JACKSON (WNE) — Yellowstone National Park plans to open its south entrance, the most easily accessible from Jackson, at 8 a.m. Friday.

If the weather cooperates, all but one of the park’s roads will be open at that time. The road between Canyon Village and Tower Fall that runs over Dunraven Pass, a notoriously treacherous byway in early- and late-season conditions, remains closed.

Drivers entering the park from the south will be able to directly access the West Thumb Geyser Basin, Old Faithful and Lake Village. But getting into the Lamar Valley will require driving north around Yellowstone’s iconic figure eight road, passing through Mammoth Hot Springs and by Tower Junction. That’s a long ride. The Lamar is home to some of the best wolf watching in the world. Visitors, scientists and other resident wildlife watchers flock there to see the park’s megafauna year round.

The road over Dunraven Pass is set to open at 8 a.m. May 26.

In a press release, Yellowstone asked visitors to give wildlife space.

The winter has stressed bison, elk and moose throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Those animals use roads as travel corridors in the winter, and higher-than-usual snowpack is preventing them from easily moving off the road.

The park service asks that visitors avoid crowding and pushing wildlife, maintain 25 yards between yourself, your vehicle and most wildlife, and stay a minimum of 100 yards from bears and wolves.

This story was published on May 10, 2023.