Genesis 8:13

 "By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth.  Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry."  Genesis 8:13

 

So Noah was 601 when he removed the covering from the ark and saw dry ground.  So they were closed up for a long time, even after the rain stopped coming, but now there is hope.