We had some good weather to start the summer last year and it translated into a lot of visitors to Mt. Rainier. The 1.19 million visitors was up 3.5% from 2009 and it was the most since 2004. An article in TheSunNews.com speculates that it is a sign of the recovering economy. The article is full of quite a few interesting stats:
- The 2010 visitor number equaled the 10 year average
- 64% of visitors are from the Puget Sound area (estimated)
- ~15% of visitors stayed overnight
- Backcountry campers were down 5.5% from 2009
- Overall, National Park visitors were down 1.81% from 2009
I accounted for a couple of those visits with the motorcycle ride around Rainier and the Camp Muir hike. I really want to get down there and do some more hiking (Mt. Rainier or otherwise) this summer.