Yellowstone Cancels Me
 

I had planned a June trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, but had long-since reconciled myself to its cancellation. Yellowstone has saved me the trouble. Yesterday I received an email from them which reads in part:

"Given the ongoing and ever stricter guidelines from the CDC, WHO, as well as federal and state governments to limit gatherings, we have made the difficult decision to suspend our operations through Sunday, June 14. We regret that this situation has resulted in the necessity to cancel all lodging and tour reservations for stays through June 14, 2020, but based on present conditions, we are currently scheduled to reopen between June 15 and 19, 2020. When we reopen beginning on June 15, to comply with the local health guidelines, our operations will be limited. Lodging options will be limited to cabins with private bathrooms. This means that only Frontier Cabins, Western Cabins, and Cottages will be open at Old Faithful, Canyon, Mammoth, and Lake areas. All Xanterra-operated campgrounds except Fishing Bridge RV Park will also be open this summer. There will also be limited food services, tours and activities, and gift shops. More information on available lodging, campgrounds, and services for Summer 2020 can be found here . . . For those who have a reservation arriving and departing prior to June 15, or are at a location or room type that will not be available this summer, you do not need to take any action on your reservation, and your refund will be seen within two credit card billing cycles, typically 30 to 60 days."

Our visit was scheduled for after the 15th, but in the sort of rooms which will not be available for the season.

Fair enough. Just a heads up for others.

FD

Reservations for cabins with private baths are fine. Everything else has been cancelled. They won't be opening any lodges/hotels/inns, although they may use them for staff housing. I still hope to drive through on my way to the Tetons. Crossing fingers that it will be safe by late June.

Glacier Bay Lodge canceled us as well - they will not open at all for the 2020 season. Our reservations and day boat tour were all prepaid, so now I'm just waiting on a refund.

We still have Alaska Air reservations, and I'm watching to see if there may be some chance of salvaging a trip this year (July/August). Not holding out much hope, though.

We are scheduled to be in the area 7/19-7/26 in a private home rental near Bozeman. We are flying American from Dallas, but I'm mentally preparing myself to drive if they cancel. Of course that adds the risk of stopping at all the gas stations, etc, on the 2 day drive. One day at a time I guess...

A big part of the reason is that tourists bring Covid 19 with them to small communities that do not have hospitals with respirators. You can see Covid hot spots-SunValley, Park City, etc. As someone who lives in Utah and frequents places within a 6 hour radius--I get it. You will just have to keep on top of things. I think reservations after July 1 might be ok, but not before then.

We were supposed to be in all those places - Las Vegas, Sun Valley, Park City, and a lot of the western national parks starting this week. We’ve cancelled everything through early July. We’ll reassess when the time is right (we want to “do right” for ourselves and for the local communities we’d be visiting).