Glacier National Park has broken its annual visitation record for the third consecutive year.

According to statistics from the National Park Service, 471,038 visitors entered the park last month — a 32 percent increase from last year and an all-time record for September — pushing Glacier’s year-to-date total to 2,738,172.

Last year’s annual record total of 2,366,056 visitors beat out the 2014 record of 2,338,528, which itself broke a record that had stood since 1983.

The agency’s numbers for September continue a string of five straight records for Glacier’s busiest months. The National Park Service’s centennial year kicked off with Glacier’s busiest January of all time, and the months of May, June, July (the park’s busiest month ever) and August (the park’s second-busiest month ever) followed suit.

September 2012 had previously held that single-month distinction, when 356,975 visitors entered the park.

Park employees, shuttle-bus drivers and even search-and-rescue personnel marveled at the crowds throughout the summer, driven in part by the Park Service’s nationwide advertising campaign encouraging Americans to see their national parks during the agency’s centennial year.

“I think we anticipated an increase in July and August,” Glacier spokesman Tim Rains said. “We planned for it, but the amount of visitation that we saw in September was definitely something we’re considering in the future as we look at major planning in the Crown of the Continent.”

Rains said the steady increases in visitor numbers were also likely propelled by low gas prices, fires pushing crowds out of Yellowstone National Park and the allure of the closing historical window.

“There’s been an increased amount of attention brought to Glacier because the glaciers are disappearing,” he said. “One of the bigger reasons people are visiting Glacier is they want to see the glaciers before they go.”

The Goat Lick entrance climbed 783 percent over last year’s visitation with 9,259 compared to last year’s 1,047 visitors. 

September 2016 saw 74,107 travelers through the west entrance, more than 15,264 more visitors than 2015 and 14,465 more than 2014.

While the year-to-date number of visitors using the St. Mary entrance to get into Glacier is 32 percent ahead of least year, the entrance’s popularity in 2015 was deflated by the Reynold’s Creek Fire, which temporarily closed the east side of Going-to-the-Sun Road and pushed thick clouds of smoke into the St. Mary area for weeks.

Compared to 2014, however, St. Mary’s total visitation this year still climbed by 43 percent.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.