Yellowstone Hack: You Can Save A Lot Of Time By Using The East Entrance

There are nine webcams around Yellowstone National Park and its various entrances with one notable exception — there isn’t a way to check in on the East Entrance near Cody in real time.

That’s about to change before the summer season beings May 2.

The National Park Service (NPS) has ordered two webcams be installed at the East Entrance, and once they’re live, they’ll show everyone the alluring lack of traffic along the park’s eastern corridor.

It’s not nearly as busy as the North Entrance or the West Entrance, and when people see how easy it is to get through quickly from the east, nearby Cody, Wyoming, is banking on people taking a detour.

“We want visitors to see that the East Entrance is less busy and more wild,” said Jennifer Thoma, executive director of the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce.

Taking Initiative

Getting webcams installed at the East Entrance started when the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce applied for a grant from the Park County Travel Council. The grant was granted, and both agencies, along with the nonprofit Yellowstone Forever, collaborated with the NPS to acquire the technology.

“Most of the entrances to Yellowstone already have web cameras in place,” Thoma said. “Nobody had done it for the East Entrance, so we took the initiative to get it done.”

The webcams at Yellowstone’s North and West entrances provide real-time feeds of the road and weather conditions. There are two at each entrance that can be accessed via Yellowstone’s official website.

Thoma believes Cody will benefit from having a real-time feed to the East Entrance. It will allow visitors to know in advance how traffic is flowing in the area and get a live look when weather conditions deteriorate and force parks officials to close the entrance.

“This past October, there were days when the East Entrance and Sylvan Pass were closed, and people would stop by the visitor center wondering why,” she said.

There’s 52 miles between Cody and the East Entrance, with an elevation gain of over 2,000 feet between them. It can often be sunny and warm in Cody while Sylvan Pass is still covered in a thick layer of snow, even when the gate opens in early May.

“It will be nice to show visitors the conditions at the entrance, since they can be quite different than those in town.”

Slower And Wilder

In 2024, 773,144 vehicles passed through Yellowstone’s West Entrance while only 36,948 vehicles passed through the East Entrance.

In July 2024, the busiest month of the year, the East Entrance had only 22% of the vehicle traffic that passed through the West Entrance.

There are several reasons why the East Entrance is slower than the West Entrance, including that the East Entrance is completely closed for two months of the year. Thoma’s hoping that people planning a Yellowstone trip will see that as a reason to choose Cody as the gateway community for their adventures.

“The East Entrance doesn’t have the long lines you see at other entrances,” she said. “It’s more remote, and there’s more wildlife to see. With the webcams, we’ll be able to show visitors how busy the East Entrance is (or isn’t) during the busy season.”

Once they’re live, Thoma hopes to showcase the live feeds on the chamber and Park County Travel Council websites. The shorter lines will be a stark difference to the images that circulate social media during the summer captured from the West Entrance webcam.

 “We’ll be able to monitor traffic in both directions and judge the busiest times for travel,” she said. “That will give our visitors more information for their trips and determine when we might invite them to stay in Cody a little bit longer to avoid the rush.”

Opening Shots

The NPS has ordered the two webcams it plans to install at the East Entrance. Thoma said she’ll be notified once the cameras arrive and when they’re installed.

“They’ve been funded and are on order,” she said. “We're just waiting for them to arrive so they can get installed before the opening.

The East Entrance will open to all traffic on May 2, weather permitting. The Cody Country Chamber of Commerce always celebrates the first day of the summer season, but now they’ll have a live feed to share with residents and visitors.

“It’ll be fun to see the gates open that morning,” Thoma said. “The East Entrance has a different environment than the rest of Yellowstone’s entrances, and we’re looking forward to showing everyone how beautiful it is up there.”

Contact Andrew Rossi at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.