Average daily/monthly attendance

[Tightlines01]

Hey all,

I'm going to the island the 2nd full week of June this year. I got a killer deal via the Ranger III for myself and both 9 year olds ($145 for round trip including daily user fees) but the dates were pretty well locked. I've never been that time of year. I've been slightly later in June twice, Early August twice and Sept twice. In was wondering how busy the island would be and it got me wondering if there was anywhere that tracked what the average daily attendance was on the island? It seems like it should be fairly straight forward given how rigid the permitting processes is. Anyone know of website with the statistics of attendance?

Andy

[Tom]

I love that exact time of year. Days are long, sun feels great, nights can be cool (as the water is) and because many don't like to gamble with black flies (I'm willing to risk it) the island seems quiet. Indeed, roughly 70% of visitors to the Island are in the months of July and August. The most recent report I saw on it was in the 2015 Transportation Study, which you can find here: http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54800/5484 ... _Study.pdf

Page 28 has some of the data, but much of the supporting material can be found in the appendices. (Look in Appendix C, around page 109-110 or so.)

I do recall seeing another site that had the values, and if I find it, I'll be sure to forward on, but this is a start!

[Tightlines01]

Thanks Tom. Interesting report. Reading through some of it already, massive report.


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[senior packrafter]

Tom,
On page C-5, Overnight Stays, can 69% Backcountry vs. 10% Campgrounds be correct or is it just the opposite?

[Nym90]

I don't believe "backcountry" is defined by the NPS here quite the same way it is defined in IR parlance. I believe they are considering all overnight stays in federally designated Wilderness (under the Wilderness Act of 1964) to be backcountry, and that the only areas not designated wilderness in the park are Rock Harbor and Windigo. Those two would thus be considered "NPS campgrounds" and the remainder of the campgrounds on the island as "backcountry" since they are in designated wilderness.

[Midwest Ed]

Very detailed and timely report; interesting read thus far. Until now I’ve never seen this kind of history and detailed breakdown on each of the modes of transportation. The report is really all about replacing or modernizing the Ranger III. I was a bit surprised that so few people in the general public use the Ranger III in comparison to the other 3 ferries. I particularly enjoyed reading Appendix D & E. Several options included reducing or eliminating general public passenger capacity. Interesting that they included a “high usage” scenario throughout the report where one future possibility is that annual visitation could/might climb to almost 50,000. But it’s understandable they would analyze both ends and the middle of the visitation possibilities. I haven’t read the entire report yet so I’m not sure where the motivation or rationale for the high visitation number comes from. It looks like the year to year visitation has been slowly decreasing until just recently.

Another interesting side issue is one transportation option that was itemized is that of private planes. This option showed zero usage in the reporting for last year and has been discussed here before.

[senior packrafter]

Nym 90, thanks for the explanation. My understanding is that "backcountry" permits are issued for staying at existing designated campgrounds and "cross-country" permits may be issued for overnight camping at your own non-designated campsite.