Snow Opens and Closes Roads

The North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park is now closed to cars until May 15, 2006. According to the Park Service, ice accumulation on the roads has created unsafe driving conditions. In other words, "come back after the thaw!". You can still use your snowshoes or cross-country skis to get in and use the campgrounds though. But, be prepared for a trek, it's a 45 mile trip from the small town of Jacob Lake. Are you surprised that they would have to close roads in Arizona for snow? I was until it snowed on me during a visit in June of 1999. The elevation at the North Rim visitor center is an amazing 8,824 feet!

But, if it is snow that you seek, turn your car towards the northwest corner of Wyoming. At 7 a.m. today (the first day of Winter), Yellowstone National Park opened their roads to snowmobiles. As mentioned earlier this week, there is currently a winter use plan which limits the snowmobile traffic to 720 a day, accompanied by commercial guides. Check out these Yellowstone links for trip planning this winter:

• Winter Activities in Yellowstone
• Winter Use Planning in Yellowstone

Yellowstone will close their roads to all snow traffic at 9 p.m. on Monday, March 13th. So, what are you waiting for?