Visitation · National River & Recreation Area

Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area visitation by month and year

October is the busiest month at Big South Fork, when the average temperature nearby is 56 degrees. January is the quietest, and the average temperature then is 34 degrees. October runs about 2.6 times the visits of January. The warmest month is July, a little off the peak. Annual visits rose 3.2 percent from 750,494 in 2019 to 774,353 in 2025.

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Visits by month, with average temperature

Bars are the average recreation visits in each month over 2021 to 2025. The line is the average temperature at Pickett SP, 7 miles from the park's reference point at 1,625 feet, station USC00407141 in the NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals.

Annual visits, 1988 to 2025

Recreation visits per calendar year. A year with a missing month is left blank rather than estimated.

The last ten years

Year	Recreation visits	Change on prior year
2025	774,353	-0.7%
2024	779,602	+1.8%
2023	766,000	-4.0%
2022	797,726	-4.4%
2021	834,724	+8.0%
2020	772,625	+2.9%
2019	750,494	-1.4%
2018	760,906	-0.0%
2017	761,200	+11.2%
2016	684,715	+6.5%

Visitation at other parks

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Natchez Trace Parkway Mississippi National River & Recreation Area Appalachian National Scenic Trail

Source: NPS Visitor Use Statistics, monthly recreation visits, as compiled for Publicopia Labs. A year is shown only when all twelve months were reported. Temperature normals are the 1991 to 2020 monthly averages published by NOAA NCEI for station USC00407141, 1,625 feet above sea level. Data refreshed October 14, 2026.