Yellowstone Advice/Must-dos?

[PirateLover]

I know we have a few Intercotees who have made the trek to Yellowstone (some multiple times). DH and I were invited to tag along on a trip with his family, June 5-9. My brother-in-law and his wife are planning it, and invited us, my mother-in-law, and DH's aunt to come along. At first DH and I weren't going to go because we hit turbulence on our last flight and DH (who is a horrible flier) went back to swearing he'd never fly again- but Yellowstone is on both of our bucket lists, his whole family basically is going, and it would take a crazy amount of time to drive there, so he reluctantly agreed. (OUCH by the way on the airfare. Over $1,000 round trip for the two of us, but that will be the biggest expense).

The only potential issue for this trip is that we won't all agree on what we want to see/do. As it is BIL and wife's trip, I am letting them take the lead. Obviously it's way too late in the game to book a Yellowstone resort. SIL is looking into some hotels with suites or possibly renting a condo. We will be renting an SUV for touring. They plan to spend two days by the west entrance and two days by the south. I am pretty clueless, to be honest, so I was hoping to get some advice. (I poked around on the website and think I ended up freaking DH out even more by watching their safety videos showing bison attacks and what to do if a bear locates you).

[NJGIRL]

We flew into Utah (non stop) and drove 5 hours to Jackson Hole, which was a cool place. We stayed there for a couple of days then went onto Yellowstone. Flying into Utah saved us a lot of money. I think it was about $500 per person from Philly.


The best thing we did was to take a private tour. It was $600 for 5 hours. It was in a 12 ( ???) passenger van. We set it up before arriving. We Faxed an itinerary of the spots we wanted to hit and what we wanted to see. There were 5 of us so the price worked out to be just a little more than if we would have taken the regular bus tour that we would have no control over. We controlled each stop we made, how long we stayed, and our restroom and lunch breaks. The van was very nice and most of all our driver was a wonderful tour guide.

Driving around Yellowstone is very easy but please keep in mind that it is huge and if you only have 4 days you might want to have a good plan of what exactly you want to see.

I would suggest to book different hotels within the park so you don't have to travel so much, but if you are staying outside of the park I believe the town of West Yellowstone is the closest to the park.

Another thing we did was the Wildlife Tour. It was in the evening in any open topped "bus". That was a great tour. We saw a pack of Wolves in Lamar Valley.

Another must see is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was spectacular.


I archived a lot of Yellowstone info when INTERCOT merged forums a couple of months ago. Go to "FAQ Beyond Disney" to find it. A lot was from when I was planning my vacation and the real experts were helping me.

[PirateLover]

Thanks Rita. The flights came to about $550 per person round trip. We are flying into Montana with a layover in Chicago-all the family is meeting at the layover to catch the same connecting flight. We fly back out of Jackson Hole. If we were going on our own I think we would consider the drive from Utah. Dh much prefers non-stop. Unfortunately this isn't "our" trip, the other aspect of which is that we have no control over the hotel... Family is looking to split costs and share rooms and is concerned with space/comfort. I will mention it though. My sister in law is usually a good planner so I definitely think we will have more firm plans as we get closer. Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is definitely on my wish list! I did search the forums and read some of the old threads. Did you ever write a trip report when you came back? I didn't see one.

[NJGIRL]

No I didn't. I had planned on it but never got around to it. I do still have my planning book and have a Yellowstone book so if you have any particular questions I can look them up. Both Dave "Altair" and Beth "MNNHFLTX" have been there multiple times and have a lot of great info.

I am a detailed planner so I did a lot of reading before we left.

Oh, and I too was worried about the bears, but as long as you stay on the Boardwalks you should be fine. They know where the bears hang out and you can stay away from these areas. Unless you do a lot of hiking, they shouldn't be a problem.

[Altair]

Hello, if you have any specific questions just ask away, but here are some basics.

In early June be prepared for cold weather, especially in the mornings and snow is not out of the question.

If unable to get a room in the park, check out the town of West Yellowstone. It is just outside the west entrance to the park.

For first timers I would recommend the Canyon and Geyser Basin areas as must sees. If time is short I would also recommend hitting the highlights on the loop road.

Many suggestions will depend on how much walking everyone in your group is willing to do.

As mentioned, it is a very big place so you will need to have a plan before you go.

Make sure to hit Grand Teton National Park on your want into or out of Yellowstone.

Just do a search for Yellowstone to find the National Park official site. You can also print out the spring park paper.

Don't stress out about bears. We've been many times and have never run into a bear on a trail. Just keep in mind they are around and make some noise while walking.

How many park days do you have?

I love Yellowstone because there the magic is real.

[NJGIRL]

I love Yellowstone because there the magic is real.

So true....I love Disney but you re doing injustice to yourself not to see many of the wonders we have in this country. Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, etc.

[PirateLover]

Thanks guys! I spoke with Sister-in-law today, she was hoping to book rooms today. She did double check and everything within the park is indeed sold out. I got it wrong, we will be spending two nights by the west entrance and two by the south. The place she was looking at for the west isn't too far, but the place by the south is almost an hour out. Bummer. The thing is, she thought this would be their 2015 trip, but Brother-in-law got the bug and begged to bump it up to this year, so SIL is scrambling to get it all planned. We don't plan to do any intense hiking. We will be doing our own driving and sticking to the main areas. I believe the way they are planning it is that we will have two full days by the West entrance and one full day at the south. Not sure about our arrival and departure days. We get in before 3pm on arrival day and need to be at Jackson Hole airport around 1pm on departure day.

Question- Mother-in-law doesn't know what kind of shoe to wear, and just bought LL Bean boat shoes. I told her I didn't think that was a proper shoe but her friend told her it would be good for walking. She doesn't want to wear sneakers because they "look sloppy."

If I have any other specific questions I will come back to this thread to ask the experts!

[MNNHFLTX]

Maryanne, I'm short of time right now so will chime in again later, but I just wanted to encourage your family to look at Gardiner for lodging options. A couple of summers ago we stayed in West Yellowstone, which was great but touristy and therefore more expensive. Last summer my niece and her family booked a relatively large cabin in the Gardiner area for a reasonable price and I thought that might be a possibility for you and your family. You could see the north side of the park there, Mammoth and beautiful Lamar Valley. Then you could stay in West Yellowstone to see the south side of the park. I would normally recommend putting some time aside to see Grand Teton National Park too, but with the limited time you have, I would focus on Yellowstone and content yourselves with seeing the Grand Tetons as you drive to Jackson Hole. In fact, if they were looking at GTNP as home base for touring the south side of Yellowstone, I wouldn't recommend it. It may be an hour in theory but with traffic, animal jams and inclement weather it could be much longer to get into the park.

I'll write my must-do's a little later!

[Altair]

Gardiner is the other possibility. It's very small and less touristy. You could explore the northern half of the park from there and see the southern half from your place outside the south entrance. West Yellowstone has the most options and is more central.
Best place to see Grizzly Bears is Lamar Valley along the NE entrance road. Best bet for Black Bears is Tower Falls area in the north. There is a chance to see bears almost anywhere, though.

[NJGIRL]

I want to also say that cancelations happen everyday and to keep checking back with the resorts. I booked my room a year in advance but 6 months later we decided to spend two days in a different part of the park and I was able to switch hotels....after calling back everyday(it took 5 days of calling).

We bought Merrell hiking shoes for the trip. Not only for the hiking but because they are waterproof and we took a raft ride in Jackson Hole. Turns out that we really didn't need them because we did a lot of walking but little hiking. They were very comfortable though, but regular sneakers would have been fine for what we did.

[dnickels]

Like mentioned, I'd be calling every single day to try and get a place inside the park rather than staying to the south. Getting in from the south just takes too long unless you have absolutely no other option. People cancel all the time so keep calling as often as you can.

With just 3-4 days you won't have time to see much more than the highlights, so try to see as many of them as you can (Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Upper and Lower Falls, Tower Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, Midway Geyser Basin, Lower Geyser Basin, West Thumb Geyser Basin, Mud Volcano and Sulfur cauldron, Animal watching in Lamar Valley or Hayden Valley). I love Norris Geyser basin the best and EARLY in the mornings I've had great luck seeing Bison swim across the Yellowstone river at the Nez Perce ford picnic area.

If you or your group is physically capable, I'd HIGHLY recommend you take at least one hike that gets you away from the roadway. There's some statistic that gets repeated a lot, saying that less than 2% of visitors to Yellowstone ever venture more than 100 yards from developed areas (parking lots, hotels, roads, boardwalks). Yellowstone is incredible, but there's just something wrong about going to such an incredible wilderness, and having your visit constantly be surrounded by crowds or the sounds of vehicles and motorcycles. I'd recommend the easy hike out to Lone Star Geyser. It follows an abandoned roadway so the trail is easy and while you won't be totally alone when you get there, you definitely won't be surrounded by hundreds of people. If not that that just pick any trail and hike out on it for a mile or two, stop, and take in a few moments of true solitude.

Finally, the national park service Yellowstone site has a number of great video tours of different areas of the park. That might help you narrow down some must-sees. This will be my 7th straight summer in Montana and I'll probably be in Yellowstone a week or two before you will.

[PirateLover]

Thank you all. This is great advice. The lodging is really out of my hands... at this point everyone is planning on splitting the cost of a suite. I didn't do too much research but it didn't seem like there were many suites available to begin with at any of the park lodges. We have two couples and two singles (one of whom doesn't want to share a room). So our options are a little limited in that area. I agree with what you are saying and if it were just DH and me, I would pursue the lodges further, but SIL spent hours on the phone to find a place that would make everyone happy. I'm content to make the best of the lodging situation. This is why I asked about MUST dos. I think we are going to have an A and a B list. If it takes too long commuting or whatever, we will head straight to A places; if we are making good time we can add in B. Ideally I'd like to go back another time perhaps with DH or maybe sometime in the future after we have our own family, but for now, I felt like we had to latch onto this opportunity, even if it isn't exactly how we'd plan it. I love his family and we always have a good time together, so I'm sure it will be fine in the end.

[PirateLover]

Beth, I remembered you went and was looking at some of your photos from your FB album. I would love to know your must-dos as well, when you get the chance

[NJGIRL]

One other thing to remember...although the distances don't seem very far, the speed limit is very slow and sometimes you are at a stand still while animals cross the road. Figure only going about 30 miles an hour while driving.....I can't remember the actual speed limit...I'm getting old.

[Altair]

...I can't remember the actual speed limit...I'm getting old.

45mph

Here's my number one don't miss: Lower Falls

[PirateLover]

Ok, so we have two nights in a big cabin and two nights in a condo. Not sure of the towns yet, haven't gotten that info. We will wait until nightime to check into 2nd hotel, so we'll have three days near the West entrance and only one day more south. We are making sure everyone knows about the potential traffic issues, and needing patience. We will have a definite strategy for each day so we aren't wasting time trying to criss-cross/cover tracks.

Altair, what a gorgeous shot. I'm so excited!

[NJGIRL]

Maryann I know it's not up to you but just so you know, there isn't a lot to do around the South entrance as far as I can remember. After we went through the south entrance I think we drove quite a while (maybe an hour) before we got to anything worth stopping for, except for Lewis Falls. There really wasn't anything to see in Grant Village. West Thumb was the closest thing after going through.

[MNNHFLTX]

Maryann I know it's not up to you but just so you know, there isn't a lot to do around the South entrance as far as I can remember. After we went through the south entrance I think we drove quite a while (maybe an hour) before we got to anything worth stopping for, except for Lewis Falls. There really wasn't anything to see in Grant Village. West Thumb was the closest thing after going through.

I agree--the must-do sights in the southern part of the park are in the Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful) and the surrounding area. Yellowstone Lake is pretty, but unless you are taking a boat tour it looks like any other large lake. And we were not overly impressed with the West Thumb Geyser Basin, but as this was our last stop on our way out of the park I think we might have been "geysered-out" at that point.

Now that I have a little more time, here is what I recommend as far as things to see/do in Yellowstone, grouped together by location or possible route:

• Northern Entrance (from Bozeman through Gardiner)--Mammoth area. Walk some of the terraces--lots of steps, but interesting landscape, for sure. Drive the loop road down to the Norris Geyser Basin, very cool area! We spent a lot of time here. Along the way we stopped for a picnic and a hike at Sheepeater Cliff. Just south of Norris Junction are the Artist Paint Pots. It had been a dry summer when we were there, so the paint pots were not that active or even colorful, but the ranger told us that they are much prettier in spring.
• Northeast Yellowstone--try to get out to Lamar Valley early one morning, so that you can see more animals. (Keep in mind that it takes about 1-1/2 hours to drive from West Yellowstone up to Lamar Valley and that you have to cross Dunraven Pass, which at a higher elevation still has the potential for snow in June.) We saw lots of elk and bison (albeit from a distance) and a couple different types of antelopes. Then re-trace your route south on the loop road, stopping at Roosevelt Lodge and then Tower Fall before continuing on to the Canyon Area. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was one of my very favorite areas too. You can view the falls from either the north (Inspiration Point) or south side (Artist Point); Artist Point gets you a bit closer and is more picturesque. There are some relatively short trails here also, right along the canyon edge. If you have time, drive through Hayden Valley. This valley is not as big as Lamar, but we saw lots of animals here--bison, elk, wolves, coyotes. In fact, we enountered several "bison jams" here when the herds were crossing the loop road. They can really hold up traffic for a long time but still they were amazing to see up close.
• Southwest Yellowstone--Drive south after Madison Junction, stop at Firehole Falls, the Lower Geyser Basin and then the Upper Geyser Basin. Sit and watch Old Faithful erupt at least once. We sat on the benches and the wind blew the mist (for lack of a better word) from it on us and it was surprising how cold it was! Had to make sure and clean the lens of my camera right away though, as the silica in the water can etch the lens. The trails around the Upper Geyser Basin were extensive but mostly paved, so not a hard walk. Make sure and see the Morning Glory pool--beautiful colors! We did not go to the Midway Geyser Basin for lack of time, and so did not see the Grand Prasmatic Spring, which is supposed to be incredibly colorful. If you have time, you could see the West Thumb Geyser Basin from here, or just drive around the south loop to see Hayden Valley again.

Just a note--we never saw any bears either, but we found plenty of evidence that they were nearby and we may have heard one in the woods on a long hike we did near Artist Point. The rangers are very good about keeping you up-to-date on where there is bear activity and either closing off certain trails/areas or requiring people to hike in groups. As far as bison charging tourists, that only happens when people act foolish and get too close to them. We could not believe how stupid some people were about walking right up to elk or bison to get pictures, like they were in a petting zoo.

[Janmac]

Also been to Yellowstone more than once. The thing to remember is that, whatever you see is more than you had seen before. It's all good.

I like to think of Yellowstone as 5 parks in one. We've spent days in Yellowstone and not seen all the areas. I tend to agree with what Dave recommends regarding Yellowstone - Canyon and Geyser Basin - tho I do have a soft spot for some reason for the Mammoth Terrace area up at the north end of the park. (Funny story: one trip the terraces had dried up. DH said why don't they turn them on? I said, what do you think this is, Disney?)

While you see lots of animals you should not be in any danger. Especially if you heed the warnings. I have actually seen a guy take his toddler out of his car, and walk toward a bison, holding same toddler. Just have to shake my head.

It is VERY slow moving around Yellowstone roads. 45 might be the speed but even 30 is not likely if there are any folks at all. But then, the wildlife is one of the reasons you're there.

We camped one year in June - overnight temps were in the upper 30s. Bring layers.

With Yellowstone, it's almost the details that matter. We were driving toward the Old Faithful area having entered by the south entrance (our base camp that trip was the northern most campground in Teton Nat'l Park). We saw a mother/young elk off to one side - oh look at the baby! - but our grandson noticed the mother was looking off into the woods instead of at the road/cars, and when following the direction of her gaze, saw a black bear. He was excited.

Since your sister is making the difficult decisions/planning, I'd say go with the flow and enjoy what you do see. If/when we go again, we will again try to focus on seeing more of fewer areas.

Jan

[PirateLover]

Since your sister is making the difficult decisions/planning, I'd say go with the flow and enjoy what you do see. If/when we go again, we will again try to focus on seeing more of fewer areas.

Thanks! This is pretty much the plan. I sent her a list of all the places mentioned in these posts, and she's going to map it all out and go with the A/B list idea. I really appreciate everyone who took the time to give some suggestions, as I passed it all along. As you said, whatever we see will be more than we saw before, so I'm not going to sweat over not staying in the parks. I found out where we are staying. First 2 nights are at a big log cabin at 320 Ranch in Montana, and last 2 nights are in condos at Snow King resort at Jackson Hole. We will only be making that long drive to the south entrance one day. I think as long as everyone can approach this with patience and truly enjoy just being in such a majestic place, we will be fine. I'm not worried about being stuck in traffic because for the most part, we all get along. BIL can be a bit of an instigator sometimes so I hope he's on good behavior.