National Parks Traveler Podcast | Yellowstone's North Entrance

During a typical summer day at Yellowstone National Park roughly 3,000 vehicles enter through the North Entrance and head down to Mammoth Hot Springs so their passengers can begin their park adventure.

Up until June 2022 their route took them along the Gardner River. But that all changed on June 13, 2022, when a once-in-500-years rainstorm, falling on top of snow cover, sent waters rampaging down the Yellowstone, Lamar, and Gardner rivers.

Those flood waters took out sections of both the northeast and north entrance roads in the park. While the gaps in the Northeast Entrance Road were patched relatively quickly, the North Entrance Road through Gardiner Canyon remains closed to traffic. Instead, vehicles are temporarily using the Old Gardiner Road, a stagecoach route that was relatively quickly rehabilitated to handle vehicle traffic.

Since the flood, the National Park Service has been looking for a permanent route from Gardiner Montana, to Mammoth Hot Springs that would avoid going all the way through the Gardiner Canyon. Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly joins us today to explain the decision-making that has gone into finding that route.