a new attendance record for 2014. More than 290 million people visited one of the many national parks or recreational areas in the country

The old attendance record was set in 1999 when more than 287 million people visited the park system.

The 2014 record was an increase from 2013 by 7 percent, or 19 million.

The actual attendance for 2014 was 292,800,082 million people, 3,243,872 of whom visited Olympic National Park.

There are 405 recreational areas inside the National Park Service system, and 59 are designated national parks. Three of those parks are found in Washington state: Olympic, Mount Rainier and North Cascades.

While 2014 had the highest number of visitors ever, the Park Service hopes that 2016 will bring in a record crowd as it will be the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

The top 10 most visited national parks:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 10,099,276

Grand Canyon National Park: 4,756,771

Yosemite National Park: 3,882,642

Yellowstone National Park: 3,513,484

Rocky Mountain National Park: 3,434,751

Olympic National Park: 3,243,872

Zion National Park: 3,189,696

Grand Teton National Park: 2,791,392

Acadia National Park: 2,563,129

Glacier National Park: 2,338,528

Here are the top visited National Park Service sites in 2014:

Golden Gate National Recreation Area: 15,004,420

Blue Ridge Parkway: 13,941,749

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 10,099,276

George Washington Memorial Parkway: 7,472,150

Lincoln Memorial: 7,139,072

Lake Mead National Recreation Area: 6,942,873

Gateway National Recreation Area: 6,021,713

Natchez Trace Parkway: 5,846,474

Chesapeake & Ohio National Historical Park: 5,066,219

Grand Canyon National Park: 4,756,771