Yellowstone National Park 2009 / 2010 Schedule

Yellowstone Begins Opening For Winter Season Tuesday Morning

Yellowstone National Park begins opening interior park roads for motorized oversnow travel for the 2009-2010 winter season as scheduled tomorrow, Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Limited, managed snowmobile and snowcoach travel over groomed, snow-packed park roads will be permitted this season under a new temporary plan, which allows up to 318 commercially guided, Best Available Technology (BAT) snowmobiles, and up to 78 commercially guided snowcoaches per day in Yellowstone.

The road from the South Entrance to West Thumb and on to Old Faithful will open to public travel by commercially guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches on Tuesday at 7:00 a.m., and at 10:00 a.m. from the West Entrance to Madison and on to Old Faithful.

As of 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, the road from West Thumb through Lake to Canyon and Norris; and from Mammoth Hot Springs through Norris on to Madison will open to the public for travel by commercially guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches.

All commercially guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches will be allowed on all of these groomed park roads with the exception of the road from Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris Junction. Due to low snowpack, travel over this road will be temporarily limited to rubber-tracked snowcoaches only.

The Fountain Freight Road will remain closed to travel until it receives sufficient snow, but most other side roads will open to commercially guided oversnow travel Wednesday.

Commercially guided snowmobile and snowcoach travel over the East Entrance road and Sylvan Pass is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 22.

The Old Faithful Visitor Center opens for the season Tuesday, December 15.

The Old Faithful Snow Lodge, dining room, fast food, and gift shop will open for the winter season on Friday, December 18.

The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, dining room, and gift shop open for the season on Monday, December 21.

The Yellowstone General Store, clinic, campground, post office, 24 hour gasoline pumps, and the Albright Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs are open all year.

The North Entrance and the road from Gardiner, Montana, through Mammoth Hot Springs on to Cooke City, outside the park's Northeast Entrance, is open to wheeled vehicle travel all year.

Gasoline is also available using 24-hour pay at the pump at Tower Junction.

See this link for Yellowstone Winter Ranger Activities

All communities near and on the way to Yellowstone are open all year, with local businesses offering a wide range of winter recreation opportunities.

* * * Winter 2009 Opening Information and Changes * * *

by Al Nash from the NPS Information Office in Mammoth Hot Springs on 11 December 2009 - Friday:

"The last time the park opened for winter use utilizing some commercially guided wheeled vehicle access was December 2004.

The park opened for the season on December 15, 2004. Commercially guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches were allowed to travel from the South and East Entrances to Old Faithful. Wheeled vehicles and rubber tracked snowcoaches were allowed from the North and West Entrances to Old Faithful. The road from Norris to Canyon and Canyon to Lake remained closed due to unsafe conditions.

Beginning January 1, 2005, travel from the North and West Entrances to Norris, Canyon, Madison, and Old Faithful changed from commercially guided wheeled vehicles to commercially guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches. The road from Canyon to Lake opened for the season on January 2, 2005 using commercially guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches.

We currently have very limited snowpack in the park. The National Weather Service is forecasting some snowfall from Friday evening on through Saturday.

A decision has yet to be made regarding appropriate modes of winter access to the interior of the park for the scheduled start of winter season on Tuesday, December 15. Travel over the East Entrance road over Sylvan Pass is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, December 22, 2009.

Should we choose a temporary approach allowing wheeled vehicle access, but restricting some or all motorized oversnow travel over one or more routes, our permitted winter operators would be allowed to accommodate their guests using commercially guided wheeled vehicles up to their normal visitor or vehicle allocations. This applies to both permitted snowcoach and snowmobile operators.

If we chose to open to something other than full motorized oversnow access, the park can convert to full oversnow access within a 24 hour period after receiving a significant snowfall.

Using data from 1949-2005, in 16 of those 57 years, low early winter snowpack meant public motorized oversnow access to the park either was or would have been delayed until after December 15."

“Yellowstone Today” - Park Newspaper / Ranger Led Activities

Yellowstone National Park is our first and grandest national park. Only a part of Yellowstone is open all year. The North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana is Open Year Round. The road from Gardiner to Mammoth Hot Springs and from Mammoth to Silver Gate and Cooke City, Montana is maintained for winter vehicle travel. In winter, vehicles are usually required to have snow tires and may be required to have chains to enter the park. The road though plowed and maintained, will be snow or ice packed in areas. The North Entrance is open 24/7 365 days a year, but there may be temporary closures due to weather or other conditions. Also of note, you cannot travel east of Cooke City, Montana until late spring when the road east of Cooke City is plowed open for vehicle travel.

The Albright Visitor Center and the Mammoth Campground are open year round. The Visitor Center offers a bookstore, a museum, park movies, a ranger information station, and ranger programs all year. The Visitor Centers in other areas of the park open shortly after the entrances and roads open.

This is the normal park schedule for other areas of the park:

The West Entrance normally opens for vehicle travel and visitors the Third Friday of April at 8:00 AM. The East Entrance normally opens two weeks later and the South Entrance three weeks after the West Entrance. These dates depend on road plowing and snow and ice removal and the weather. The road from Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris to Madison to the West Entrance and to Old Faithful open at this time.

In the spring, once the roads are plowed and before vehicle travel is opened, visitors may hike, bike or roller blade the park roads from Mammoth to Norris, from Norris to Madison and from Madison to the West Entrance. The road from Madison to Old Faithful is closed due to spring bear activity.

In the fall, after the East, South and West Entrances are closed to vehicle travel, visitors may hike, bike or roller blade the park roads from Mammoth to Norris, from Norris to Madison and from Madison to the West Entrance.

Spring Opening

* * * Spring Bike Opening 2010 * * *

Roads to Canyon and Old Faithful Open Friday Morning - 16 April 2010 - 8:00 AM

Visitors will once again be able to drive into portions of the interior of Yellowstone National Park starting this weekend. The roads through the North and West Entrances to Norris, Madison, Canyon and Old Faithful are set to re-open to car and RV traffic as scheduled at 8:00 a.m., Friday, April 16.

Travel between Madison and Norris through Gibbon Canyon will be impacted this year by a major road construction project. Visitors can expect up to 30-minute delays from the time the road opens to travel on through the summer. This section of road will also be closed to travel between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. every night from May 26 through August 16. There will be no construction delays or night time closures during the Memorial Day (23 - 25 May 09) and Independence Day (03 - 04 Jul 09) holiday weekends. See the: Road Construction Page for more detains and maps.

Removal of an existing bridge and construction of a new span will require the road between Norris and Madison to be completely closed to all travel beginning August 17 until it reopens to snowmobile and snowcoach travel in December. During this period, visitors should allow extra travel time in case they need to reroute through West Thumb and Canyon. Maps and additional construction details will be available at all visitor centers and online at www.nps.gov/yell.

The road linking Canyon, Fishing Bridge and the East Entrance opens on Friday, May 07, 2010. Travel from the South Entrance to Grant, West Thumb and Fishing Bridge is set to begin Friday, May 14, 2010 with travel from West Thumb over Craig Pass to Old Faithful expected to begin shortly thereafter, once repairs are completed on the Isa Lake Bridge. Travel from Cooke City over Colter Pass to the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway and the Long Lake gate typically also opens by mid-May. The balance of the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge, Montana, and the road between Tower Fall and Canyon over Dunraven Pass opens the Friday (21 May 10) before the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, weather permitting.

Very limited visitor services will be open for several weeks. Due to the deep snow present in the park’s interior, walking on trails including those along the Canyon Rim, or on boardwalks through thermal areas, will be difficult or impossible for some time.

The park also has several seasonal Bear Management Area closures designed to reduce encounters with bears in areas that have a high density of elk and bison carcasses. Several areas including Midway Geyser Basin and Fountain Paint Pots will remain closed through the Friday of Memorial Day (28 May 10) weekend.

Park crews have to clear 198 miles of main road, 124 miles of secondary roads, and 125 acres of parking lots inside the park, as well as 31 miles of the Beartooth Highway outside the park’s Northeast Entrance, each spring.

Yellowstone's weather is very unpredictable. Visitors should be prepared for a wide range of winter and spring weather conditions, including plows clearing snow from the roads, and temporary road closures. Updated Yellowstone National Park road information is available 24 hours a day by calling 307-344-2117.

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Fall Closure

Fall weather is unpredictable; roads may be closed temporarily by snow or other weather conditions. Snow tires or chains may be required.

Please Note: The section of the Beartooth Highway (Highway 212), between the junction of Highway 296 and Red Lodge, Montana, closes in winter on a schedule determined by amount of snowfall. Travel between Red Lodge and the Northeast Entrance is not possible on Highway 212 until it opens again in the spring.

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Restaurant facilities in the park open on a limited basis on opening day and there after as scheduled. Lodging and Camping Facilities in the park open shortly after the opening weekend. There are restaurants and lodging facilities open year round outside the park.

The East, South and West Entrances normally close in the fall on the First Monday in November at 8:00 AM. The North Entrance is open year round. Even though the East, South, and West Entrances are closed to vehicle travel, you can hike, bike or roller blade in the park on park roads unless otherwise noted. There are some specific areas in spring that are closed to all types of travel due to spring bear emergence.

The East, South and West Entrances usually open for over snow winter activity in mid December until mid March. Over snow travel means cross-country ski, snowshoe, snowcoach or snowmobile. Snowcoach and snowmobile travel is limited to concessions guided tours and travel only. The park roads start closing in March and the park starts to plow the roads preparing for the spring opening of these three entrances.

Winter Opening

Winter Closing

by John William Uhler

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