I know this is last minute, but we were planning on doing a road trip encompassing Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and the Tetons. The dates would be appx 5/8 - 5/17, round trip from Lincoln, NE. It might be possible to add a day or two onto the beginning of the the trip.
What lodging would you recommend given that we have a 3 yr old? It looks like there is still some availability for the lodging in Yellowstone.
How far away is Jackson from the parks? They have some nice hotels, but mapquest shows it as 3 hrs away.
What sights/sites do you recommend for a 3 yr old who loves animals and waterfalls? I%26#39;ve only been to Yellowstone once (18 yrs ago), and I don%26#39;t really remember anything beyond a blur of waterfalls, trees, and lots of cars.
Yellowstone, 2nd wk of May 09, w/a 3 yr old?
Honestly, I%26#39;d add the extra days. Remember, it will be very cold most likely. Not sure which roads from Mt. Rushmore would be open. Check the road opening/conditions page at www,nps.gov/yell.
There will be so much wildlife in Lamar Valley and on the west side between Madison Junction and the Old Faithful area!
Towr Falls is pretty. Try Canyon lodge. There%26#39;s a great interactive visitor center nearby and spectacular falls. Staying near Old Faithful might be fun. The rugrat would love running around Geyser Basin.
Nor sure if lodging in Teton will be open yet, so you might want to stay in Jackson. Kidlet will love the Teton visitor center in Moose, WY.
The lazy way back would be to drive down to SLC and take I80 east to get home. Or, if open, you could head out the east exit from Yellowstone near Fishing Bridge and see what your options are. Not sure what the route from Jackson would be.
Yellowstone, 2nd wk of May 09, w/a 3 yr old?
Here%26#39;s a link to the facility opening schedule.
nps.gov/yell/…open_closedates.htm
Canyon for instance doesn%26#39;t open until May 29. It looks like you%26#39;re pretty much limited to Old Faithful and Mammoth.
Three hours to Jackson is about right. Maybe a little less. In early May, you could run into road closures. If you want to stay there for the Tetons, that wouldn%26#39;t be too bad.
You might have a better trip if you could delay it a month. We had snow last June when we were there. Not a lot but more than we get at home.
You could also look at staying in West Yellowstone. More selection of places assuming they%26#39;re open then.
Our website has some useful planning information if you%26#39;re interested. It also has some interractive maps that let you click a circle to see what an area looks like.
www.alandsuejohnson.com/yellowstone_home.htm
That early in May you will not have to worry about seeing that many cars. It is one of my favorite times of the year to be in the park. However, there are some sacrifices to be made when going that early. You could encounter some nasty late winter weather at Yellowstone%26#39;s higher elevations, so you should be prepared for that. We always recommend dressing in layers, with good boots, hats and gloves for comfort and protection from possible nasty weather, including high winds and even snow. Also, some park facilities and roads might not be open yet that early in May. They try to have everything open and operating by Memorial Day weekend, and they normally do. However, the scheduled opening dates are very much dependent upon the amount of winter snowpack that the crews have to deal with. That would be Mother Nature%26#39;s call, and it varies from year to year.
If you are still able to get reservations, the Canyon area is about the most centrally located within the park. It is also where you will find the most spectacular waterfalls in the park. Outside the park, lodging can be found in West Yellowstone, Gardiner, or Cooke City, Montana.
As for Jackson, it%26#39;s worth a visit, and it%26#39;s a great base for touring Grand Teton National Park, but it really is too far south to be considered a good base when visiting Yellowstone. Three hours would put you well into the park, but it%26#39;s over 100 miles and 2+ hours from Jackson just to Old Faithful, and that%26#39;s on dry roads with no stopping for sightseeing, photos, traffic, or critter jams along the way...... And Good Luck with that!
Animals like bison and elk will be readily seen throughout the parks, with the open areas of Hayden and Lamar Valleys the favorite places to spot wolves and bears. It might be a bit early, but you may see orange newborn bison calves romping around. Mother bears might be coming out of hibernation with hungry cubs to feed, and if you%26#39;re in the right place and real lucky you might even get a glimpse of some wolf pups. Just remember though, Yellowstone is not a ';game farm'; and there are no ';petting zoos'; where your little one will be able to feed or interact with the animals. These are wild animals which are best observed from a respectable distance with binoculars. Even though during a bison jam the animals may be close enough to reach out and touch at times, PLEASE do not even think of doing so!!!
Thank you for your advice! This is the only week we can do this trip, between college and the military. It looks like we%26#39;ll be at Yellowstone from 5/11 to 5/14 - the 12th and 13th will be full days, and the 14th will be part of the day. We%26#39;ll go down to the Tetons for a day and then drive home.
Cold / not necessarily pleasant weather isn%26#39;t that big of a deal to us. I%26#39;d rather deal with that than throngs of people and cars!
Do you have recommendations for simple hikes/walks while we%26#39;re at Yellowstone?
Snow will keep you mostly near the main attractions, and also bears. Many parts of the park are closed in late spring/early summer due to bear feeding etc.
I would make sure your kiddo is in a stroller or held tightly on all boardwalks around the geysers.
Grand Teton may have better hikes with small kid, plenty of wildlife there as well.
Check www.nps.gov/yell and www.nps.gov/grte
Dunraven Pass won%26#39;t be open yet. So, if you are cooming in through the northeast, you%26#39;ll have to drive through Lamar Valley, past Roosevelt, over to Mammoth and down the Norris Geyser Basin. For Canyon(not sure if it will be open yet), you%26#39;d be going east. There%26#39;s a waterfall between Norris and Madison if you can%26#39;t get over to Canyon.
I like geyser Basin because there are many areas to walk around ... Upper Basin, Lower Basin. Firehole might be a nice road if it%26#39;s open. Keppler Cascades is just south of the Old Faithful area.
We did Yellowstone in 2007 with our 3 kids (5, 2, and 1). We stayed in Gardiner. We needed a microwave and fridge due to the age of our youngest. This was a great base for us.
As for hikes and drives:
We basically just dove the loop and pulled over when there was a pullout. We also had a park map so we knew what was there. We would get out and if there were sights within the first 3/4 of a mile we would hike (this was the max with our kids). We saw many sights and did most of the trails, well, the begining of most.
Everything there is kid friendly. Our kids LOVED Yellowstone and talk about it constantly. Our 2 year old still talks about it and asks to go back. He wants to do that instead of our Florida trip this year. There are so many neat things to see that most kids are in amazement over the whole place.
Have fun!
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