Yellowstone Insider Your Complete Guide to America's First National Park
Starting today, February 1, 2018, Yellowstone National Park will now offer digital entrance passes for visitors to purchase online.
According to a Yellowstone press release, visitors will be able to purchase both annual and seven-day passes.
“We are pleased to offer a digital option to purchasing passes at entrance gates and to usher in a new era of online convenience for our visitors,” said park superintendent Dan Wenk in a press statement.
Of course, Yellowstone will continue to sell passes at the five entrance stations. In addition, special passes (i.e. passes for U.S. military members, senior citizens, volunteers, those with permanent disabilities, and fourth grade students) are still sold directly through the National Park Service.
The digital entrance passes will be administered through YourPassNow, offered through a partnership between the National Park Service and NIC Inc. You can see the YourPassNow site here.
According to YourPassNow, all passes purchased online can be upgraded in-person. For instance, an annual pass to Yellowstone can be upgraded to an Interagency Annual Pass, which permits access to every national park.
All digital entrance passes are non-refundable and may not be transferred between people. However, you are allowed to buy gift passes for people. If you lose your pass, you must purchase another one.
Yellowstone isn’t the first national park to employ YourPassNow. In 2016, YourPassNow was instituted in several parks and monuments around the country, listed below:
• Acadia National Park (Maine)
• Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (Florida)
• Colorado National Monument (Colorado)
• Everglades National Park (Florida)
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (California)
• Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota)
• Whiskeytown National recreation Area (California)
Prices for Yellowstone National Park are below, courtesy of the press release:
• Annual pass: $60
• $30: seven-day pass for private vehicle
• $25: seven-day pass for motorcycle or snowmobile
• $15: seven-day entrance pass for individuals on bike/foot
People aged 16 and under are free.
Yellowstone and other national parks use fees to help cover costs and address maintenance issues pertaining to park infrastructure. Last fall, the Department of the Interior proposed raising the cost of seven-day passes in 17 national parks during “peak season,” including Yellowstone and Grand Teton. This proposed increase is not reflected in YourPassNow’s current pricing. Peak season for Yellowstone and Grand Teton generally runs May to September.
