Devils Tower on pace to have busiest year ever

GILLETTE (WNE) — Devils Tower has been on a record-setting pace so far in 2024.

Through June, 192,682 people visited the national monument in Crook County. That’s up more than 5,000 visitors from 2021, which is the busiest year on record for Devils Tower.

In 2021, 550,712 people visited Devils Tower. It was the first time the national monument broke the 500,000-visitor mark, and it happened as the country started to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic and people began flocking to the outdoors.

But if the first half of 2024 is any indication, that record is in danger of falling.

According to monthly data from the National Parks Service, this year Devils Tower has had the busiest April, May and June ever. In all three months, the previous record had been set in 2021.

April had 17,353 visitors, up nearly 6,000 from 2023 and about 200 more than 2021. In May, Devils Tower saw 48,935 visitors — a 4,000-person increase from 2021’s record — and 108,892 people visited in June.

Through the first half of the year, visitation at Devils Tower is up 14% from 2023 and about 2.6% more than 2021.

Devils Tower should remain busy for the rest of the summer. Historically, July and August have been its two busiest months. And with the International Pathfinder Camporee and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally converging in the region in early to mid-August, it figures to be pretty packed.

July 2023 was the busiest month in recent memory, with its 129,704 visitors being the highest monthly total Devils Tower had seen since 1994.

So what is Devils Tower’s busiest month ever? That was in July 1992, with 135,107 visitors.

This story was published on July 23, 2024.