YELLOWSTONE CURRENT CONDITIONS
Todd Schlotfeldt • June 17, 2022
Record Flooding and widespread damage has occurred in Yellowstone.
Visitors traveling to park in coming weeks must stay informed about current situation, road and weather conditions
Stay informed about up-to-date road conditions in Yellowstone:
Traveler Update November 1st, 2022:
- Access to Yellowstone through the North Entrance in Gardiner, MT has been restored!
- Visitors can now drive all the way through the park from the North Entrance to Cooke City on roads that were closed for most of the 2022 summer season.
- Yearly road closures for all other park roads (other than roads from Gardiner to Cooke City) are now in place.
Traveler Update August 12th:
- Clients can enter and exit through the North entrance at Gardiner with a certified guide via a temporary access road.
- Due to active road construction, entrance times are 7:15am to 7:35am and exit times are 5:00pm to 5:15pm
- This means we get to spend almost 10 hours in the park!
- Yellowstone hopes to have the temporary access road prepared for 2 way traffic by October 15th.
Traveler Updates June 19th:
- Yellowstone is currently inaccessible from the North Entrance (Gardiner, MT) and the NE entrance (Cooke City, MT)
- Northern portion of Yellowstone National Park likely to remain closed for a substantial length of time due to severely damaged, impacted infrastructure
- Aerial assessments conducted Monday, June 13, by Yellowstone National Park show major damage to multiple sections of road between the North Entrance (Gardiner, Montana), Mammoth Hot Springs, Lamar Valley and Cooke City, Montana, near the Northeast Entrance.
- All entrances to Yellowstone National Park remain temporarily CLOSED while the park waits for flood waters to recede and can conduct evaluations on roads, bridges and wastewater treatment facilities to ensure visitor and employee safety.
- In a conference call with park officials, we learned that the West, East and South entrances are planned to open by Wednesday, June 22nd. This depends on if the park finds any other damage to roads in the south of the park.
- Due to the northern loop being unavailable for visitors, the park is analyzing how many visitors can safely visit the southern loop once it’s safe to reopen. This will likely mean implementation of some type of temporary reservation system to prevent gridlock and reduce impacts on park infrastructure.
- More information from Yellowstone: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/220613.htm
What this means for travelers:
- Southern Yellowstone will likely open during the week of June 19th with entrance possible through West Yellowstone MT, Cody WY and from the South Entrance
- We will not be able to offer pick up in Livingston or Gardiner
- If you want to visit Yellowstone, do not plan to lodge in Gardiner, Livingston or Cooke City
- The park will more than likely put in place a temporary reservation system to prevent traffic gridlock and resource impacts in Southern Yellowstone. Reservations are included if you go with a commercial guide service.
- After the park opens, we will be able to operate at normal capacity.
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March 1st, 2022 will mark the 150 anniversary of Yellowstone National Park.
2020 left many visitors out of convenient lodging inside Yellowstone National Park. For 2021, our excellent park service has created a detailed list of what lodges, campgrounds and stores are going to be open, when they will open and when they will close. Please note that all dates are subject to change. As always feel free to contact us if you have questions while planning your travels. Staying inside the park is the most convenient way to experience Yellowstone but make sure to plan ahead to ensure a smooth vacation. Consider booking our Private Summer Safari Tours or our Private Day Hiking Excursions to make the most out of your time in Yellowstone!
Covid-19 has created its challenges, but we are embracing new changes so we can have an adventurous and exciting winter season while taking every measure to ensure the health of out clients and staff. Yellowstone will be different during the pandemic. There will be a decrease in international tourism and stagecoach bus tours can not operate in their normal capacity. Our Guides are taking all the necessary safety precautions while leading our tours . We hope this information gives you peace of mind as you plan your outings this summer. Call 406.551.6518 or fill out a form on the Contact page to receive more information. What measures will be taken to minimize exposure while interacting with clients? Clients will be greeted with a healthy amount of hand sanitizer instead of a handshake. Guides will stand at a safe 6 foot distance from clients when possible and practice enhanced sanitation procedures. What social distancing measures are we taking during tours? Masks will be encouraged in situations where we can’t maintain social distancing. We will practice social distancing with other people on the trails/boardwalks as well. We will educate and enforce the importance of Covid-19 measures within the park as our clients continue their visit in Yellowstone. How will CDC Hand Washing & Sanitation measures be followed? Every client of Roam Yellowstone Guiding must sanitize before the tour begins, before and after lunch, and at the end of the tour. Tour guides will have hand sanitizer on their person at all times and will encourage clients to bring their own as well. How often will we sanitize gear and equipment? There is only one group, per guide, per day which keeps families/cohorts separate. Any borrowed gear will be sanitized at the beginning and end of every day with a sanitizing spray or alcohol wipes. Binoculars will be sanitized between each individual use and everyone will have their own gear to avoid sharing and cross-contamination. Will any gear be shared? The only shared gear will be binoculars and bear spray. The guide will have their own pair of binoculars and a few other pairs will be dispersed throughout the group. They will be sanitized with an alcohol wipe between each client and at the end of the day. The bear spray will be held by a few chosen individuals in the group and sanitized at the beginning and end of every day. If a client needs assistance with their gear, the guide will demonstrate, explain verbally, or have a member of the cohort assist said client eliminating any foreign human contact. If you choose to have food provided, how will we ensure minimal exposure and transmission? Roam Yellowstone will follow all rules and instructions from Serve Safe food handler's training to ensure proper food handling. Every lunch is packaged individually and will be carried by the client independently. How will we ensure that guides and clients are not ill? Guides will not be able to receive tours if any symptoms arise and Roam Yellowstone Guiding will check in often with our guides to make sure everyone is feeling healthy and fit. We will ask clients a series of questions before the tour as well as the morning of (I.e. do you have any symptoms? Does anybody you’ve been with in the last two weeks have any symptoms of Covid-19?) Peace of Mind: Roam Yellowstone Guiding will follow all Covid-19 regulations while in Yellowstone Park but also at home in our personal lives. Each client will be vetted before the booking request is accepted and we will check in with clients up until the tour begins. The business model of this particular guiding service eliminates brief interactions as well as extended interactions. Lets work together to create a safe environment during this beautiful Montana summer! Get outside. Be active. Give air hugs. -Roam Yellowstone Guiding
In Yellowstone you can find solitude. Yellowstone has a reputation for busy roads, animal jams, crowded boardwalks and uniformed/thoughtless tourists. When you go for a walk into the back country, this is rarely the case. You can be alone. In Yellowstone you can experience the most intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states. The management of the National Park Service (NPS) has created an amazing reserve of natural splendor. On the trails of Yellowstone you can tun a corner and be face to face with a Volkswagen sized bison, at which point you should retreat. You can see eagles and osprey dive for native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. You can watch bears and wolves scavenging and hunting as long as you want. You won't have to worry about stopping a mile long line of traffic behind you. In the backcountry, there aren't traffic jams. You can observe and photograph as long as you desire. In Yellowstone you can hike through hydrothermal areas - even in the backcountry. Many thermal areas in Yellowstone are roadside, have boardwalks, are incredibly beautiful and have a constant flow of tourists wandering through them. There are many more thermal areas in the backcountry that are just as beautiful and that you will likely have all to yourself (along with maybe a few bison). There won't be boardwalks or signs. It is up to you to stay safe and enjoy them in peace. In Yellowstone you can hear the true sounds of the wild. You can listen to the wind blowing, the bison grunting, the rivers cascading, the geysers thumping, the wolves and coyotes howling, the thunder in the distance, birds singing and trees creaking - all without the sound of other visitors, cars or dogs taking away from the natural symphony. The backcountry of Yellowstone offers the true sounds of nature. The wildlife, the hydrothermal areas, the mountains, the rivers, the sounds and more make Yellowstone one of the most interesting and engaging areas you can hike in. You have to really try to not have a memorable experience. Click here to learn more about our guided hikes in Yellowstone.
Navigation: Using a map and compass bearing to move to a desired location. Orientation: Using a map and compass, altimeter or GPS to define your location. The arts of navigation and orientation might not always seem necessary but at times they can be indispensable. It takes practice and time to learn how to reliably use the various instruments accurately as well as common pitfalls of using them. GPS batteries can die, ferrous objects effect compass reading heavily, taking a bearing with the wrong end of the compass can set you 180 degrees in the wrong direction and weather can change the altimeter reading by up to 500 feet. Make sure you take time to learn and understand all the tools you rely on in the field! Now get off the computer and into the wild!