JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Roads in Yellowstone are open. You’re welcome.
It’s a monumental task with mindboggling numbers. Yellowstone National Park has more than 250 miles of road. Every spring, they are buried deep beneath heavy snow.
Heavy equipment operators get at their plowing assignments early in March—usually around Mammoth Hot Springs. They don’t finish until May somewhere up Beartooth Pass. That’s three months of plowing roads and parking lots in America’s first national park.
It’s also no uncommon for roads to temporarily close and need more plowing after a spring snowstorm or two…or three.
“When we plow the Beartooth Highway in May, we’re in full winter gear. When we get back to Mammoth at the end of the day, people are walking around in flip flops and shorts. It’s like transporting to another world in a 50-mile drive,” Batzloff said.
