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Yellowstone National Park
Operating Hours & Seasons

operating hours & seasons includes:

Current Conditions
 

Check News Releases or Current Conditions for any unscheduled entrance closures due to adverse weather conditions. Throughout the park, this summer expect traffic delays and road closures. See the Road Construction Schedule for more information.

Please refer to our Opening and Closing Dates for Facilities for information about available services in Yellowstone.

Check here for Visitor Center dates and hours.


ROAD OPENING AND CLOSING DATES

Some park areas, entrances and roads are not open year-round!! Roads are currently being plowed. Most park roads are not open to motorized vehicle traffic at this time. The closed roads will begin re-opening starting April 17, 2009. See the spring schedule below for details.

 

Spring:

The North Entrance to Northeast Entrance at Silver Gate and Cooke City, Montana is open all year. Please note that this road is closed to east/west travel just east of Cooke City from late fall to early spring.

Once an Entrance/Road opens, it is open 24 hours a day. The only exceptions are caused by road construction and weather-related restrictions.

Roads will open to motorized, wheeled vehicles as follows:

  • April 17, 2009–West side roads open to motor vehicles. Mammoth to Norris Junction to Madison Junction to Old Faithful; Madison Junction to West Entrance; Norris Junction to Canyon
  • May 1, 2009–Canyon to Lake; Lake to East Entrance
  • May 8, 2009–Tower Junction to Tower Fall; Lake to West Thumb; West Thumb to Old Faithful; Old Faithful to South Entrance. Cooke City via Colter Pass to the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway intersection to the Long Lake gate shall be open as soon thereafter as possible.
  • May 22 (if snow and plow conditions allow): Tower Falls to Canyon via Dunraven Pass; Long Lake Gate to Red Lodge via Beartooth Pass.

In the spring, before park roads open to motorized vehicles, some roads are open to non-motorized recreational vehicles such as bicycles, roller skis, and roller blades. There will be some administrative vehicles traveling the roads at this time so be careful. See the Spring Biking Page for a map and more information.

 
Summer:

Park Areas, Entrances and Roads open on different dates. Detailed information is listed above and on the Opening and Closing Dates for Facilities. The summer season runs from approximately mid-April to the beginning of November. Opening and Closing Dates for Facilities includes scheduled opening and closing dates for areas, campgrounds, entrances, lodging, roads, and more.

Fall Road Closures:

  • October 13, 2009—Roads close to the public at Tower Fall to Canyon Jct. and Long Lake via Beartooth Pass to the Montana Stateline. (GATES CLOSE AT 8 A.M.).
  • November 1, 2009—all park roads closed to the public at 8 a.m. except from the North Entrance to Upper Mammoth Terrace, and Mammoth via Tower Junction to Northeast Entrance. Cooke City via Colter Pass to the Long Lake gate is not maintained for wheeled vehicle travel.

Fall: 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.


Winter 
 The only park road that remains open to wheeled-vehicle use year-round is the road from the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, to the Northeast Entrance at Silver Gate and Cooke City, Montana. Snow tires and/or chains may be required. The road is open 24 hours per day (winter storms may close the road temporarily).

2009-2010 Winter Oversnow Vehicle Road Opening and Closing Schedule

Winter Opening Dates are Snow Permitting and all dates are subject to change!! See our Winter Use Planning page for current information.

  • Mid December - Most roads open to oversnow travel (weather and snow conditions permitting).
  • Late December - East Entrance Road (between East Entrance and Fishing Bridge) opens to oversnow travel.

Park roads close to oversnow travel at

  • Eary March 2010: Mammoth to Norris Junction and East Entrance Road; Norris Junction to Madison Junction and Norris Junction to Canyon; Canyon Junction to Fishing Bridge Junction.
  • Early to mid March 2010: All groomed roads in the park are closed.

Refer to Winter Daily Weather Reports for information about temperatures, snowfall, road conditions and Sylvan Pass.

Only commercially guided oversnow vehicles are allowed on other park roads. Best Available Technology snowmobiles are required, and there is a daily limit on snowmobile and snowcoach entries. Off-road use of snowmobiles and snowcoaches is prohibited. The park is open for oversnow vehicle travel from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (the East Entrance opens at 8:00 a.m. and closes at 9:00 p.m.). For more information, go to Winter Activities and Winter Use Planning.



We recommend that visitors check the following resources before traveling:

 
Colored map of Yellowstone detailing roads.
Fire in Yellowstone Pineland in 1988  

Did You Know?
The 1988 fires affected 793,880 acres or 36 percent of the park. Five fires burned into the park that year from adjacent public lands. The largest, the North Fork Fire, started from a discarded cigarette. It burned more than 410,000 acres.

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Last Updated: April 13, 2009 at 12:02 EST