Number of Les Mason beachgoers soars

Finding a secluded patch of paradise for a family picnic along Whitefish Lake was more difficult than ever last summer.

Visitation was up significantly at the two state parks on the lake, reflecting a trend statewide set off by an unseasonably hot spring and summer.

Whitefish Lake State Park and Les Mason combined for 119,195 visitors, up 66 percent over last year.

Whitefish Lake State Park was the third most visited park in Northwest Montana with 84,849 visitors.

Les Mason on the east shore of Whitefish Lake recorded the largest jump in visitation of any park in the state. Its 34,346 visitors amounted to a whopping 167 percent increase from the previous year.

These numbers come from an annual report published by Montana State Parks.

The report concludes that a warm shoulder season helped draw record visitation in March and April, and that surge continued through the peak season. The boost was most noticeable at the water-based parks where folks were looking to cool off during the hot summer.

Dave Landstrom, Regional Manager for Montana State Parks, notes that in 2014 only 2,000 visits were recorded at Les Mason in May and June. Last summer, those two months drew closer to 12,000 visitors.

“It got so warm and hot so early,” Landstrom said. “That big jump happened in May and June and it continued on. People got a full extra month of summer.”

Landstrom said there were days that the Les Mason parking lot overflowed to East Lakeshore Drive.

“Anyone who’s been at the park on a super hot day would realize we’re over capacity.” Landstrom said. “We do run out of parking and that is a big challenge.”

He said opportunities to expand the park are limited by residential property that surrounds the park.

Maren Murphy, parks and recreation planner at Montana State Parks, says that with only a few public access points on Whitefish Lake, Les Mason took the brunt of the visitation increase.

“People are sort of discovering that spot [as a swimming area,]” Murphy said.

It was not just Whitefish Lake that saw a jolt of traffic.

Statewide visitation to state parks topped 2.48 million and set a record for the third straight year. The total is up 11 percent from 2014, and up 34 percent for the 10-year period.

Peak season visitation was the highest on record, with more than 1.76 million visits, while shoulder season visits statewide climbed 57 percent over last year.

All of the state parks combined on Flathead Lake drew 281,011 visitors, up 4 percent. Wayfarers Park was the most popular spot with 137,278 visits.

Montana resident visitation statewide remained strong in 2015, while out-of-state visits rose slightly to 21 percent, up from 15 percent in 2011.

At Les Mason nearly all visits were by Montanans — 95 percent.

Whitefish Lake State Park drew a more diverse crowd with 78 percent from Montana. About 14 percent of those visitors stayed overnight at the campground.

Landstrom says there are plans to expand the camping options at Whitefish Lake State Park by adding more bicycling camping facilities.

“We’ll be putting effort into those amenities this spring,” he said. “That’s one opportunity for us to create amenities that doesn’t create more of a traffic jam.”

Giant Springs on the Missouri River at Great Falls was the busiest of all state parks with 419,800 visits last year. Flathead Lake was second, followed by Cooney State Park south of Billings.