Salt Lake City-Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton,Mt. Rushmore

Please help me plan out the itinerary.

Fly into SLC 6/27 am, have 7 days to drive thru Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Mt Rushmore, fly out from SLC 7/4. Will be traveling with 2 kids, age 11 %26amp; 13. Enjoy sight seeing and short (2 miles) hike. Thank you.

Salt Lake City-Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton,Mt. Rushmore

Day 1- Fly into SLC and drive to Jackson Hole if flight is early (5 hours to JH).

Day 2- Jackson Hole and GT

Day 3-6- YNP

Day 7- back to SLC

I don%26#39;t see you having time to do Mt. Rushmore this trip. It will take you a full day just to drive from YNP to Mt. Rushmore .In 2008 we flew in and out of Denver and did Mt. Rushmore, part of YNP (we had already done part of YNP and JH/GT in 2007), Cody and Cheyenne. If you need in park reservations then call Xanterra ASAP if not then plan on staying in West Yellowstone and Gardiner for best siteseeing. YNP is in a giant figure 8. You will want to see Mammoth, Old Faithful, Hayden and Lamar Valleys, and Lake Yellowstone areas. Hope this helps and if you have more questions just let us know!!

Salt Lake City-Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton,Mt. Rushmore

Just to add that we flew out of SLC in 2007 and it was very easy to drive from JH to SLC.

Unless you really have a strong desire to visit Mount Rushmore....I would try to work that into another trip. You%26#39;ll burn a good portion of your vacation just to get there and back.

My suggestion (I%26#39;ve done the SLC to GTNP and YNP trip the past 2 years) is to drive to Yellowstone first (going through West Yellowstone). Spend 4-5 nights in Yellowstone . Then spend 1-2 nights in Grand Teton. And spend your last night (7/3) in Jackson.

I always find it fun to end the trip with a night in Jackson. Better lodging quality than in the parks, and plenty of good food/shopping/fun for everyone. And you%26#39;ll be there over 4th of July weekend. Not sure if they still do fireworks over Signal Mountain, but that is a fun site to see from the town. Then hopefully your flight leaves mid afternoon / evening on the 4th and you can spend the morning driving back to SLC.

And if you%26#39;re talking 2009....I%26#39;d work on booking some lodging ASAP.

Thanks everyone, this is a 2009 trip. I%26#39;ll start with Xanterra.

Definitely skip Mt. Rushmore and focus on Yellowstone/Tetons. The Black Hills warrants at least a week to really do it justice, and Yellowstone/Tetons require another week.

How much further is Colter Bay from Jackson. We are flying into SLC on 6/23 and staying at Colter Bay tent cabins. Just wondering how long the drive is.

The extra drive from Colter Bay from Jackson is a very scenic hour plus drive if you take the main park road. Or a less scenic (but still ';scenic';) 45 minute drive it if you take 191 the whole way up.

Good advice already - I won%26#39;t repeat it :-)

I don%26#39;t know what time your flight leaves out of SLC, but if you%26#39;ll be driving on 7/4, I%26#39;d suggest that you stick to the main Interstate highways. If you drive the more scenic side routes, you%26#39;ll get held up in the small towns by their parades and celebrations - fun, but not when you%26#39;re trying to catch a flight!

Also, if you haven%26#39;t checked it out yet, look into the Junior Ranger program on the YNP site - your kids will enjoy it.

Have fun!