Munising, MI — Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore saw a slight decline in visitors in 2023. The park registered 910,939 total visitors in 2023… a 1.5% decrease from 2022 visitation, and a 30% decrease from 2021, when the park saw its highest visitation of 1.3 million visitors. However, the overarching trend is that visitation to the park is increasing. Since 2010, visitation has nearly doubled, as has the number of campers. In 2023, backcountry camping at Pictured Rocks saw its second-largest year on record at Pictured Rocks with over 30,000 campers, while drive-in camping decreased slightly.
Pictured Rocks has been updating park facilities to keep up with increasing visitation, including replacing septic fields, installing new toilet facilities, and improving accessibility features. Pictured Rocks has also been making efforts to protect natural resources from the impacts of increasing visitor numbers – such as by revegetating damaged areas and informing visitors of practices to keep invasive species out of the park.
