North part of Yellowstone down for the summer

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — After videos and pictures of the destruction caused by swollen rivers in the north part of Yellowstone National Park made the rounds yesterday, it was obvious to most that section of the park would not be back up and running anytime soon. Today, confirmation came from park authorities that it will be more like months, not days, that the park will remain closed in the northern portion.

Aerial assessments conducted Monday show major damage to multiple sections of road between the North Entrance (Gardiner, Montana), Mammoth Hot Springs, Lamar Valley and Cooke City, Montana, near the Northeast Entrance. Many sections of road in these areas are completely gone and will require substantial time and effort to reconstruct.

The National Park Service will make every effort to repair these roads as soon as possible; however, it is probable that road sections in northern Yellowstone will not reopen this season due to the time required for repairs.

To prevent visitors from being stranded in the park if conditions worsen, the park in coordination with Yellowstone National Park Lodges made the decision to have all visitors move out of overnight accommodations (lodging and campgrounds) and exit the park.

All entrances to Yellowstone National Park remain temporarily closed while the park waits for flood waters to recede and can conduct evaluations on roads, bridges and wastewater treatment facilities to ensure visitor and employee safety.

There will be no inbound visitor traffic at any of the five entrances into the park, including visitors with lodging and camping reservations, until conditions improve and park infrastructure is evaluated.

The park’s southern loop appears to be less impacted than the northern roads and teams will assess damage to determine when opening of the southern loop is feasible. This closure will extend minimally through next weekend.

Due to the northern loop being unavailable for visitors, the park is analyzing how many visitors can safely visit the southern loop once it’s safe to reopen. This will likely mean implementation of some type of temporary reservation system to prevent gridlock and reduce impacts on park infrastructure.

At this time, there are no known injuries nor deaths to have occurred in the park as a result of the unprecedented flooding.

Effective immediately, Yellowstone’s backcountry is temporarily closed while crews assist campers (five known groups in the northern range) and assess damage to backcountry campsites, trails and bridges.

The National Park Service, surrounding counties and states of Montana and Wyoming are working with the park’s gateway communities to evaluate flooding impacts and provide immediate support to residents and visitors. Water levels are expected to recede today in the afternoon; however, additional flood events are possible through this weekend.

Known damage and issues

Known damage (at this time) to some park roads includes:

• North Entrance (Gardiner, Montana) to Mammoth Hot Springs: road washed out in multiple places, significant rockslide at Gardner Canyon
• Tower Junction to Northeast Entrance: segment of road washed out near Soda Butte Picnic Area, mudslides, downed trees
• Tower-Roosevelt to Canyon Junction (Dunraven Pass): mudslide on road
• Canyon Junction to Fishing Bridge: Segment of road just south of Canyon Junction potentially compromised and closed for evaluation
• The power continues to be out in multiple locations in the park.
• Water and wastewater systems at Canyon Village and Mammoth Hot Springs are being impacted by flooding conditions and are being monitored.