2022 ISRO Attendance

[TopCarrot]

I was reviewing the attendance data for 2022 and was a little surprised and quite frankly excited that the attendance at the park has been down year over year from 2021. And with the Queen missing the end of the season, I would expect the final year tally to be the lowest for a full year since 2015.

I did not expect that based on personal experience and everyone else's comments. I am hopeful that the COVID and Wolf reintroduction news cycle blip is over. Under this assumption, we could see a drop similar to 1998-2009

here is the link if you are data inclined.

https://irma.nps.gov/STATS/SSRSReports/ ... ?Park=ISRO

[S_R_L]

I am hopeful that the COVID and Wolf reintroduction news cycle blip is over. Under this assumption, we could see a drop similar to 1998-2009

Fingers crossed!

2021 was bad. I was pleasantly surprised that there were fewer people around during my 2022 trip.

Looking at the data I'm glad that even years works out best for scheduling....it looks like attendance is 15-20-% more in recent odd years.

[torpified]

interesting!

*Given that the surge in anecdata about campground crowding seems like it came after COVID, I'm surprised that the big attendance uptick was actually the 2016 NPS centennial. Of course, that's consistent with backcountry camper numbers soaring after COVID.

*are most of the winter numbers Winter Study folks? I know the count is visits, not visitors---but it's still larger than I would have guessed!

[jerry]

The V2 appeared to be full when I went out on 8/31. The Washington Creek was full and I got the last shelter (#14) early that afternoon.

[TopCarrot]

interesting!

*

*are most of the winter numbers Winter Study folks? I know the count is visits, not visitors---but it's still larger than I would have guessed!

I too was surprised by the winter numbers. I would have guessed a few but nowhere close to that.

[TopCarrot]

I guess the campsites could still be more crowded with fewer visitors if each visit stayed for longer trips. They might have a night-stayed report I'll have to check again.

[TopCarrot]

the reporting on their site could use some clarity.

2021
Recreation Visits 25,844
Tent campers 6,450
Backpack Campers 32,128
Misc Campers 11,102
Total overnight stays 59,039

I can't quite get the number to sum. I am assuming the non-recreation visitor number of overnights are not otherwise classified and produces a slight variation.

That would leave the average overnight stay length at 2.28 which seems reasonable given the volume of one-nighters at the lodge and day trips who never stay and contribute a 0.

[treeplanter]

I wonder if day visitors are part of these numbers? I've met a few people who have taken the Queen to IR just for the day.

[dcclark]

There's also the question of how, or whether, visitors to the Visitor Center in Houghton are being counted. I'm not sure what the categories mean, but "Recreation Visitors" might or might not include mainland-only visits too.

[Midwest Ed]

There's also the question of how, or whether, visitors to the Visitor Center in Houghton are being counted. I'm not sure what the categories mean, but "Recreation Visitors" might or might not include mainland-only visits too.

This 2021 link provides a breakdown of Island vs. Houghton Visitor Center visitation.

[Bobcat1]

Seems like these stats would be double-counting visitors who stop at the Houghton visitors center then proceed out to the Island or something like that.

[dcclark]

I agree with Bobcat, although that mainly means that we shouldn't add up the different columns in Ed's link. Taken separately, they each say something useful -- how many people come to the mainland visitor center, and how many actually make it to the island (even if some of them are the same people).

[IRexpat]

Anybody else notice the sharp increase 2015-2016? 6,300 more people are listed as visiting; that's a huge variation.

[torpified]

Anybody else notice the sharp increase 2015-2016? 6,300 more people are listed as visiting; that's a huge variation.

that caught my attention too! I wondered whether the NPS centennial contributed to the surge. If it did, presumably the pattern repeated across the park system. Then an interesting question is how ISRO's visitation bump compared to those at other parks....

[odd man out]

I have seen a number of articles over the years that say that Isle Royale was the least visited NP outside AK. However recently I've seen it drop to 3rd in that list with American Samoa and North Cascades having lower attendance. I looked up the stats for these. For the recent years of 2019, 20, and 21, the attendance at AS was 60K, 4K, and 8K. I can understand this drop due to Covid travel restrictions. But for those years the attendance at NC was 38k, 32k, and 18k and for IR, 26k, 6k, 26k. So indeed IR had a higher attendance than the other two in 2021, but I'm a loss to explains dramatic drop at NC in 2021. For that matter, I'm not sure why a NP just a 2 hrs drive from America's 15th largest metropolitan area gets so few visits, even before the 2021 drop.