YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — After June’s historic flood event, Yellowstone park officials have reopened 93% of paved roads and 88% of the backcountry.
On July 13, Slough Creek will reopen to overnight backcountry use. Located in the northern portion of the park, Slough Creek is one of the park’s most visited backcountry areas. In addition, bicycles will be allowed to enter the North and Northeast Entrance roads for a limited distance.
Visitors who are traveling to the park in the coming weeks are encouraged to stay informed about what is open and what is closed. The National Park Service provides up-to-date situation reports on front country and backcountry travel. Below is a summary of the most recent recovery update.
Slough Creek
Starting today, public access to Slough Creek from Tower Junction will be limited to overnight backcountry permit holders, stock outfitters and approved commercial guides and operators. See the map for area-specific details. Park staff will coordinate directly with current backcountry permit holders and commercial operators to allow them to enter and exit the area during daylight hours.
At this time, visitors without permits will not be allowed on the six-mile segment of road from Tower Junction to the Slough Creek Campground Road until further notice. This is largely due to limited traffic capacity on this section of road, the road closure after Slough Creek, construction traffic and other factors that are being monitored as the road partially opens. The park will monitor use within this corridor and determine if expanded day use can occur at a later date.
The park will look to open a portion of the road to foot traffic from Tower Junction to the Yellowstone River to provide fishing access in the near future. The Slough Creek Campground will remain closed until further notice. Construction traffic on the Northeast Entrance Road will be heavy at times.
Parkwide
Currently 88% of Yellowstone’s backcountry, including the total 293 backcountry campsites and 1,000 total miles of park trails, is open to overnight and day use. The majority of closed trails are in the northern portion of the park. Crews are continuing to evaluate damage and make repairs throughout the park.
Sections of the Lamar River Corridor and Miller Creek will likely not reopen this year due to extensive damage. Visit Camp in Backcountry for details.
North and Northeast Entrance
The North Entrance Road (Gardiner, Montana, to Mammoth Hot Springs) and Northeast Entrance Road (Cooke City/Silver Gate, Montana, to Tower-Roosevelt) remain closed to vehicular traffic while temporary repairs are completed. Visitors can now access the park on bicycle and on foot through these entrances.
From the North Entrance, bicyclists can travel one mile to the Rescue Creek Trailhead. From the Northeast Entrance, bicyclists can travel six miles to the Barronette Meadows area.
On June 30, the park announced that visitors can access the park on foot through these entrances to recreate (fish and hike) in areas not identified as closed. Any visitors accessing these areas should understand dangers and risks of travel within these corridors.
Approved guides and outfitters are being granted as much access as possible to opened sections of the park through the North and Northeast Entrance Roads. Park staff will continue to work with commercial guides and outfitters in Gardiner and Cooke City/Silver Gate to further expand park access where possible.
Reconnecting the park to Gardiner and Cooke City/Silver Gate remains Yellowstone’s highest flood recovery priority. A temporary and extremely limited access road (Old Gardiner Road) between the North Entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs is currently an active construction zone and being converted to two lanes before winter.
At this time, only approved personnel and limited commercial use authorization holders are allowed on the road. Normal visitor vehicular traffic, bicycles, pedestrians and horses are not allowed. Visitors may access the park through the North Entrance through approved guiding and outfitting services.
The park is working diligently to ensure this single-lane dirt road will be a two-lane, paved and safe-to-travel-on road before winter, allowing some limited and managed visitor traffic.
To stay informed, visit operating hours and seasons, monitor the park’s social media and check out the park roads page. You can also receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone by texting “82190” to 888-777 (an automatic text reply will confirm receipt and provide instructions), or by calling (307) 344-2117 for a recorded message.
