Yellowstone National Park 2011 / 2012 Schedule

“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 2012 * * *

A brief spring bicycling season is offered on some park roads after the plows safely clear traffic lanes and before the roads are ready for automobile travel. Details are available at the above link.

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 20th.

The road linking Canyon, Fishing Bridge and the East Entrance opens on Friday, May 04, 2012. Travel from the South Entrance to Grant, West Thumb and Fishing Bridge is set to begin Friday, May 11, 2012. 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 will open on the 25th of May 2012, 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 (25 May 2012) 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.

Click Here for a copy of the Services Schedule for 2011. (This is an Adobe pdf file)

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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

The road from Gardiner, Montana through the park's North Entrance to Mammoth Hot Springs to Silver Gate and Cooke City, Montana, is open to automobiles all year, weather permitting.

Updated Yellowstone National Park road information is available 24 hours a day by calling 307-344-2117.

by John William Uhler

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