Cooke City

Everything shuts down in the interior.

Also know that A lot of the businesses in those towns that are not necessarily going to be Gardner, Cook City, or Silvergate will also have dramatically reduced hours or be closed.

Most businesses, restaurants, things like that, shouldn't say most, a lot.

Also, even in Gardner, Cook City, and Silvergate, there will be a lot closed right now.

This is theoretically shoulder season.

November is the least visited month in the park because it has the least amount of access.

I'll be doing a bigger deep dive on next week's episode about this, but since this episode covers four days when only the northern range is open, I wanted to give some quick tips in case you're one of the few in the park that gets kind of locked out of the interior.

The first thing to know is that once interior roads close, staying in West Yellowstone, Cody, or Jackson will not be good if you want to see Yellowstone.

The annual closures at the west, south, and east entrances allow park officials to transition to winter operations ahead of the snowmobile and snowcoach season starting December 15th.

The only route remaining open to automobiles year-round connects the north entrance in Gardner to the northeast entrance in Cook City and Silvergate.

Park officials advise winter drivers to prepare for rapidly changing weather, limited services, and sudden road closures by carrying cold weather essentials and checking current road conditions before traveling.

Surrounding Gateway communities in Montana will remain open with winter recreation opportunities.

As a result, Friday, October 31st will be the final day visitors can drive most of Yellowstone's roads in 2026.

Visitors traveling to Yellowstone by car during the winter can access the park only via the road connecting the north entrance in Gardiner, Montana and the northeast entrance in Cook City, Silver Gate, Montana.

This route passes through Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Junction, and Lamar Valley and remains open year-round, weather permitting.

Communities surrounding Yellowstone remain open year-round and offer a variety of fall and winter recreation opportunities.

Bring all your food.

Pick it up in West Yellowstone or out in Cook City, Silvergate, or Gardner, Cody, or when you're headed up from Jackson, and then you'll be okay.

But don't expect much to be open in the park.

And then it will be even less open between the 28th and the 31st.

And then past the 31st, again, the only road that's going to be open will be from Gardner through Mammoth out to Cook City.

The next bit of news is good news.

There are some people that are saying it's not good news, but, you know, there's a saying, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Tuesday, 54 and 36.

and troy halverson Old guy, snow cross background.

We're out in Cook City in the late spring testing and he found a weakness in it and we pushed it off for another year and did another whole round of testing.

He basically pogo sticked it off the top of a cornice really hard and bent the rail.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

[laughs] She was, she was captured twice, both times in Wyoming.

The second time she was captured, she was moved into the Clark Fork, east of Cooke City.

She came to Montana within about four days of being released, and has been in Montana ever since.

She is well aware of what a culvert trap is, but that's a, that's just a smart bear.

And Wednesday, 64 and 43.

And finally for the weather, Cooke City, Montana.

Thursday, 43 and 24.

Friday, 51 and 28.

And that is so awesome.

So happy for them.

Also moose are by Floating Island Lake and then out toward Cooke City.

It's a decent place to see them.

It's your number one stop for North Central Montana local news, weather forecasts, funeral notices, and state news.

Today's fun fact is Montana averages around 50 inches of snow across the state, with Cooke City hitting highs of 200 inches.

Now let's take a look at our weather command forecast for today.

Today should be partly sunny with patchy fog, highs in the upper 50s, and southwest winds five to 15 miles an hour.

Yeah, we went in twice this year.

We took our three-day excursion and went through Lamar Valley and out through Cook City and We wanted to go experience Beartooth Pass and then we also made kind of a loop of it and did the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway on the east side of Yellowstone.

Previous to the last seven years of hauling cars, I was a tour bus driver and charter bus driver, so I spent a lot of time in Yellowstone over the years.

I can imagine it is one of the most popular work camping destinations.