Yellowstone’s road season ends in two steps this year, and the first one is three weeks out. Canyon Village to Tower Fall closes to regular vehicles on October 12, 2026. Every other seasonal segment in the park runs to October 31. The NPS park roads page, last updated September 17, 2026, publishes the whole table. We read it September 21, 2026.
If you are planning a late October loop, that October 12 date is the one that will reroute you.
The full 2026 table
- Open April 17 to October 31: West Entrance to Madison, Madison to Old Faithful, Madison to Norris, Mammoth to Norris, Norris to Canyon Village.
- Open May 1 to October 31: East Entrance to Fishing Bridge, Canyon Village to Bridge Bay.
- Open May 8 to October 31: South Entrance to West Thumb, West Thumb to Old Faithful, West Thumb to Lake Village, Tower-Roosevelt to Tower Fall.
- Open May 22 to October 12: Canyon Village to Tower Fall, and the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.
- Open year round: North Entrance to Northeast Entrance.
One road stays open all winter. Gardiner to Cooke City, through Mammoth and the Lamar Valley, is the year-round entry, and after October 31 it is the only way to drive into the park in a regular vehicle.
The catch on the Beartooth date
The Beartooth Highway and the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway are not park roads. They sit outside the boundary and the Montana and Wyoming transportation departments run them, not the Park Service. NPS lists them on its table as a courtesy to people planning the northeast approach, and the date it lists is October 12.
We tried to confirm that against Montana DOT’s own Beartooth page and its seasonally closed roads page on September 20 and 21, 2026, and both returned errors, so we could not verify the state’s posted date. Treat October 12 as the Park Service’s figure and call MDT or WYDOT before you commit a rig to that route. A high-elevation road can also close early on weather with no notice, which is why the park’s own operating dates page tells you to check road status before you leave.
What this means for where you sleep
The campground season closes ahead of the roads on a separate schedule, and we published that table in Yellowstone’s campground closing dates. Mammoth is the one that keeps going, which is not a coincidence: it sits on the road that stays open.
After October 31 the practical options move outside the park, onto the public land on either side. Our Wyoming free camping and Montana free camping pages are the place to start, with the usual seasonal caveat that high-country dispersed sites go out on snow well before any published date says so.
Whatever a table says, the gate and the ranger at it are the final answer. Road status changes faster than any page, including this one.