Reposting, because I forgot to tag this for the Wyoming forum:

We are doing a really quick road trip from Michigan to California in late April/early May. (Mainly to drive our son's pile of stuff home from college).

We'd hoped to make a few brief detours--and thought Yellowstone might be a good one. One website says that the south entrance opens in mid-April. But, then on another website, it says that the road between the south entrance and Old Faithful will be closed until May 11.

Does anyone know how this works? I suppose the entrances can be open, but lots of the park roads can still be closed. Is it possible to enter from the south and actually drive anywhere in the late spring?

I'd kind of wanted to avoid driving all the way around to the west entrance--but not sure there is any way to avoid it?

Hi caligirl -

Not sure which sites you're looking at, but I found this info on the National Park Service site:

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Roads will open as follows:

April 20, 2007 West side roads open to motor vehicles. Mammoth to Norris Junction to Madison Junction to Old Faithful; Madison Junction to West Entrance; Norris Junction to Canyon

May 4, 2007 Canyon to Lake; Lake to East Entrance

May 11, 2007 Tower to Tower Fall; Lake to West Thumb; West Thumb to Old Faithful; South to Old Faithful.

Oops.. forgot to mention that you might want to give them a call for more specific info - here's the contact info:

http://www.nps.gov/yell/contacts.htm

It can snow at almost anytime of the year at Yellowstone - and so even if roads are opened, they could briefly close due to snow - so keep that in mind when you plan your trip.

And a note for future postings - there really is no Wyoming forum - or any other state for that matter. It is confusing, but these categories only apply to using the "search" function. It is my observation that few people actually use these sub-categories - people just scan the postings and read and answer what they want.

Have a great Yellowstone trip - it is amazing.

Gail made a good point regarding Yellowstone road closures. In the fall of ' 02, my husband and I were staying in Gardiner with an Elderhostel group. On October 1st we got hit with an early snow storm while visiting Old Faithful and we were promptly routed out the West Entrance rather than to be allowed to travel back to Gardiner by way of the roads inside the park. That action by park officials forced us to drive up Route 287 north to the interstate, then east to Route 191 and back south to Gardiner. Almost a 200 mile 'detour' in a blizzard! I was told later that Yellowstone has no snow removal equipment, so when the roads get bad, they simply route people out of the park and close them. Long story short, have an alternative plan that early in the season.

Thanks all. Doesn't seem like the kind of thing to be doing while lugging boxes around behind us in a van. Maybe we'll just have to be satisfied with a (very) brief stay at Jackson Hole and a short trip into the Tetons. We'll definitely have to watch weather reports, because we don't want to get caught in a snowstorm in a rental without chains, etc.

2 questions:

1. How is GTNP likely to be at that time of year? Would any of the hikes be open?

2. How unrealistic is the following: If we wanted to drive up around to the west entrance of Yellowstone (from Jackson Hole)--go see Old Faithful (and maybe a couple other things--drive back out and end up in Salt Lake City for the night--is this even possible? Looks like a lot of mileage. Any idea of drivetimes?