Road from Gardiner to Mammoth to Cooke City remains open–
Standard Yellowstone closing comes. Details.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
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Can anyone provide a definite answer to whether or not the Gibbons bridge will be open for the Spring season? I have been unable to find anything by the park that says the bridge will be open next spring nor status updates of the construction area.
Is it going to be closed for another normal season and the park will not put it in witting because of the effect on hotel and tourism industries?
What I have heard from knowledgeable persons, the Gibbon Falls bridge should be open next spring. Hard to say if that will actually be the case but that’s what I heard.
I passed through the site August 16th and it is a big project. Much of the rock along the west side of the road has been removed. I will get in touch with an operator who is working on the project and see what I can find out, in a couple days… It’s more than just the bridge, the road has to be restructured as well and removing a quarter mile of rock that was hundreds of ft tall is an undertaking.
Today I went into the park from West Yellowstone and the road is only open to Old Faithful. The park will officially close at 8am but the ranger at the gate said that nobody will be allowed in after 6am on Monday.
There has been snow, not much under 7500ft, and rain but it is enough to make a slippery mess so Douglas pass was closed today. Fawn Pass, on US191 had about five inches on it this am.