Help me Plan my Yellowstone Trip

[c&d]

1. We had a meeting in Grand Teton and during the 5 days I was there I put close to the limit of free miles on the car. If possible I would rent out of Salt Lake.

2. We drove from Salt Lake to Yellowstone, it was about 6 hours. It was pretty flat, I don't know how it is going from Salt Lake to Jackson.
It was mostly wide open spaces, nothing much to do.

3. You can drive through the Teton's up to Yellowstone. Stop at Jackson Lake Lodge it has some beautiful sceneary. There is a dinner rafting trip down the Snake River. It was so much fun, it was organized by the Jackson Lake Lodge. The drive from Jackson Lake Lodge to the south entrance of the park was 1 hour, it's about another 45 min. up to Old Faithful.

4. If possible stay in the Grand Teton National Park.

5. Here are the links to my trip

http://intercot.com/discussion/showt...ht=yellowstone

http://intercot.com/discussion/showt...ht=yellowstone


6. We found that eating in the cafeteria's was fine. The food was good and not that expensive.

7. We had snow in Dunraven's Pass when we were there. We packed clothes for cold and warm weather. Mostly it was in the 70's but at night it gets cold. Pack your binoculars. The speed limit in the parks is slow so be prepared to have it take awhile to get from A-B. Although it may only be 30 miles be prepared to take about 1 hour to get there. Animal traffic jams slow you down immensely.

9. No hotel inside the airport, we always stay at the Hilton. All the hotels are clustered together.

When I was there in late September most of Hayden Valley was closed to hiking because of bear activity. I asked the park ranger and he said that over the past couple of years the population has really come back.

You're really going to enjoy Yellowstone.

[NJGIRL]

After checking into it again, car rentals out of Salt Lake are unlimited mileage. What had the limited mileage is when we had planned on flying into Jackson airport and renting from there.

Great advice from everyone....keep it coming!

[dnickels]

Sounds like you've got a great trip planned.

Echoing what someone said earlier, I think it's a great idea to pick an area for the day and spend all (or at least most) of the day there. There are a lot of 'tour bus tourists' that you'll see get out of their cars, walk the 200 yards to take their picture, then get back in the car and go to the next location. Sure they'll see some of the highlights of Yellowstone, but they really miss out on a lot.

You could spend a whole day in the Canyon area taking the walk/hike along the rim on one side and down to the brink of the lower falls, then go around and take the walk along the rim on the other side. There are pullouts along it and a lot of folks will do the drive 1/4 mile, get out, take pictures, get back in car, drive another 1/4 mile, get out again..... routine, but the trail there runs that whole length and then some and I'd definitely recommend doing that instead.

Same thing with the Norris area, if you take all the boardwalks / trails around the Norris geyser basin and check out the museum at the Norris campground that'll fill an entire day. Same at Mammoth and the Old Faithful area and (well you get the idea). Take it in rather than rushing to the next picture spot.

When you're staying at Old Faithful in addition to the boardwalks in the immediate geyser basin I enjoy the short hikes to Black Sand basin and Biscuit basin (if you look at a map of the Old Faithful area you should see where they are) rather than getting in the car and driving there. It's just a nice way to get away from the crowds, away from the loud motorcycles and streams of RVs and cars without being too far away from anything.

If you get a nice warm day consider spending the afternoon swimming in the Firehole River (swimming area is along the Firehole River Drive). Warm(er) water and just a really neat experience.

I think all of the whitewater rafting companies also offer calmer float trips. I know we took one of those when I was a kid and I'm sure it's still ongoing. I would probably prefer to wait until it gets close (maybe 3-5 days out) to book that so you can see how the weather looks. An 80 degree sunny day on the river is heaven, a 55 degree rainy one is quite the opposite. While in Jackson be sure to stop by the town square to see the elk antler arches made from antlers dropped during the winter on the national elk refuge nearby.

Have a great time, I'll be there in late June and I can't wait!

[Altair]

Do a search for "Yellowstone Today", it's the official park paper for each season. The summer issue won't be available for awhile, but there are archieved copys available.

Also do a search for "Ranger Led Programs at Yellowstone". This will give you an opportunity to take hikes with rangers and attend talks. Tag along with rangers on their walks, it can be worth your while.

[LVT]

We have enjoyed many Ranger led walks and several night time programs. If you are staying on property there should be some evening learning experiences.