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This week in Yellowstone National Park, from April 17th to April 23rd, I will share with you the opening of some of the park roads, give you an update on what to expect in the interior of the park, let you know what to do when you see bad behavior in the park, and even give you a unique and special to me trail idea. Of course, I also give you all the weather, wildlife watching updates, tips, and information I can to give you the best possible trip to America’s first National Park, This Week in Yellowstone.
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Disclaimer: I might miss a few details, so feel free to reach out with questions! I also mention park locations casually—if you’re unfamiliar, a quick search can help. This report only covers drivable areas of the park.
Also, these posts are a passion project—I’m not paid or sponsored. If you’re enjoying it, I’d love a review or a quick email! To support my work, check out my guidebooks on hiking and wildlife watching, or join me for a guided Yellowstone tour. For details, visit outdoor-society.com or reach out directly!
THIS WEEK’S YELLOWSTONE NEWS
The biggest news right now in the park is the opening of some of the park roads. Starting on April 18th, the West Yellowstone entrance to the park will reopen to personal vehicles for the first time in 2025. The road from Mammoth to Madison Junction will also be opening up, as will the road from Norris to Canyon. The stretch from Madison to Old Faithful will also reopen on the 18th.
What does this mean, exactly? It means that starting on the 18th of April, you can now drive from Gardiner or West Yellowstone and reach Canyon, Norris, Old Faithful, and Lamar Valley. It means you can go see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, watch Old Faithful erupt, see the thermal features of the park, and scan for wildlife in spots previously hidden from the average visitor. It also means that traffic in popular spots will increase and wildlife delays will be more frequent.
The next sections of roads to open will occur on May 2nd, connecting Canyon to Fishing Bridge and the East Entrance. Until then, there is no access to the east entrance or Hayden Valley. The south entrance will not be opening until May 9th. May 9th is also the time that the road to Tower Fall opens. The entirety of Dunraven Pass will not be opening until May 23rd.
RANDOM YELLOWSTONE TIDBIT
The old opening day.
While we are currently celebrating the opening of the park for the year, things weren’t always like this. In 1925, 100 years ago, the park opened for vehicles on June 18th, two days earlier than in 1924.
From a 1925 Guidebook to the park: “The tourist season extends from June 20 to September 15. This means that tourists may enter the park for a complete tour on and between these dates. The park utilities, therefore, are actually operated from June 20 to September 20. After the latter date, admittance is granted only to tourists who come equipped to camp out along the roads or trails.”
The opening day ceremonies used to be quite the big deal, with people in cars and on horses lining up in the gateway towns of West Yellowstone and Gardiner, waiting to enter the park.
And in case you were curious, how many people visited Yellowstone in 1925, the total was 154,282. That is roughly 1/9th of the total number of visitors that came to Yellowstone in June 2024. We have certainly come a long way since waiting and only seeing 154,000 visitors all year.
EXPERIENCE OF THE WEEK.
Right now, picking the perfect experience to have when visiting Yellowstone is next to impossible. With the opening of the roads, you can now watch Old Faithful erupt with very few people around. You can wander the geyser basins and experience Grand Prismatic mostly alone, see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, and come across wildlife of all shapes and sizes. You can also go up to Little America and Lamar and see bears and wolves. Now that the road is open, the world of Yellowstone is your oyster, and hopefully, you aren’t allergic to shellfish. Therefore, the experience of the week that I am recommending is to drive to both Old Faithful and Canyon.
I know it is a basic thing to recommend, but if you are like me, it has been a long time since you had a chance to see the majesty and beauty of these regions. Not only will you have an opportunity to see a few of the sites that helped create the national park, but you’ll also be doing so when relatively few people will be around. I can’t promise you’ll be alone at either place, especially on the weekend, but it will feel empty if you have visited the areas during the summer.
Please be aware that the paths around the canyon will not be snow-free. The upper overlook, where you walk up the stairs, at Artist Point, will not be open, but the lower one will be. You’ll get to see the falls in the distance, surrounded by ice and snow, encapsulating just how frigid of a winter we have had.
The paths around Old Faithful look to be in decent shape and look mostly melted out on the webcam. You shouldn’t need traction devices to walk around, but having them just in case wouldn’t hurt.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Help make Yellowstone safe for humans and wildlife.
Now that the roads are opening and more visitors are heading to the park, it is time to review some basics of wildlife watching. Now, before I go into this mini-tirade, I do want to share something important. I may be alone in this, but I believe that park behavior has never been better in Yellowstone.
Why do I say this? In 2024, Yellowstone saw 4.74 million visitors. I’ll conservatively say that 99% of those visitors were on their best behavior, or at least good behavior. If that is true, that means that 47,400 people were breaking the rules. That would be 129 people a day, every day in 2024. That number seems too high to me, especially if the trouble we are talking about is going off the boardwalks and/or approaching wildlife. That means that, realistically, less than one percent of park visitors are causing trouble.
That being said, issues and poor park behavior still exist. So, what do you do when you encounter poor behavior? If you see someone breaking the rules, do the following. First, being polite, calm, and patient, remind the person of the park rules and see if you can have them return to a safe distance. Most of the time, people get carried away and forget to follow the rules when they are watching wildlife. If this does not work, take a picture of the people and the car and get the license plate of the vehicle. Immediately report them to a ranger. The rangers will do their best to track them down and do what they feel is right.
Always stay within 100 yards of wolves and bears when outside of a vehicle. Even if there is a crowd of people closer, do not join them unless there is a ranger present. For bison, elk, and all the other animals, always stay 25 yards from them when not in a vehicle. If an animal approaches you while you are on a trail or at a pullout, still maintain the appropriate distance at all times. If an animal is blocking the trail, wait for it to move, or hike off-trail far away from it. Be smart. Be safe. Be ready for whatever the park decides to throw at you.
What not to do: Do not film the perpetrators from a distance and later share them with certain social media accounts so they can shame the visitors later. Those sites are the absolute worst and do nothing but create a spiral of negativity and toxicity based on an untrue reality. Yes, people will break the rules this year. Someone will more than likely get gored by a bison; someone will leave the boardwalks and walk in a geothermal area. People will break the rules. But, and there is always a but, as I started this section off with, facts matter. Over 99% of Yellowstone National Park visitors are amazing and follow the rules and regulations.
WEATHER FOR THE COMING WEEK
Alright, the weather for the coming week.
Starting with Lamar Valley on Thursday, Lamar Valley will have a high of 30 degrees and a low of 14, and potentially receive an inch of snow after three inches of snow on Wednesday. Friday and Saturday look to be a bit sunnier. The high on Friday 37, the low at 10, Saturday 48, and 27. Sunday will be 47 and 28 with a chance of an inch of snow. Monday will be 45 and 19 with a chance of half an inch of snow or less on Tuesday will be partly sunny 47 and 24, and Wednesday will be 51 and 25 with a slight chance of snow showers here and there.
Cooke City: Expect a high of just 25 degrees and a low of 11 on Thursday. It will snow 4 inches on Wednesday night and another inch on Thursday. Friday and Saturday will be sunny. Friday is going to be the coldest day with a high of 31 and a low of 8. Saturday will be 43 and 25. Sunday will be 43 and 25 with an inch of snow. Monday will be 40 and 18 with half an inch of snow. Tuesday will be 42 and 22 and partly sunny, and Wednesday will be 46 and 24 with a slight chance of snow.
West Yellowstone: West Yellowstone is going to get about an inch of snow Wednesday night into Thursday. Thursday could see less than a half inch of snow, high of 31, low of 16. Friday and Saturday will be partly sunny. High of 39, low of 13 on Friday. High of 48 and 27 on Saturday. Sunday and Monday, expect a high of 47, a low in the 20s, with a chance of rain or snow. Tuesday will return to partly sunny with 49 and 25, and Wednesday will be 52 and 26.
Gardner: Expect an inch of snow on Wednesday night into Thursday. Then a half inch on Thursday with a high of 34, low of 21. Friday and Saturday are going to be partly sunny. High of 41, low of 17 on Friday. High of 53, low of 32 on Saturday. Then a chance of rain on Sunday and Monday with a high of right around 50 and a low right around 27, 28 for both days. Then Tuesday, high of 51, low of 29, partly sunny. And Wednesday will be rainy with a high of 53 and low of 31.
As always, the forecast is pretty predictable up to three days out, then it’s kind of a guess to an accurate forecast beyond that.
SNOWPACK UPDATE
The snowpack for most of the park is still in the 90% of normal range and should stay that way through this week. The lowest snowpack total as of Tuesday, April 15th, is 88% out by the East Entrance. While snow is in the forecast, it nearly always snows this time of the year, so it is normal, and snowpack numbers shouldn’t jump much higher.
ROADS CONDITIONS
With no snow or serious precipitation in the forecast, roads should be great. However, expect more construction vehicles on the road and potential delays starting near the old and new bridge site by Tower Junction.
For up-to-date information, call (307) 344-2117 for recorded information, or sign up to receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone by texting “82190” to 888-777.
CAMPING INFO
Mammoth Hot Springs remains the only open campground in the park and will be the only open campground in the park until May. However, additional camping options are available and will continue to open outside the park. If you need some spots to camp, reach out, and I can share a few.
WILDLIFE WATCHING UPDATE
You have to listen to the podcast to get this information. Sorry.
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/id1789397931
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/41E5WWldz4s7n6NXh2Lahr
RSS: https://rss.com/podcasts/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/
PICK UP A GUIDEBOOK
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HIKING NEWS AND UPDATES
So, this week’s hiking conditions are going to be all over the place. I won’t know the true conditions until I get into the interior, but this is what I can safely say. South-facing trails, especially in the northern range, will be decently melted out, and some of the boardwalks around Old Faithful should also be snow-free. Expect snow on the paths at Norris, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and pretty much everywhere else in the interior.
TREK OF THE WEEK
So, I was going to recommend the path to the Grand Prismatic Overlook this week, but I am anticipating a few things that will make it not ideal right now. The first is the amount of snow at the overlook. It may not be open, and I won’t know until I go there later this week. Also, it will be chilly and, therefore, pretty steamy, putting a damper on having that iconic view.
Instead, I am recommending a trek that few ever do, as it is a road that most will drive later in the year. The trek is the Firehole Canyon Road. While you can hike it from either side, I tend to start on the southern end and hike up, as the starting point is ridiculously scenic. Plus, there is a pullout right nearby.
The Firehole Canyon Drive is two miles one way and will have you walking on a canyon rim, seeing waterfalls, narrow canyons, an osprey nest, and so much more. Being a closed road, the path is graded nicely and easy to walk, even if you need to do it in snowshoes. You may need them. You may not. I called the park and asked about the conditions, and never heard back.
Even if you just walk from the southern end of the road to the swimming area, which is less than a mile each way, you’ll have a unique experience in this region and gain a new appreciation for the Firehole River. This is a small trek I do every year, and it is one I am excited to return to. If you do the whole thing, all four miles, you will truly love it, and I know that you’ll come away from the experience happy you did so.
At the southern end of the road, take some time and adventure around the rocks to the west, by the river. The wide river narrows right at the pullout and has carved a truly gorgeous narrow canyon. That spot is a place I stop at often, and I think you’ll enjoy it.
NEXT WEEK
In next week’s episode, I will be giving a much more detailed report about what the park’s interior looks like, share some new tours I have for the summer, give yet another perfect-for-the-week hike, and provide everything else you have come to expect when you listen to This Week in Yellowstone.
Until then, happy trails!
