There are a number of changes that could affect your next Yellowstone trip.
As the pandemic progresses, various amenities are opening while others are changing their offerings and practices. Last Friday, the Sandpiper Lodge at Lake Yellowstone Hotel opened, offering a limited number of their standard lodge rooms, per Yellowstone’s hotel practice of only opening rooms with attached, individual bathrooms. On July 10th, more hotel rooms will be opening, again in limited number: Premium and Superior lodge rooms at Old Faithful Snow and Standard lodge rooms and suites at Canyon Lodge. By July 10th, a limited number of rooms will be open at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel.
While rooms may be opening, other services are either unchanged or getting added precautions. Food service at Mammoth, Old Faithful, Canyon, and Lake areas has been unchanged since they reopened, offering take-out service only. But Xanterra, the largest concessionaire with the park, is now requiring staff, visitors, and guests to wear face coverings in the indoor public spaces of their facilities, and keep them on outdoors as well when crowds make social distancing unlikely. This is not a requirement of the National Park Service, but seeing as Xanterra manages most of the park’s most heavily trafficked spots, it’ll be hard to go mask-less once you’re there.
These changes are an amended form of the phased reopening Yellowstone adopted shortly before it reopened for the summer. Whether or not the plan is fully implemented will depend on how much COVID-19 affects the nation and Yellowstone’s gateway communities, most of which have seen an undeniable surge in cases.
