Yellowstone in Winter Snowcoach, Snowmobile & the Road Nobody Plows

Only on one road. The route from the North Entrance at Gardiner through Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Junction and the Lamar Valley to the Northeast Entrance at Cooke City is plowed and open to ordinary cars all winter. Every other park road, including the one to Old Faithful, closes to wheeled vehicles in early November and reopens around 15 December to oversnow travel only.

By snowcoach, by guided snowmobile, by permit through the Non-Commercially Guided Snowmobile Access Program, or on skis. There is no way to drive yourself there between mid-December and mid-March.

A van or small bus running on tracks instead of wheels, which is how most winter visitors reach the Old Faithful and Canyon areas. They run scheduled day trips from West Yellowstone, Mammoth and Flagg Ranch, take most of a day, and stop for wildlife and thermal features on the way.

Inside the park, yes, unless you hold a permit from the Non-Commercially Guided Snowmobile Access Program. Outside the park on the Custer Gallatin National Forest trails around West Yellowstone, no guide and no park permit are required.

Best Available Technology, the park's emissions and noise standard. Every snowmobile entering Yellowstone must be registered and certified as meeting the New BAT requirement, which is why people rent rather than bring their own. Side-by-side machines with tracks are not allowed at all.

Interior roads open to oversnow travel on about 15 December and winter travel ends in mid-March, when the plows start clearing a winter's worth of snow ahead of the spring opening.

February. The snowpack is deep, the cold is reliable enough for snow ghosts and frozen geyser spray, and wolf watching in the Lamar Valley is at its best against a white valley floor. December is thinner on snow and March is melting out.

Bozeman (BZN), about 90 miles and an hour and three quarters from West Yellowstone. Jackson is geographically closer to the park's south side but the road north from Jackson into the park is closed to cars in winter, so it does not help.

Around 8 to 13 inches a month from November through February, tapering off by March, for roughly 150 inches over a full season. December and January are the snowiest months, which is also when the groomed forest trails and the park's oversnow roads are at their best.

Only to ride your own snowmobile into the park without a commercial guide. That takes the Yellowstone Non-Commercially Guided Snowmobile Access Program, from Recreation.gov. Lets one permit holder lead up to five snowmobiles into the park without a commercial guide, for a maximum of three days. $40 per day plus a $6 application fee, and every machine must meet the park’s New Best Available Technology standard.

Application window: the lottery is open 1 to 31 August only, winners are notified in early September, and any unclaimed or cancelled permits go first-come on Recreation.gov from 1 October..

A small number of permits against everyone who does not want to pay for a commercial guide. Holiday and February weekends are the contested dates.

Book a commercially guided snowmobile day instead, which needs no lottery and reaches the same destinations, or take a snowcoach. Cancelled permits also go first-come from 1 October, so the August result is not the last word.

West Yellowstone, MT is the gateway town, flying into Bozeman Yellowstone (BZN).

Yes. Tell us your dates and we pass them to the licensed local guide who runs this route, with the permits, the food plan and the shuttles included, from about $2,089 per person. They confirm what is possible on your days and what it costs. Asking is free: no card, no deposit, and nothing is held until you say yes.