Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Yellowstone and other parks

For those "in the know"
We are planning a family trip from NY,(I know)out west.
We want to fly into SLC,then drive up to Jackson,then on to Yellowstone,circling around to Denver to fly home.
Thinking about a 9-10 day journey.
I have been to Yellowstone 2x,but none of our family.All research says long lines and schitty traffic.Looking for advice from you westerners who know where to go,stay,etc..
We currently are looking at cabins in Jackson for a few days and right in YNP.
Kids would like to fish,hike etc. if feasible.
Any true thoughts would be appreciated,(no we're not staying )so don't worry.
Thanks guys

Stay in the park overnight if you can find lodging/camping. The traffic really, really sucks. Don't spend all your time driving around the YNP, it takes forever to get anywhere. Get up early and get to Antelope valley area with bino's and spotting scopes, you'll see all the wildlife you want with fewer crowds. Spend at least one whole day to drive the Beartooth Highway. Skip all the stupid crap like old Faithful, and the various geysers, hot pools, they' re boring and crowded and you'll get sick of all the stupid people there. On the east side of the Lamar valley look for mountain goats in the cliffs, along with the rocks just southwest of Mammoth.

In GTNP take the hike to solitude lake, it's awesome, plan all day. The hike up Grand Teton to crystal valley is awesome too.

I went mid to late July last year. I kept hearing about traffic and crowds before we went but the only time there was traffic was at the entrance gates (maybe a 5-10 minute wait) or when a herd of bison was crossing the road. Go see all of the "stupid stuff" as Alaskajim referred to. It is ALL worth it in spades! Sure some places are a little crowded so get an early start every day. Lamar valley is fantastic. The thermal pools are amazing as is the grand canyon of Yellowstone. We saw Grizly and Black Bears, Bison, Pronghorn, Mule Deer and way more.... My family loved it so much, we are headed back West again this summer.

Check out VRBO for houses to rent

If you can, drive to Cody. The museum there is great, especially the firearm museum.

About 15 years ago, I took a similar kind of trip for 2 weeks which took us from Jackson all of the way up to Glacier. We actually flew from SLC to Jackson. I'm sure we missed a lot of beautiful scenery. We were in Jackson for about 3 days before we migrated north to Yellowstone. Then we only scratched the surface for 3 or 4 days there before heading north and west.

I'm with Sakoluvr, if the family hasn't been there before, go see all of the "stupid stuff". At least for a day or 2. It's really cool and it's not like anything an Easterner has ever seen before. It was so long ago, I can't remember a lot of the specific places, but it's just an amazing place. Lots of wildlife.

One cool thing we did in Jackson was, after dinner one night, we got in the car and drove around GTNP leading up to sunset. I was there in August and if I remember correctly, the sun doesn't set until about 10:00 or so. It gave us a lot of time to cruise around the park and the animals were coming out and moving around that time of day. It was kick ass. GTNP is spectacular.

Two friends and I were supposed to leave tomorrow for Yellowstone. Both of them pulled out last month, and I'm trying to get my s**t together to buy a house. So I may try again next year.

Don't go swimmin' in the Norris Geyser Basin.......Just sayin'

Oh, geez, YES, go see all the "stupid stuff". The kids need to see it. Get out of the car, and spend half a day at one of the geyser basins, just to get a feel for them. Although if I had never seen Old Faithful, I'd have been just fine. The rest of that geyser basin, ironically, is almost deserted. Some of my fondest memories of YNP are just sitting by one of the geysers with a good book, and waiting for it to go off.

Staying in the park itself is almost impossible this late in the game, but there should be accommodations in West Yellowstone and Gardner. The biggest problem with staying outside of the park is the amount of time it takes to get back to the parts of the park you want to see, and with the late opening times, that becomes a big issue.

TIME is your biggest enemy in Yellowstone. It takes time to move around from feature to feature, more than you think, so budget time carefully. I can't imagine getting a feel for the park in less than three days, but I'm told a Chinese tour bus can do it in less than one.....

If you stay in a cabin in Jackson, and drive from there to central Yellowstone, plan on at least three hours one way. The traffic inside the parks really isn't usually that bad, but the speed limit in both Yellowstone and the Teton's is 45 mph. A lot of people drive faster, but it's not a good idea. You'll miss a lot of good scenery, and you might just hit a big animal. And there will always be some road construction in the summer.

Jackson is an OK launching point for the Tetons, but we like to stay in Flagg Ranch which is located in that narrow strip between YS and Teton NP. From it you can drive to the south end of Lake Yellowstone in an hour, or to Jenny Lake in the Tetons in a little less than an hour. They have very nice cabins (not cheap) and RV sights.

You'll read people complain here about the crowds, but they're not hard to escape at all if you're willing to walk at least a mile away from a trailhead.

Don't overlook Grant Teton NP while you're there. Seems everyone is hell bent on getting to Yellowstone, but Grant Teton is my favorite.

If you plan on fishing, you should know that Grand Teton Ntl Park requires a Wyoming fishing license, while Yellowstone requires you to purchase their separate park-only license.

The Flagg Ranch suggestion is a good one. In no-mans land between the two parks, it is not as scenic, but it does make it convenient to visit both parks. Leeks Marina a little ways to south has great pizza.

Around Phelps Lake in Grand Teton is a good hike and has decent fishing near the inlet. String Lake is also fun for an afternoon picnic-- but the fishing sucks. The Gros Ventre river is good for road accessible fishing both in the Park and the National Forest to the east.

Or get too close to the bison, bears and elk.

+ 1 on stopping in Cody. Nice little tourist town. And yes, go see all the stupid stuff. Traffic inside YNP really isn't too awful ( by your standards) Highly recommend a drive through the northeast corner of YNP to Cooke City and up over Beartooth pass towards Red Lodge Mt. It has all the scenery YNP doesn't.
GTNP is nice but I haven't spent much time there. Jackson Hole depresses me cause I remember it as a kid, but the most beautiful country in the world has since been raped- there is no other word. However, tourists like it cause it beats where they came from.
GTNP is good on scenery and YNP is good on attractions, like the mud pots, thermal pools and geysers. The Hayden and the Lamar valleys are both good for wildlife viewing.

Good suggestions all. As you drive past Ogden, wave. I live right at the base of that big pink cliff.

Do see all the stupid stuff; there's nothing like it anywhere else on the planet. When you've completed Yellowstone, drive out the east way and see Cody. The Museum takes a full day to see, trust me. The Tetons are stunning but Jackson Hole is a tourist trap. An expensive one.

High tourist season means there are no available rooms anywhere unless you have a firm reservation. It's a hundred miles to the next town, and even they might be full up. Any place that isn't is not a place you'd want to stay.

Lastly, do eat at non-chain places. Western Mom&Pop eateries are some of the most fascinating and entertaining places in the country. Good grub at cowboy prices.

Like Rocky said, eat at the little restaurants and find one that has big ol' Bison Burgers. That's the best burger I've ever had.

Yeah, google and trip advisor can be a big help in finding restaurants.

Stop off at the Browning museum in Ogden. We did it on the way back to the airport. Wish I had time to go to lunch with RockyRaab while I was there.

From my trip:

You get the idea.......

Don't miss a thing!