By Emma Heller
A herd of cow and calf bison grazing in Yellowstone National Park.
NPS / Jacob W. Frank
A little over a week ago Yellowstone Scenic Tours and over a million visitors who visit each summer thought that our summer plans were going to be cancelled. Because of the tremendous progress that has been made in a short amount of time, we are able to head back and explore Yellowstone.
This would not have been possible without the support from the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior, local Congressional delegations, governors and the communities surrounding Yellowstone. This support includes $50 million in emergency funding to assist in repairing damaged infrastructure. Yellowstone Park Service has been busy this last week, first with assessing the damage to the Park’s infrastructure and restoring the basic services including power, water and wastewater. Without the quick response to this natural disaster, the Park wouldn’t be open.
There is still a lot of the Park open and in the coming weeks, more will open in the northern portion of Yellowstone.
NPS
As the Park reopens, we have many of the same marvelous sights to see, animal sightings and a large portion of the Park to explore in the lower loop of Yellowstone’s Grand Loop. In the coming weeks, more of the Park will reopen in the northern section. Yellowstone is 2.2 million acres, and because of the size of the Park, on a day tour we typically only explore either the upper or lower loop. A majority of our tours head to the lower (southern) loop which has great treasures like Old Faithful Geyser, Lake Yellowstone, Hayden Valley and much more! The lower loop will be first to open and in just a few weeks a majority of the upper (northern) loop will be open.
While your trip to Yellowstone may have been in question last week, we highly encourage you to still visit. If you haven’t booked a tour yet with Yellowstone Scenic Tours, we suggest doing so because of the ALPS system the Park Service has implemented for entering the Park. What is ALPS?! Check out this guide to learn about the Alternating License Plate System used to reduce the number of visitors in the Park because as of now, only the southern portion of the Park is open. This means you will not be able to enter Yellowstone everyday of your trip. However, this visitor regulation system does not apply to tour companies licensed to operate in the Park, which includes Yellowstone Scenic Tours.
We are able to guarantee entry into Yellowstone Park and also provide you with an educational and fun day. If you are concerned about any of the following, consider booking a tour with Yellowstone Scenic Tours.
If you are concerned about not knowing which day you can enter the Park because you don’t know what the last digit of your license plate will be on your rental car.
If you only have two days to spend in Yellowstone, book a day with us and plan to go in with your vehicle on the day you are allowed.
If you have multiple vehicles in your group and aren’t sure if you are all able to go in all at once, our vans can seat up to 14 people and based on availability we are able to do multi-van tours.
Last if you are interested in learning about Yellowstone National Park please consider joining us on a tour with one of our expert guides.
We look forward to showing you all the wonders of Yellowstone National Park.
