Park to implement snowmobile reservation plan

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

The National Park Service has announced a reservation system for people who want to drive a snowmobile through Yellowstone National Park next winter without a guide.

A new winter-use plan comes into effect in December, one the Bush administration created to replace a snowmobiling ban favored by the Clinton administration.

The new plan restricts the number of snowmobiles that can enter the park. For instance, a maximum of 550 a day can enter at West Yellowstone and 50 can enter daily at Gardiner.

Of those numbers, 20 percent of the spaces are set aside for people who don't hire a guide. However, they must make reservations or they can't enter the park.

They can now do so, the Park Service announced Thursday, by calling (307) 344-7311, between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. MST, seven days a week.

There is a nonrefundable reservation fee of $10 per snowmobile for the first day and $3 per day for every day after that. Reservations are not transferable to other people. If you need to make changes, you must pay the fee again.

The fee does not include admission to the park and all snowmobilers must travel in groups of at least two and not more than 11 snowmobiles.

For this winter, any legal snowmobile can enter the park. In future years, only those machines certified as "best available technology" will be allowed in.

Currently, that means a four stroke machine.

Also in future years, somebody in every group will have to pass a course proving they know snowmobile safety, basic mechanics and how to behave in the park.

If people book a guided tour through concessionaires, those businesses will make the reservations for them.

Call (307) 344-2271 or check the Internet at www.nps.gov/yell/home.htm for more information.

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