The west entrance to Yellowstone National Park is closed. Fear not - it will open again on December 15 (depending on the snow). The Park closes for a month every year at this time. The purpose of the closure is to allow the snow to build up on the roads inside the Park. The National Park service then grooms the roads in order to allow the snowmobile and snowcoach traffic to begin when they re-open the Park.
The only entrance that remains open to wheeled vehicles during the winter season is the North entrance at Gardiner, Montana. They Park Services keeps this road available for wheeled traffic due to the fact that the children who live in Yellowstone at the North Entrance attend school in Gardiner.
You can also travel to Cooke City via the North entrance all during the winter.
At this time of the year, the town of West Yellowstone is pretty well deserted, at least as far as tourists go. Many of the stores and restaurants in town have closed for the season. You will see signs in the windows that say "Closed For The Season - See You Sometime In May". Believe me, that is exactly what they mean. It will be "sometime" in May.
Finding a place to go for lunch or to eat out for dinner is pretty difficult at this time of year. Many of the restaurants and some of the stores will re-open shortly before Christmas. The snowmobilers will begin arriving in town in earnest sometime around mid-December.
The Cross Country skiers will be here later this month for the annual Yellowstone Ski Festival.
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