Utah's state parks recorded 12 million visits over past year. These ones are gaining popularity

SALT LAKE CITY — More than 12.1 million people visited Utah state parks over the past fiscal year, and some new parks are quickly gaining popularity over others, per new data released by the Utah Division of State Parks.

The division released park visitation data through June of this year, which marks the end of the 2026 fiscal year.

More than 12.2 million visits to state parks were reported during the past calendar year, as KSL noted in May. More than 6 million people visited Utah state parks during the first six months of 2026, a slight decline from the first six months of 2025.

Whether looking at fiscal year or calendar year data, state park visitation has more than doubled over the past decade, said Scott Strong, the division's director.

"As interest in the outdoors continues to increase, we will continue to provide parks full of great recreation opportunities, well-maintained facilities and park rangers ready to help you make lifelong memories," he added in a statement.

Some parks are becoming bigger draws than others, per agency data. While the state's most visited state parks haven't changed much, with water recreation-based parks accounting for half of the top 10, four of the five biggest jumpers in visitation don't have reservoirs.

Snow Canyon State Park's 919,545 visits over the past fiscal year were the third-most altogether, but it was over 162,000 visits above the previous year, the most of Utah's 46 state parks. It also marks a 21% increase for the park in Washington County.

Wasatch Mountain State Park in Wasatch County is also climbing up the charts quickly. It added more than 130,000 visits over the past fiscal year.

Utahraptor State Park in Grand County, which was created in 2021, is also quickly gaining popularity. It drew in more than 143,000 visits between mid-2025 and mid-2026, its first full fiscal year since the grand opening of its facilities in 2025.

It was the only other park to experience an increase in visitation over 100,000, with approximately a 390% jump in visitation — the most among any park by a wide margin.

Emery County's Goblin Valley State Park, about a 90-mile car ride west of Utahraptor State Park, also experienced a notable surge. It reported nearly 60,000 additional visits during the past fiscal year.

Sand Hollow State Park in Washington County wasn't just the most visited state park over the past fiscal year, but was also the fifth-highest in soaring popularity. Its more than 1.4 million visits were more than 50,000 above the previous fiscal year.

Where visitation declined

The steepest visitation declines came at water-centric state parks.

Willard Bay State Park in Box Elder County reported 560,945, more than 260,000 fewer than the previous year. That's likely because the reservoir was drained halfway for a project that began near the start of the fiscal year.

Jordanelle, Antelope Island, Rockport and Great Salt Lake Marina state parks — all in and around the Wasatch Front and Back regions —rounded out the bottom five, although to a lesser extent. All of them saw visitation declines of at least 30,000, as did Bear Lake State Park in Rich County, just outside the bottom five.

Some of these are also tied to construction, but possibly also to lower reservoir levels. Utah's reservoir system ended June at 68% capacity, 18 percentage points below the June 2025 average.

Devan Chavez, deputy director of Utah State Parks, told KSL in May that he wouldn't be surprised if lower levels, following the state's lowest snowpack on record, could impact visitation at reservoirs. The division was looking to highlight parks with other activities as alternatives.

"Staying flexible is going to be a big thing," he said at the time.

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