It's been more than a century since officials started counting the number of visitors to our national parks, and this week -- we found out Rocky Mountain National Park was among the Top 5 most visited parks in 2015.
Whether it's hiking, sight-seeing, photographing or camping, officials with the National Park Service said more than 307 million people visited national parks last year. Of those, 4 million visited Rocky Mountain National Park, making it the third most visited national park -- a pride for the state of Colorado!
“As the National Park Service celebrates its 100th year, we’re preparing to welcome more visitors than ever including a new generation of park supporters and advocates who are discovering their own national park adventures,” said National Park Service director Jonathan B. Jarvis.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, came in first place, followed by Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park.
Below, the notable national park milestones (with number of visitors for 2015):
1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 10,712,674
2. Grand Canyon National Park - 5,520,736
3. Rocky Mountain National Park - 4,155,916
4. Yosemite National Park - 4,150,217
5. Yellowstone National Park - 4,097,710
6. Zion National Park - 3,648,846
7. Olympic National Park - 3,263,761
8. Grand Teton National Park - 3,149,921
9. Acadia National Park - 2,811,184
10. Glacier National Park - 2,366,056
---------
Sign up for Denver7 email alerts to stay informed about breaking news and daily headlines.