News Release

2018 Visitation Up for Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Down for Curecanti National Recreation Area

Date: March 12, 2019
Contact: Sandra Snell-Dobert, 970-641-2337, ext. 227

Gunnison, CO: Annual visitation figures recently released by the National Park Service show a slight increase at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and a decrease for Curecanti National Recreation Area.  

Black Canyon received 308,962 visitors and Curecanti counted 931,512 visits. This represents an increase over 2017 of about 1% at Black Canyon and a decrease of 1% at Curecanti. This is the highest recorded visitation for Black Canyon since 1992 and the lowest at Curecanti since 2014. 

“We are honored to host our visitors each year, “said Superintendent Bruce Noble. “We suspect that the decrease in visitation at Curecanti was due to extreme low water levels and the effect that had on availability of boat ramps. With this winter’s snowfall, we hope to see more water for this upcoming boating season.” 

As visitation continues to increase at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, visitors are asked to consider altering their travel times to ease congestion that is occurring between ten am and two pm nearly every day. Consider visiting in the morning and evening hours, when parking is easier and temperatures are pleasantly cool. Also note that Black Canyon’s roads and parking areas are small and best suit smaller vehicles. Consider car-pooling and visiting in the spring and fall if you are local.

Nationwide our National Park Service sites, now 418 strong, counted over 318 million recreation visits in 2018. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Gateway National Recreation top the list of most visited sites. In Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park received the most visitors with 4,590,493.

For more information, and to check in on the visitation of your favorite places, go to https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/  

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