When do the roads open up in Yellowstone?

[Shadow_Grey]

Trying to plan a trip thru Yellowstone for late April. We are traveling form Portland, OR to STL, MO and wanted to travel thru Yellowstone and the Blackhills. We will NOT have our camper but wanted to go thru the parks so when we return we will have a better idea as to where we want to camp at.
Google Maps shows the roads closed and will not let us plan it out as a trip. I don't care how twisty some of the roads are, we only have the truck which will be mostly empty except for clothes, tent, sleeping bags and back packs.

Does anybody around there know when highway 20 will open? What about some of the other roads around there?

[timandsusan]

We completed a snocat tour of Ystone about 2 weeks ago from West Yellowstone, MT. LOTS of snow! On Facebook there is a Yellowstone NP link. About 2 days ago it showed the process used to clear the snow from the park roads. It is tough because the park packs the snow on the road for snocats and snowmobiles--all a guided tours only. As others have said--if it opens in mid April--expect alot of snow piled along the roads that are open. A Ranger told us that some sections of the park will be closed in April due to bears and they move those around until later in the season. I would assume that most if not all campgrounds will not be plowed until later -- like May.

[Shadow_Grey]

It is likely we will be making this trip many times as we are helping move our son out to Portland this trip. Momma wants to visit her baby(we are empty nesters and he is 28 with a successful business)as often as she can so we will probably be incorporating vacation(s) out West while visiting him too. Hopefully we will have a few summer chances to camp in Yellowstone NP and Grand Teton NP.
We will have to watch the road conditions reports before heading out there and back.

[Busskipper]

Shadow_Grey wrote:
Trying to plan a trip thru Yellowstone for late April. We are traveling form Portland, OR to STL, MO and wanted to travel thru Yellowstone and the Blackhills. We will NOT have our camper but wanted to go thru the parks so when we return we will have a better idea as to where we want to camp at.
Google Maps shows the roads closed and will not let us plan it out as a trip. I don't care how twisty some of the roads are, we only have the truck which will be mostly empty except for clothes, tent, sleeping bags and back packs.

Does anybody around there know when highway 20 will open? What about some of the other roads around there?

If I were you I'd bend my trip down into Utah -- Great time to visit before it gets too Hot. Not even a slight chance to get into YNP unless you are in a Snowmobile. A lot to see in Utah and if you Catch a break you could run through Colorado and get to St. Louis, with little problem. During the late spring the Rockies can be just a little snowy but you might just get lucky, and it is a Beautiful drive on I-70 a Good Interstate.

BOL,

[RaenMark]

Here are a couple sites we've been using to plan our trip this May. We're going the week before Memorial Day and most things will be open. The road over Dunraven pass may not be open by then. It's scheduled for May 23rd. First site is Yellowstone.Net. It's a great site with lots of information. The second is the park site itself Yellowstone. One of the best for early and late season travel is the Opening and Closing dates.

We can wait to get there. Hope your trip is equally wonderful.

[SRT]

SRT wrote:
Yellowstone National Park on Facebook

Glacier National Park

[SRT]

Yellowstone National Park on Facebook

[jalichty]

If you will go to Facebook and Friend Yellowstone Park, don't know how to do that, but I would guess you just search, you will find a bunch of pictures of the machines blowing snow off the roads. Looks pretty deep. The North Entrance, at Mammoth is open all year. The South Entrance opens some time in early May, and is open from Jackson to Flagg Ranch all winter, that's how you get from Jackson to the snowmobiles at Flagg Ranch to go into Yellowstone during the winter. Looks like they got a bunch of snow this year, but at least the Feds have enough money so they don't have to blackmail the states to help them plow the snow like they did last year.

[bobjogone]

We worked there in 2011 - supposed to report in mid-May for training. They had avalanche in Cody entrance and other workers had to drive all the way around to North entrance. We came in through the south entrance - 3' of snow in the campground - had to dig out our picnic table and water and electric. It just depends on weather.

[Shadow_Grey]

Thanks Bigdogger. After looking it over again I realized it...I guess April is a little early for Yellowstone travel/siteseeing.

[bigdogger]

Shadow_Grey wrote:
Looks like we should be able to enter at the West Entrance and head to the South Entrance. Might be able to stop by Grand Prismatic Springs, Old Faithful, Grant Village and Moose Falls on the way to Jackson. I guess the North and East entrance roads will still be closed till May sometime.

Jackson is SOUTH of Yellowstone. That road will not open until May 9th, at the earliest. They NEVER open the roads early, and they NEVER allow any travel until the road is officially open. The North Entrance is open Year round. As for the snowpack, it is nearly 150% of normal and is approaching all time records.

[CloudDriver]

Shadow_Grey wrote:
Looks like we should be able to enter at the West Entrance and head to the South Entrance. Might be able to stop by Grand Prismatic Springs, Old Faithful, Grant Village and Moose Falls on the way to Jackson. I guess the North and East entrance roads will still be closed till May sometime.

Copied from the link posted by 2gypsies:

All Dates are Subject to Change

2014 Spring Road Vehicle Opening

April 18: Mammoth to Old Faithful; Madison to West Entrance; Norris to Canyon.
May 2: Canyon to Lake; Lake to East Entrance (Lake is one mile south of Fishing Bridge).
May 9: Lake to South Entrance; West Thumb to Old Faithful (Craig Pass); Tower to Tower Fall.
May 23: Tower Fall to Canyon (Dunraven Pass); Beartooth Highway.
Please note: The road between the North and Northeast entrances is open to wheeled vehicles year-round.

You will not be able to depart through the south entrance in April as that is not expected to be open until May 9th. You should be able to travel from the north entrance as far as Old Faithful, Canyon and the west entrance.

From the west entrance there should be no problem driving routes 20 and 22 into Jackson with the truck only. Driving route 22 between Jackson and Victor with an RV is not recommended due to 10% grades and sharp curves.

[Shadow_Grey]

Looks like we should be able to enter at the West Entrance and head to the South Entrance. Might be able to stop by Grand Prismatic Springs, Old Faithful, Grant Village and Moose Falls on the way to Jackson. I guess the North and East entrance roads will still be closed till May sometime.

[Monello]

In 2012 we had a blizzard on 5/28. It was opening day for fishing on Lewis lake. I managed to catch a few fish but nobody wanted to fish with me that day.

[Shadow_Grey]

I have looked at those sites but was wondering if anybody near there had any in-site as to if the place was in DEEP snow or had a lite year. They open the West roads on April 18th and have fees waived on 19th and 20th. Was just wondering if we can get in there then?