The North and Northeast Entrances to Yellowstone National Park will offer
free visitor admission on Friday, Nov. 11, to honor all past and
current members of the U.S. Armed Forces. All other park entrances and
interior roads are closed.
All entrance fees, including commercial tour entrance fees and
transportation entrance fees, will be waived at all National Park Service
sites on Veteran’s Day. Free admission is offered to all visitors, not
just to veterans or military personnel. This annual fee free day was
established in 2006.
Yellowstone has a long and proud association with our nation’s military.
After struggling for years with limited staff and budget in an effort to
thwart poachers in Yellowstone’s early years, the U.S. Army was called upon to protect the park in 1886.
During the 32 years the U.S. Army was present in the park, it set the tone
for conservation and protection of special places like Yellowstone, which
still guides the uniformed members of the National Park Service to this
day. Among the most visible reminders of the military presence in the park
are the stone and tile roofed structures of Fort Yellowstone in Mammoth Hot
Springs, which are still used by the park for administration and
residences.
The road from the park’s North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, through
Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Junction, the Lamar Valley, and on to Cooke
City, Montana, is open to wheeled vehicle travel all year.
At Mammoth Hot Springs, the Yellowstone General Store, Post Office, medical
clinic, campground, and the Albright Visitor Center remain open all year.
Pay-at-the-pump fuel is available 24 hours a day all year at the Mammoth
Hot Springs and Tower Junction service stations.
