Yellowstone National Park

Big Sky is only 16 miles from Yellowstone’s Northwest Entrance and 47 miles from the West Entrance. Explore the world’s first National Park on a guided snowcoach or snowmobile in the winter, or a guided van/bus tour or by automobile in the summer. Yellowstone is a very large and diverse park and cannot be properly viewed in a day. Many visitors make the mistake of thinking that you can drive through the park to experience it. However, Yellowstone really is a walking park and there are dozens of miles of trails and boardwalks established, many of which are handicapped-accessible to help you experience the wonders up close. Boiling mud, explosive geysers, thundering waterfalls and ample wildlife all await every visitor during any season. With a size larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined, you can see why many people spend a lifetime exploring Yellowstone. The park is home to the world’s largest collection of hydrothermal activity, and has had many of the world’s top geologists refer to it as the most interesting place in the world, geologically. The very primitive microbes have led many scientists to some of the largest scientific discoveries of our time, including DNA testing, the genome and possibly curing some cancers. The nation’s last free-roaming bison herd still roams Yellowstone’s valleys, proof of the success from the first attempt anywhere to save a species from extinction. Of course, as the world’s first National Park, Yellowstone has a fascinating history dating prior to the Battle of the Little Big Horn (Custer’s last stand) and Montana, Idaho and Wyoming’s statehood.

Summer Season: Mid-April through Early November

Plan at least a half an hour to travel each section of roadway, not including any stops or short hikes you may take along the way. Read the Park Newspaper for up-to-date road construction information and closures. PLEASE PULL YOUR VEHICLE OUT OF THE LANE OF TRAFFIC OR INTO A PULLOUT TO VIEW WILDLIFE. Do not park in the roadway and slow down and be aware of traffic and pedestrians at all wildlife sightings.

Winter Season: Mid-December through Mid-March

Snowcoaches and Snowmobiles are permitted on the park’s interior roads. The following roads are open to SNOWCOACH TRAVEL ONLY and are closed to snowmobiles: Riverside Drive, Firehole Canyon Drive, the Freight Road (Fountain Flat Drive), Virginia Cascades Drive, North Rim Drive (Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone), Washburn Springs Overlook and Lake Butte Drive.