Yellowstone’s Winter season winding down
Oversnow travel season to end March 15th
by Yellowstone National Park
March 4, 2011
Yellowstone’s winter oversnow travel season is drawing to a close. Limited, managed, snowmobile and snowcoach travel on the park's interior roads is scheduled to end by Tuesday evening, March 15. Once the roads close to oversnow travel; crews begin to clear them of snow so they can reopen to automobile travel in the spring.
Motorized oversnow travel between the park’s East Entrance and Fishing Bridge over Sylvan Pass ended Tuesday, March 1. The groomed road from Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris is scheduled to close Sunday evening, March 6. Commercially guided oversnow travel from Norris to Canyon and Madison is scheduled to end Tuesday evening, March 8. The section of groomed road between Canyon and Fishing Bridge is scheduled to close Sunday night, March 13, with all oversnow travel scheduled to end for the season at 9 o’clock Tuesday evening, March 15.
At Old Faithful, the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, Cabins, and Dining Room will close for the winter season on Sunday morning, March 6. The Geyser Grill, Bear Den Gift Shop, and the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center remain open through Tuesday, March 15.
At Mammoth Hot Springs, the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, Dining Room, and Gift Shop will close for season on Monday morning, March 7. However, the Mammoth Campground, Yellowstone General Store, Post Office, Medical Clinic, the Albright Visitor Center, and self-serve fuel pumps are open all year.
This is the last winter for oversnow travel in Yellowstone under a temporary two-year plan. The National Park Service is finalizing work on a new long-term plan to guide future management of winter use in the park. A Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which will analyze the effects of a wide range of winter use alternatives on the park and its resources, will be released for a 60-day review and comment period in a few weeks. The National Park Service intends to finish the plan and issue any new winter use regulations before the start of the 2011-2012 winter season.
The road from Gardiner, Montana, through the park's North Entrance to Mammoth Hot Springs to Cooke City, Montana, is open to automobiles all year, weather permitting. Self-serve fuel is available all year at Tower Junction. Updated Yellowstone National Park road information is available 24 hours a day by calling 307-344-2117.
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