Summer may not officially be here yet, but outdoor enthusiasts may say otherwise as Yellowstone’s East Entrance is set to open 8 a.m. Friday, May 1. 

All the snow already melted at the East Entrance, but an early opening is not possible since snowfall and snowpack have no impact on opening dates, said Yellowstone National Park spokesperson Jody Lyle. 

“There might be some patchy snow,” Lyle said. 

Other parts of the park received average to above-average snowfall this year, so plowing was needed elsewhere before roads could be opened, she said. 

All of the dates for opening roads are pre-set so the park and its concessioners can have time to hire staff and transition the roads from winter’s snowmobiling and other over-the-snow travel to vehicular travel, Lyle said. 

The park operates under a rolling series of openings during this time of the year. Mammoth to Old Faithful, Madison to the West Entrance and Norris to Canyon opened on April 17.

The South Entrance to Yellowstone Lake is the next in line, scheduled to open on May 8. The final opening for the season won’t be until June 11 for Old Faithful to West Thumb so a bridge can be replaced, Lyle said. Half-hour delays are expected for daytime travelers on roads under construction.

“The first roads to open are always the third Friday in April and the East Gate always opens the first Friday in May because there are lots of other pieces to the puzzle,” Lyle said. “It (opening) will never happen earlier.” 

Getting there

Yellowstone had 3.5 million guests in 2014 and out of those visitors, 466,000 entered through the East Entrance. Those numbers could go up this year due to the drop in gas prices.

The current national average price for gas is $2.65, according to wyominggasprices.com and the price of oil has been hovering around $50-55 per barrel for the last few months with no signs of changing course.

Wyoming’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group also predicted ongoing low prices of oil for the next few years in their most recent report in January. This means last year’s numbers could go up now that a road trip to Yellowstone costs roughly 30 percent less than a year ago.

Potential visitors through the East Entrance, or any entrance, can check for road closures at www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm.  

“It is a pretty cool map,” Lyle said. “Our office, at a moment’s notice of a fire or mudslide, can change the status.” 

The road from the park’s North Entrance at Gardiner, Mont., through Mammoth Hot Springs to the Northeast Entrance, Silver Gate and Cooke City, Mont., is open all year. The road east of Cooke City to Wyo. Highway 295 opened Wednesday, according to a Yellowstone press release.  Crews from the National Park Service and the Montana Department of Transportation strive to open U.S. Highway 212 over the Beartooth Pass to Red Lodge, Mont. in time for the Memorial Day weekend.

Weather permitting, the following are the road opening dates for Yellowstone National Park. Each is set for an 8 a.m. opening.

• May 1: Canyon Junction to Lake and Lake to East Entrance (Sylvan Pass).

• May 8: Lake to South Entrance and Tower Junction to Tower Fall.

• May 22: Tower Fall to Canyon Junction (Dunraven Pass) and the Beartooth Highway.

• June 11: Old Faithful to West Thumb (Craig Pass).