Yellowstone Visits Up In May Despite New Count

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — Visits to Yellowstone National Park are up so far this season.

The park says 9.3 percent more people visited the park last month compared with May 2012. The Jackson Hole Daily reported Monday that traffic at all park entrances increased.

Visitor numbers increased even though officials are being more conservative in their estimates this year. Instead of assuming that each vehicle visiting the park has 2.9 people inside, they now estimate there are 2.6.

Federal budget cuts had threatened to delay the opening of Yellowstone gates but local communities contributed money to help pay for snow plowing to get the gates open.