We are booked at Canyon Lodge for July 4/5/6. Family of 3-Then depart to Cody on the 6th-stay 1 night- then back to Jackson where we fly out. What is the route to take from Cody to Jackson? Do you have to go back thru YNP or is there an alternate?? Thanks for any help/advise-Susan
Drive time/route YNP/Cody/JacksonThe best way from Cody to Jackson is through YNP.
Drive time/route YNP/Cody/Jacksonthanks
We arrive Rapid City SD. on July 3rd afternoon, leaving on July 7th from Rapid City. Is it too ambitious to be able to cover YNP, GTNP, and Rushmore in this trip. We are trying to get lodging in the park. Would you suggest different lodging each night or stay central in the Canyon Village area. Could someone please suggest an itinerary.
Four days for this entire trip or am I misreading you? Rapid City to, e.g., Jackson Hole, is a long day drive, so you%26#39;d burn up two, or half your days, in that drive RT alone. YNP warrants at least two days within the park, with its 350 miles of internal road system. Depending on what%26#39;s most important to you for this trip, I think you have to pick one target given time available. This would include, of course, where you flight would land.
If you chose YNP, and given this late date, I%26#39;d grab whatever lodging is available within the park by phoning Xanterra each day and, if necessary, continue the phone calls in hopes of finding lodging at Canyon Village as cancellations occur.
Official Lodging and Tour vendor for Yellowstone National Park (Call them frequently, cancellations occur.)
http://www.travelyellowstone.com/
I agree. This is way too much! If you want to see YNP and GTNP give up on spending time in Rapid City and Rushmore. Personally, I would see the parks over the Black Hills and Mt Rushmore. Can you change your flights to land in Jackson, Cody, Riverton or Bozeman? They would all be better options. If not, make a choice - SD or Yellowstone. In YNP would just get lodging in the park- whatever is available. Canyon is a nice central location, so no need to switch - but if you stay in a couple of places you might save a bit of backtracking - but you%26#39;ll spend that saved time checking in/out.
You have received excellent advice from the two previous posters, but I thought I%26#39;d give you a bit more info. From Mt. Rushmore to Old Faithful is 532 miles, about 250 miles is Interstate and the remaining 300 miles are almost all 2 lane state highways. Under the best of conditions, 9 hours driving time to get from one place to the other. Yellowstone is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. If you already have your flights, then plan on enjoying the Black Hills for the 4th of July.
Our flights are booked , so we will have to work with what we have. We have parents visiting from India who wanted to visit Mt. Rushmore, so we probably will drop GTNP, coz it%26#39;ll cut into our time at YNP.
We plan on driving from Rapid City to Cody July 3rd, and stay the night. We didn%26#39;t want to miss the driving scence in the evening hours. Leave Cody early on Saturday stay till Monday morning at YNP, drive to Rushmore for evening lights. We plan on seeing the main sights, not too much hiking or other activities.I hope this might work. Please suggest an Itinerary for within the park.
We will have to work in GTNP another time. At the same time I don%26#39;t want to miss not having even breezed through GTNP, so would it be a good idea to just drive through GTNP and head off to Rushmore, or just head out off YNP out the East entrance.
You have decided right. I wouldn%26#39;t try to fit in exploring the Tetons. There just isn%26#39;t enough time. But a srive through would be okay.
You could drive through the Tetons on the way out, but it would take extra time.
Another option would be to take the Beartooth Highway out of Yellowstone and then cut back down to Cody. You could also hit Devil%26#39;s Tower this way.
Just a couple of things to think about.
I just think on such a short trip that Beartooth just takes too much time. It is beautiful, but I wouldn%26#39;t forgo some of the other sights. I%26#39;d save it for a longer visit.
I am usually not this discouraging on anyone%26#39;s trip ideas, but I am strongly urging you to not even attempt combining these two areas in such a short amount of time. You are really going to be doing nothing but driving. You were certainly wise to cut out the Tetons, but you really need to cut Yellowstone as well. Yellowstone is a marvelous place...so worthwhile, but you need time to see it right, and flying into Rapid City doesn%26#39;t put you in an optimum place for touring it. You will have a 6 hour drive from Rapid City to Cody, so if you arrive say around 2 p.m., you won%26#39;t get to Cody until at least 8 p.m., not counting stops for food/restrooms.
If you stay in Canyon Village..(not sure if lodging would be available over July 4th holiday, but you you might luck out with a cancellation), you are talking an 8.5 hour drive back to Rapid City, once again..no stop time allotted. The lighting ceremony at Rushmore is very nice, but seeing the monument by day is necessary as well.
Since you are flying into Rapid, focus on South Dakota, and save Yellowstone for when you have time to devote. There are some wonderful sights to see the Black Hills of South Dakota. Take a look on the SD forums here, or visit travelsd.com to look at the on-line travel guide. There%26#39;s plenty in the area to keep you busy for a week or more. It%26#39;s not just about seeing Mt. Rushmore.
For my grandson%26#39;s 6th birthday my parents, myself, and my daughter took him for our annual birthday camping trip to the Black Hills/Mt Rushmore. We were there for 5 full days. There were plenty of things to see that kept us busy every day and we still didn%26#39;t see everything. I%26#39;ve been wanting to go back for awhile.
My recommendation is the same as other posters- save Yellowstone and Grand Teton for another time.
Deb
Thanks for all the info, I really really appreciate it. I feel that since we are not doing much hiking around, we will be able to spend time in YNP. Yes, it%26#39;ll be alot of driving, but my parents may not be able to do too much walking, so..
We were able to get lodging at Western cabin. At Rushmore we will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express close to the mountains. Our flight out is 2.00pm, so hopefully we can see Crazy Horse and drive through Needles Highway.
Please help me with Itin at YNP.
The plan is drive north through Beartooth area from Cody on July 4th morning see the sights in the north side(lots of driving!!) Sunday, we check out Old Faithful and what we can. Monday headout through the east entrance, drive straight to Mt. Rushmore.Hoping this works. Please help me with the YNP must dos. We%26#39;d like to do easy short, easy hikes to see the main attractions. I know we may not do justice to YNP, but we will have to do that on our own, on another trip.
Thank you all.
The roads in Yellowstone form a figure 8. I%26#39;m sure you%26#39;ll get lots of differing opinions, but I feel you should just concentrate on the lower loop this trip. The two ';must sees'; and areas where to spend most of your time would be the Canyon area where the lower and upper falls of the Yellowstone are and the Old Faithful area. There are so many awesome areas in the park but these two areas are the ';world famous'; areas. You can easily spend a 1/2 day or more in these two areas. If you%26#39;re able to get any of the other sights during your short time it would be icing on the cake. One nice thing about Yellowstone is that you can see a lot of sights just driving on the road and if you stop at certain viewing areas you can take quick peeks and get back in your car. Its not the ideal way of experiencing the park but given your short time and your parents desire to see the park it will suffice. It will, most definately, wet your appetite to come back another time.
Canyon has a newer,really neat visitor center that has interactive displays. Do not miss taking your parents into the Old Faithful Inn. I%26#39;ve been in it a ';zillion'; times and am still in awe each time. Watch Old Faithful go off and then spend some time walking around to the other geysers in the area. Some are quite spectacular and will outdo Old Faithful Geyser in many ways. There are also many geyser basins north of Old Faithful that are easy to drive to and have great walking/viewing areas.
Deb
Hi, I%26#39;ve been visiting the Yellowstone t/a for a couple of weeks now, getting ideas. We are planning a trip there next year maybe late summer. Should I start making reservations now for lodging in the park? We have a weeks vacation and also plan on seeing the Grand Tetons. Is the rodeo in Jackson worth going to? I haven%26#39;t really seen anything on here about that or park ranger programs. My husband is interested in learning about the geology of the area, so I thought that would be a good start. I looked online at the programs for this summer, but most end late August. So, I%26#39;m thinking we need to come before Labor Day. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
As soon as you know your dates start the reservation process, especially if you want specific rooms at certain lodges. For reservations in Aug. it%26#39;s a good idea to book a year in advance.
I perfer to spend time in the parks so we skip the rodeo. Jackson is very crowded during summer months. I would recommend lodging in the park with at least 4 nights in YNP.
You%26#39;re very smart to be planning this trip so far in advance!
I don%26#39;t know how you plan to break up your time, but I too would suggest at least 4 nights in YNP. You might consider splitting that between 2 locations - 1 or 2 nights at Old Faithful and the rest at either Canyon or Lake, which are both very central in the Park.
If you don%26#39;t already have it, here is the link for Xanterra, which handles all the in-park lodging: http://www.travelyellowstone.com/
I%26#39;m not familiar with the Jackson rodeo, so can%26#39;t help you there. I do know that Cody has one which I%26#39;ve heard very favorable reviews about.
The Ranger programs are great - very informative. However, I do think that they stop at the end of Aug. - as you%26#39;ve seen on the website.
Please come back with any further questions as you make your plans!
Thought we had our trip all planned:
2 nights in GTP then 7 nights at various locations in YNP. However, after reading/hearing about the Beartooth Highway and how beautiful it is -
while at the North entrance should we make the drive on Beartooth, maybe staying that night in Red Lodge (giving up one of the nights in Yellowstone??
Would it be just as good to leave the park in the morning...make the drive...turn around and come back that evening to YNP??
thanks
Where are you staying the 7 nights in Yellowstone? Are you driving to and from Yellowstone or flying?Depending on where you%26#39;re staying, if you%26#39;re driving or flying (and where you%26#39;re flying out of )there are many options. Let me know and I can give you possible options.
Deb
Whether stay in Red Lodge or Cody, it does provide a nice break. In Cody, there is a rodeo at night, but for me, more importantly, is the wonderful Buffalo Bill Museum complex. If the latter, plan at least two hours, probably more. Cafe inside, also.
Cody, WY www.bbhc.org/home/index.cfm…
We are flying into Jackson...2 nights in GTN
then heading north to WYNP for 2 nights
we originally were going to be 2 nights in Canyon
then 2 nights in Grant Village before heading back south to fly out of Jackson
While in the Northern section was when we want to do Beartooth.
One of the guidebooks said it would take 3 hours one way with stops, etc.
thanks
When is your trip? It could make a difference.
June 15-25
snow on Beartooth June 20???
and is Red Lodge the best option
One more question- what does WYNP (where you%26#39;re staying the first 2 nights in Yellowstone) stand for?
Historically, most of the snow on the pass is gone by end of June. Years and years ago, I%26#39;ve gone over it in July and there was enough snow to run the extreme ski school at the top of the pass. There have also been ';ski nuts'; free skiing on slopes along side the road. Last year was very unusual. We had lots of snow and a very cool and wet spring which made for a very late runoff in the mountains. Beartooth Pass opened up pretty much on schedule but was closed I think 3 times in the beginning of June due to spring snowstorms. Each time the pass was opened back up within 2 days. I went over the pass on June 26th and took a pic (its in my profile). That was the most snow on the pass that I%26#39;ve seen in over 10 years. Even with that much snow the roads were completely bare and dry. They do an excellent job of keeping the pass plowed. I actuall love it when there is that much snow in June- makes for the best scenery. Its also pretty cool to have a snowball fight and make snowangels the end of June/beginning of July. A word of caution- pack warm jackets/hats/gloves if you go over the pass- the wind is usually blowing and it can get cold.
My grandson and I are going up over Beartooth Pass this Saturday if its opened. I%26#39;ll post a report on what it looks like and some pics when we get back.
Deb
just hoping for more info
Hi all,
So it turns out that we can spend 5 days in the park, either at the end of June (Jun 29 to Jul 3)or at the beginning of August (Aug 3 to 7).
It would take us 2 days to drive down to YSNP, we are coming from Victoria, Canada. Will prob come to the West/Northwest entrance.
From reading posts here, I understand that it would be suggested to split the trip into 2 (';upper'; and ';lower'; loops) and to stay at Gardiner and West YNP. Is that correct? Do you have any more specific recommendations.
We are 2 of us, my husband and I, no kids yet. Enjoy easy to moderate day hikes, and are interested in seeing wildlife.
thank you for your suggestions!
p.s. any idea where we should stop overnight on our way to/from the park? We were thinking Spokane?
Those locations are fine for different areas of the park. Better, IMO, are inside the park, such as Canyon. You can keep calling Xanterra, website follows, once in the States or Canada, until something opens up. Lake and Old Faithful also good.
Check the website for the kinds of lodging, and price, acceptable to you, before you call.
Urge you to bring good binoculars. If you see folks with spotting scopes, they tend to be generous in allowing others to view through them
Either time you show would work, it%26#39;s mid summer.
Be prepared for warm to hot but dry days, occasional short lived thunderstorms, and cool to cold evenings and nights. Mornings and evenings best for wildlife watching, for bears and wolves, but you%26#39;ll see wildlife any time, anywhere.
If you wish more information on spotting it, let us know.
Overnight? It depends on your departure time from Victoria and the route you take. You might use MapQuest to calculate your route. I don%26#39;t know what you will want to see en route to YNP, but border crossings can be crowded and long mid summer. So, consider driving through Canada and pick a customs crossing after Vancouver (perhaps through Waterton Lakes National Park/Glacier National Park).
You will enjoy YNP, and I%26#39;m glad you have alotted five days to it.
Forgot the websites:
This National Park website contains a lot of very good information. http://www.nps.gov/yell/
Official Lodging and Tour vendor for Yellowstone National Park (Call them frequently, cancellations occur.)
http://www.travelyellowstone.com/
For wildlife viewing and photography:
tripadvisor.com/Travel-g60999-c96653/Yellows…
Thanks so much! I think we are all set!!!
What is the best way (both scenic and fast) to drive from Salt Lake to Old Faithful? Mapquest says go I-15 North toward Odgen and then US 20 East.
Are there typically any road closures this time of the year? (May 28-June 5)
Drive From Salt Lake City to Old FaithfulThe most direct route is the one that you got from Mapquest.
You%26#39;ll drive along the Great Salt Lake up to Ogden, but it%26#39;s pretty congested until you%26#39;re north of there. After that, the scenery improves. Once you%26#39;re on Hwy 20 (out of Idaho Falls) it gets even better. That%26#39;s where you start going up into the mountains - very pretty - and watch for the Tetons on your right.
There is almost always road construction going on somewhere - no closures - but possible slight delays.
Drive From Salt Lake City to Old FaithfulI 15 north to US 20 east is fastest, but I find taking a detour through Jackson Hole and entering Yellowstone from the south to be more scenic ... and you get to drive through Grand Teton National Park.
We will be staying at Colter Bay Village June 2 - 5 and Roosevelt Cabins June 5 - 10. I know my trip is still 2 weeks out, but I%26#39;m wondering if anyone can share where the recent wildlife activity has been this spring?
Thanks,
Lynn
We went on a tour of TNP and the southern part of YNP on Friday and we saw plentiful moose, elk, bison, coyote, pelicans, osprey, a bunch of other kinds of birds (we are not birders), ground squirrels, things that looked like chipmunls. Basically everything but bears. Then we saw a bear on Moose Wilson road on the way to the airport the next day.
Forgot the mule deer! I looked at my map and see that Coulter Village is in GTNP. I am pretty sure we saw elk, moose, bison there by that point. There are bears near Teton Village because we saw one...we also saw moose right by the ski lifts.
As folks have noted on this and your other posts, wildlife is in many places. When you get to the park, you could inquire of the rangers where you might have the best luck for Black Bear, Wolves and Grizzly.
Or, just drive early morning and evening and watch for the scopes. They know!
This Inside Page will be helpful.
For wildlife viewing and photography:
tripadvisor.com/Travel-g60999-c96653/Yellows…
There will be a lot of snow melt happening while you are here which will increase water in the meadows next to rivers and streams. So, watch for herons and sandhill cranes, eagles, ospreys and peregrines along the rivers. We are seeing them along the Madison, Firehole, Gibbon, and Yellowstone.
Otters have been spotted near the bridge to the South Rim of Lower Falls, near Bay Bridge, and Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley.
Bison are on the move with lots of calves along roadways going to different meadows looking for grass, just starting to green in some parts of the park. We have seen many along the Madison and Firehole Rivers, Fountain Flats Drive area. Just starting to go to the Upper valleys, but by early June look in Elk Park, Gibbon, highers areas of Lamar.
Wolves on the move in many parts of the park. Lots of sightings in Lamar area and even other interior areas (between Norris and Twin Lakes just a couple of days ago).
Many bear sightings throughout the park. Primarily Lamar, Tower, between Norris and Mammoth, Mammoth areas. By early June, make sure to drive Dunraven/Mt Washburn road between Tower and Canyon.
By early June, you might see some elk calves. Get up early and you have a better chance of seeing them. 6 AM around Mammoth Hot Springs.
Thanks so much everyone for the tips. We had a fabulous trip last year to Glacier National Park because of tips like this in advance. I know you have a chance of seeing wildlife just about anywhere in the parks, but it%26#39;s always nice to know ahead of time where the most recent and frequent sightings have been in order to increase our chances and save time driving all around.
Yellowstonefan - You must have read my mind! Not too many people mention otters, everyone is primarily after moose, wolves and bears. River otters are my absolute favorite animal. I haven%26#39;t had very many opportunites to spot them in the wild. So I greatly appreciate your tips!!
Honu Ohana - Sounds like you had a great visit to the parks. That%26#39;s quite a list for one day. My husband and I really enjoy birding, it%26#39;s great to hear that you saw a good variety of birds. When we were in Kenya I think we had more fun checking bird species off of our list that we did with seeing the mammals.Of course we enjoyed that too, but we would have never guessed how maginificant all of the birds were there.
Yellowstonefan - Where is Bay Bridge?
I think I meant Bridge Bay...it%26#39;s just south of the Fishing Bridge intersection (south end of Yellowstone Lake). It is where the marina is.
Also, Gull Point Drive (just a short distance south) is a nice road that parallels Yellowstone Lake for a little while. There are some inlets where you might see moose.
LeftyLynn, Good post. I was just wondering the same thing. We will be at Colter Bay RV park the same time you are there. I think we arrive on 1st for 4 days and then on the West Yellowstone. Hope you have a good trip.
John
So glad you asked this question, I had been dieing to ask. We are still one month away so felt silly asking so far out. It just adds to the excitement to hear exactly where these wonderful creatures are being spotted!
Trip Advisor may delete this post since I%26#39;m mentioning another message board. But for anyone that is interested in current wildlife reports...take a look at http://forums.yellowstone.net/ under the trip reports section. There are lots of die hard Yellowstone junkies on this site that write up reports of their day every night when they get back to the room. Lot%26#39;s of good info!!
