Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller National Historical Park in October

Roughly 17% of the park's yearly visitors come in October: roughly 9,700 recreation visits in a typical year, based on National Park Service monthly counts from 1998 to 2025.

It is the single busiest month of the year at Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller; January, the quietest, runs only about 0.3× the average — a 6-to-1 swing between high and low season.

On our Best Time to Visit score October rates 21/100 ("Poor"). Our recommended month is May: the lightest crowds of the park's good-weather months.

The daily average of about 47°F is cool, so layers and a shorter daylight window matter. These figures are 1991–2020 NOAA climate normals from the nearest station, about 1.4 miles from the park.

Because June, July and August together draw about 41% of annual visitors, choosing October instead steps outside that summer crush — the single biggest lever on how crowded the park feels.

You'll have about 10.8 hours of daylight in October to explore — between the 8.8-hour midwinter low and the 15.2-hour summer high.

Park-wide, 2025 drew 77,524 recreation visits, down 5.1% from 81,713 in 2024.

Across the past decade overall visitation has risen about 45.6%, so a October visit is likely to feel busier than it did a few years ago.