News Releases

Beginning at 8 a.m. Friday, April 18, 2025, select entrances and roads in Yellowstone National Park will open for the summer season, weather permitting, as part of the annual spring opening.

Yellowstone National Park’s winter season begins Sunday, Dec. 15. Annually from mid-December until mid-March, visitors can travel most of the park’s roads from the West, South, East and North entrances by approved commercially guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches and via the non-commercially guided snowmobile access program.

Yellowstone National Park hosted 346,025 recreation visits in October 2024. This is a 16% increase from October 2023 (299,127 recreational visits). This October’s visitation showed a 9% increase from October 2021 (316,662 recreation visits).

The National Park Service, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, seeks public comment on a proposal to significantly improve 27 miles of the Northeast Entrance Road between Tower Junction and Yellowstone National Park’s Northeast Entrance.

The last day for visitors to drive most of Yellowstone National Park’s roads will be Thursday, Oct. 31. The West, South and East entrances and nearly all roads will be closed to regular vehicle traffic Nov. 1. The park annually closes roads at this time of year to prepare them for the winter season and snowmobile and snowcoach travel, which will begin Dec. 15.

Crews finished repairs to the boardwalks ahead of schedule, and Artists Paintpots are now open.

The last day for visitors to drive the Beartooth Highway (US-212) between Red Lodge, Montana, and Yellowstone National Park’s Northeast Entrance near Cooke City/Silver Gate, Montana, is Monday, Oct. 14.

Yellowstone National Park hosted 852,435 recreation visits in September 2024. This is a 2% increase from September 2023 (838,458 recreational visits). This September’s visitation showed an 3% decrease from September 2021 (882,078 recreation visits).

After 11 days of searching, Yellowstone National Park will scale back efforts to locate Austin King in the vicinity of Eagle Peak and transition from a rescue to recovery today, Oct. 2.

As part of the National Park Service’s established protocol regarding officer-involved shootings, Yellowstone National Park has released body worn camera footage from a July 4, 2024, officer-involved shooting at Canyon Village.