Yellowstone partial reopen
Yellowstone National Park will begin phased access next week, with park crews planning to open some main entrances and roads on April 17 — while a separate roundup lists April 18 as the start for select areas, so expect only partial access at first. (belgrade-news.com) (ksenam.com)
Yellowstone is reopening in pieces, not all at once: at 8 a.m. on Friday, April 17, 2026, the park says only select entrances and road segments will open, and every date is still weather dependent. (nps.gov) The first vehicle access on April 17 is through the North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, and the West Entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana, with the Northeast Entrance at Silver Gate and Cooke City also reachable through the road that stays open year-round. (nps.gov) From those openings, visitors can reach Mammoth Hot Springs, Lamar Valley, Norris Geyser Basin, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and Old Faithful, which means some of the park’s biggest draws come online before the rest of the loop does. (nps.gov) Yellowstone works this way every spring because most roads shut to regular cars from early November to late April, while snowplows clear mountain roads and winter travel shifts to guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches. (nps.gov) One road never really joins the spring reopening drama: the route from the North Entrance through Tower Junction to Cooke City, Montana, is the only road generally open year-round to regular vehicles. (nps.gov) The April 17 opening still leaves major sections closed, including the East Entrance road to Fishing Bridge, which is projected to open May 1, and the South Entrance corridor, which is projected to open May 8. (nps.gov) That staggered calendar is why two nearby travelers can both say “Yellowstone is open” and mean different things: one can drive to Old Faithful on April 17, while another still cannot enter from the south or east for weeks. (nps.gov) The park is also warning that spring visitors should expect winter conditions anyway, because many trails and boardwalks are still snow covered in mid-April and temporary road closures can happen without notice. (nps.gov) Even once the gates open, crews expect roadwork delays of up to 30 minutes, and Yellowstone tells drivers to check the live road status map or recorded road line before leaving. (nps.gov)
