What's open this week — and what to know before you go.
ParkReady Guides are weekly entrance briefings for America's busiest national parks: which entrances are open, this week's official closures and weather, and what to prepare for at that entrance and season — bears, bison, thermal ground, ice, flash floods, altitude. Every fact links to the National Park Service or National Weather Service page it came from.
Many park entrances are the last reliable signal you'll have. Download GOES at the gate so its medical assessment, how-to guides and prevention tips work with zero bars.
First batch · 6 parks · 17 entrances
National parks this week
Mid-November is shoulder season: many entrances and high roads are closed, services are thin, and weather turns fast. We only publish pages for entrances that are open; closures are listed on each park page.
Yellowstone
Winter shoulder season: only the North ↔ Northeast road is open to cars.
- North EntranceOpen to cars (year-round road)
- Northeast EntranceOpen to cars, reached via Gardiner
Closed / limited: West Entrance; South Entrance; East Entrance
Yosemite
Snow on the way: Tioga and Glacier Point roads close Nov 12 at 5 pm.
- Arch Rock EntranceOpen — Hwy 140 / El Portal Road
- Big Oak Flat EntranceOpen — weekday delays
- South EntranceOpen — Winter Storm Watch
- Hetch Hetchy EntranceDaylight only — closes for snow
Closed / limited: Tioga Pass Entrance; Glacier Point Road
Grand Canyon
Day use only on the South Rim: overnight lodging suspended, bring your own water.
- South EntranceOpen 24/7 — day use, bring water
- Desert View (East) EntranceOpen 24/7
- North Rim EntranceLimited day use — no services, closing soon
Closed / limited: Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, Black & Silver bridges, entire North Kaibab Trail
Great Smoky Mountains
Winter Weather Advisory on the Tennessee side; snow showers at Newfound Gap.
- Gatlinburg Entrance (Sugarlands)Open — Winter Weather Advisory
- Townsend EntranceOpen — Winter Weather Advisory
- Cherokee Entrance (Oconaluftee)Open — elk area
Closed / limited: Seasonal secondary roads
Zion
Shuttle season ends Nov 28; cool days, cold canyon water, storms Friday night.
- South EntranceOpen — shuttle through Nov 28
- East EntranceOpen — gravel section, size limits
- Kolob Canyons EntranceOpen — may close for snow or ice
Closed / limited: Watchman Trail; Hidden Canyon / Observation Point from Zion Canyon
Glacier
Going-to-the-Sun Road closed at Avalanche Creek and Jackson Glacier Overlook for the season.
- West EntranceOpen — road to Avalanche Creek
- St. Mary EntranceOpen — road to Jackson Glacier Overlook
Closed / limited: Going-to-the-Sun Road alpine section; Many Glacier and Two Medicine
Get GOES on your phone before the gate.
Download it while you still have signal. After the gate, you may not.
Offline by design
Interactive health assessment, 50+ visual how-to guides and 200+ prevention tips across 60+ medical topics, all on your phone with no cell service.
Risks for where you are
Location-specific indicators for bears, venomous snakes and other wildlife, plus hypothermia, frostbite, heat illness, altitude illness, ticks, poisonous plants, UV and smoke.
Written by wilderness doctors
Founded by Dr. Grant Lipman, former Stanford Emergency Medicine professor and director of its wilderness medicine fellowship. Chief Medical Officer: Dr. Colin Little, MD, FAWM.
How ParkReady works
Updated weekly. Sourced, not guessed.
Each week we pull official alerts and operating hours from the NPS Data API, read each park's conditions, roads and news pages, and grab National Weather Service point forecasts for every entrance. Pages show a "Week of" label and list every source, so you can check anything yourself.
We don't publish entrance wait times, bear sightings, or incident counts we can't source. If NPS hasn't said it, neither do we. Conditions change hourly in winter, so check the linked NPS page or call the park's road line the morning you go.
Follow official NPS rules, posted closures and ranger instructions. ParkReady Guides is not affiliated with the National Park Service.
Your outdoor safety companion
When signal drops, GOES steps in.
Put GOES on your phone before the entrance so wildlife, weather and injury guidance is ready once you're in the park — even with no signal.
- Works with no cell service: interactive health assessment and 50+ visual how-to guides, available offline.
- Location-specific risks: wildlife (bears, venomous snakes), hypothermia, frostbite, heat illness, altitude, ticks, poisonous plants, UV and smoke/air quality.
- 200+ prevention tips across 60+ medical topics, also available offline.
- Built by wilderness medicine physicians: founded by Dr. Grant Lipman, former Stanford Emergency Medicine professor and director of its wilderness medicine fellowship; Chief Medical Officer Dr. Colin Little, MD, FAWM.
Free to download. Premium features need a monthly or annual subscription after a 7-day free trial. GOES provides guidance. It is not a substitute for professional medical care. Follow official NPS rules and ranger instructions.
Sources
Where this week's information comes from
Fetched Thu Nov 12, 2026 (JST), which is Wed Nov 11 evening in US time zones. We don't publish wait times, bear sightings or conditions we can't source. Check the official pages before you go — they're updated more often than we are.
- News release: Most Yellowstone roads and entrances close Nov. 1, 2026 (Oct 21)
- Yellowstone Park Roads (updated Nov 3, 2026)
- NPS Yellowstone alerts (NPS Data API, fetched Nov 12)
- NPS Yosemite alerts (NPS Data API, fetched Nov 12)
- Yosemite Current Conditions (updated Nov 11, 2026)
- NPS Grand Canyon alerts (NPS Data API, fetched Nov 12)
- News release: Projected dates for restoring water to the South Rim (Sep 19, 2026)
- News release: Stage 2 fire restrictions rescinded on South Rim (Nov 4, 2026)
- NPS Great Smoky Mountains alerts (NPS Data API, fetched Nov 12)
- NPS Data API (parks, operating hours, fees)
- NWS Morristown: Winter Weather Advisory (issued Nov 11, until Nov 14 7 am EST)
- National Weather Service point forecasts (api.weather.gov, fetched Nov 12)
- Zion Canyon shuttle schedule
- Zion operating hours & facility hours
- Zion Current Conditions
- NPS Glacier alerts (NPS Data API, fetched Nov 12)
- Glacier: visiting in winter
- Glacier directions, transportation & road status
- GOES app listing (App Store)