After two months, campgrounds located east of Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming) have finally fully reopened after suffering significant damage from the historic flood of June 13.
As per a report, Kristie Thompson, Public Affairs officer for the Shoshone National Forest, said that the forest crews are working hard to reopen the two campgrounds which were the most affected by the flooding–the Wapiti and the Big Game camp areas that lie between Cody and Yellowstone.
“We had to completely redo all of the electrical in one of the loops (interior campground roads) at Wapiti,” Thompson said in an interview.
“And at Big Game, part of one of the loops was gone. It was just simply in the river.”
Thompson stated that Forest Service engineers rebuilt that loop to restore public access to the campground, which had to be evacuated on June 13 due to the floods which destroyed roads in Yellowstone National Park.
“We also had to move our staff out of Wapiti that stay there, our seasonals,” she said. “They all had to be moved for at least a few days.”
Thompson explained that the rebuilt campgrounds had to be reconfigured slightly to account for changes in the river following the flood.
“The look and feel of (the Big Game) campground is slightly different,” she said. “But it is overall still one of our more primitive closed-in campgrounds.”
The Wapiti campground, however, looks much the same as before the event, and Thompson said it is completely open to visitors once again.
The upper part of the Morrison Jeep Trail, near the top of the Beartooth Plateau, was reopened in mid-July.
This story originally appeared on Cowboy State Daily.
Guess what? The campgrounds near Yellowstone National Park are back in action! Wapiti and Big Game areas got hit hard but are now all fixed up and ready for visitors. The forest crews really went all out on these repairs. Such awesome news for anyone planning a trip to Cody or Yellowstone. Can’t wait to enjoy those beautiful campgrounds again!