We’ve looked at Colter Bay but I keep finding comments about the noise, the behavior of neighbors, etc…and it doesn’t open until very late May, so if there’s snow…But otoh, we like to kayak and best-case would like to, there. I just checked and there are still cabins but I am on the fence about booking all our stops ahead of time, which I obviously would need to do for Colter.
Can anyone tell me how long the drive from , say, Victor to GTNP is likely to be? The biggest planning adjustment has been recalibrating a flatland brain. I had all sorts of ideas of what to do, and then plotted that with mileage instead of just eyeballing a map. Man, the west is BIG
I’m following this thread. D lives in Seattle and we live outside Chicago. We actually drove at Thanksgiving and lucked out with weather. The week before Thanksgiving Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 (which is 50 miles east of Seattle) had been closed but we were lucky and had just rain. We stayed in Airbnbs on the road which worked out Ok. On the way back we decided to come home via I-84 through Boise and then I-80 because of predicted snow through Montana and North Dakota. Hope to make it back west during the late Spring or early Summer so I’m jotting down all the tips about Yellowstone an Jackson, WY
@greenbutton Victor, ID which is in Teton Valley or the other side of the mountains is a half hour drive to Jackson, Wy. You are in the GTNP in ten minutes maybe.
@greenbutton The drive from Cody Wy to Victor ID was just under 6 hours
The drive from Victor ID to Boise, ID is about the same just under 6 hours.
Victor,ID to the Yellowstone lodges/Old Faithful might have been four hours.
I’d recommend against kayaking in Lake Yellowstone. One wrong move and it can be fatal; a guide died last summer a week before we were there. The lake makes its own weather; things change quickly out there.
I think you’re right to consider the southerly route - I doubt the Beartooth will be open in May. It’s an unforgettable drive, but do it later in the summer! Check its status here: http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/alerts.shtml
Most accommodations in YNP are booked early (they were booked pretty much the day that reservations opened May 1). If you have a reservation in YNP, don’t cancel it, whatever you do … you might not get another one, and the distances are massive. Yeah, GTNP is adjacent to YNP, but it’s an hour or more from one lodging in YNP to the nearest in GT.
That said, it wouldn’t make any sense to go from Ohio, through YNP, down to GT, and then to Seattle. GT would be out of the way.
I’ve driven from Seattle through Idaho to Glacier, down to YNP then back. It’s a great trip…
I suggest going through Iowa & Nebraska to north of Denver, through Rocky Mountain NP if possible (again, snowpack could be problematic, but the whole Estes Park area is gorgeous), then diagonally across Wyoming to GTNP, up & do the figure 8 loop around YNP, then through the north park entrance at Mammoth to US89 (a wonderful scenic 2-lane road), then – if you have time – north until you hang a left at Glacier NP, then pick a route to Spokane (couple of scenic options) and head due west.
Your return could be a different route or the same. You do miss the Badlands and the Black Hills going this way, but honestly, this trip will be jam-packed as it is - you’re gonna hit Peak Park at some point and then it’ll all be a blur.
We did PA to Badlands/Black Hills/YNP, GTNP, RMNP and back this summer. It was three weeks of heaven. Can’t wait to go back! You’ll have a blast!
@Gatormama Seems like they have to go to Boise, ID though. That pulls them west.
I agree on kayaking unless you are experienced with special cold weather gear. To put it in prospective. Early May they still have sleigh rides in the National Elk Refugee.
“I keep finding comments about the noise, the behavior of neighbors, etc.”
Funny, we had no problem with this in Colter Bay. The log cabins had pretty thick walls. But we had a nearly sleepless night in a paper-walled unit at Canyon Village in YNP (this was in 2012; I think they’re torn down now). Large multigenerational family arrived after midnight in the adjoining unit and spent untold hours in shouted conversation unpacking what sounded like a U-Haul full of furniture…a comedy writer couldn’t have done any better.
Okay, so clearly no kayaking in GTNP. I’m sure we can find something else to do. We were looking at the Rockefellar preserve last night and it seems beautiful.
So are you saying we might not be able to enter YNP (from the east) via Cody? I had originally planned to come in the North entrance but lots of advice suggested Cody would be better. I think I am referencing Beartooth incorrectly as well, so I need to do some map reading.
Can’t go to the Denver area. Long dramatic family complications. We are coming back through Nebraska in order to see the Agate Fossil beds and Chimney Rock, but then will trudge home with eyeball fatigue.
I love love love GTNP and YNP. If i could be anywhere (during the summer!) that’s where i’d be.
It’s hard driving in the area, especially yellowstone. You’ll find 2-lane roads that are twisty and steep, with animals often darting out, or walking in packs. It just always seems to take longer than anticipated. The mileage on the maps does not equate to real-time driving. But it’s so worth it!
if it were me, i’d do GTNP and YNP all in one trip like a poster said above. It’d be more efficient as there’s no direct easy way to get there. We’ve stayed in Jackson, Coulter Bay and YNP and toured each area while we were there. One year we stayed in GTNP and made day trips into Yellowstone. That was sort of hard, but that’s how it worked out. We poured over the forums on Trip Advisor. They have so many helpful posts, the best places to see and etc. I’m going to bookmark this and hope to hear how this all turns out in half a year!
@greenbutton The Beartooth comes into the park at the northeast point from Red Lodge, Montana. Cody is the eastern entrance south of that. The East Entrance Rd, Rt 14, 16, 20 You could certainly enter Yellowstone through the North gate near Gardiner. That is nice. (You might want to stop at The Boiling River for a dip - weather permitting) The Northeast entrance might be closed. Where are you coming from?
One other thing to consider that I had not thought of is elevation. It sometimes takes a few days to get acclimated. We live at sea level. Yellowstone is very high. Over 8000 feet or that altitude sickness point. Jackson Hole is also high. For me sleeping in the valleys was helpful. The rule is climb high, sleep low. I didn’t have trouble with this when we went to Aspen but I just did at Yellowstone. Hydrate, limit alcohol, listen to your body, eat carbs, climb high/sleep low and there is medicine if needed.
I think the Northeast entrance is likely to be closed, We are coming East from Hulett (yes, Devil’s Tower) to Ocdy and headed out through Gardiner, but now I wonder if we should rethink that. We have scheduling considerations for our hosts outside Seattle – if you think of a trip as a piece of yarn , we have one end (our host friends) and two points (the YNP reservations) already tacked down. I have some other reservations made but those could be cancelled, the YNP ones can’t be.
I really appreciate all the input – guidebooks and such are only so useful. My husband is currently lobbying for Thermopolis but I am unconvinced by the marketing.
Cody to Gardiner would be great actually. Cody driving along the river (large dam to stop at) to the town of Lake (on Yellowstone Lake - nice Gift Shop there) then north through Hayden Valley, the cool geothermal areas and amazing wildlife section and waterfall to Canyon Village. You might be able to go to Lamar Valley. If not head towards Gardner via Old Faithful which erupts often. Nice place to eat at the lodge there. One thing we noticed last summer was the smoke in the air affected the beauty of the area. So for example the prismatic lakes in Yellowstone were not so brilliant because the sky was not bright blue. @greenbutton
Again if anyone is following along. Our two surprises in this trip were LRP which we went to partly because Jenny Lake trails were under construction. Check your trails ahead of time to make sure they are open.
And Idaho! I knew nothing about Idaho except they grew potatoes. Our Idaho day was probably one of our favorite days. We stayed in Swan Valley at the Sleepy J cabins (nice restaurant and homemade ice cream place across the street). We went horseback riding on the Palisade range through a local farm/riding trail place (very reasonable rate). So beautiful on top of the mountain range. DH was leery about the Heise Hot Springs that we went to but when we got there was a rolling lawn with large weeping willow trees along the Swan Valley river. The hot springs were inexpensive. It was all a bit off the beaten path and fun to mingle with locals. What we didn’t have a chance to do was fly fish at the Palisade Reservoir or go south of Swan Valley (and it was a drive) to one of the best places in the world to dig/get fish fossils - Green River fish fossils hunting.
Also my adrenaline junkies loved mountain biking at Jackson Hole. That was the right level for people who have been mountain biking before but are not expert. You and your bike ride the ski lifts and bike down in suits that make you look like Power Rangers.
And one last tip. The last week of August is a great time to visit. Crowds are gone but the weather is warm.
We kayaked at Colter Bay in June. The water was plenty cold, but they had a kayaking zone marked off near the shore, so no one was getting stranded out there. I don’t think we ever went into water too deep to stand in. We’re talking Lake Superior cold, not die-in-two-minutes cold.
I’m looking at Colter Bay again now and realizing we have to go back. It’s too magical.
We were there a long time ago, rock climber’s heaven. I fondly remember Paintbrush Canyon Trail. Is Jackson Lake manmade? There was a manmade lake. I can’t remember which.
If you were coming from Boise, maybe drive through Craters of the Moon NP and end in Victor, a good six hours if you drive straight. Not sure I’d plan more than six hours a day for driving. Then the next day do southern GTNP, Jackson, National Elk Refuge, head north and maybe end your day at Colter Bay. We were only at Colter Bay for a little while but @Hanna had such a great experience and that would be a good launching point for the next day. But @Sybylla had a good point. In May both you and your car need to be prepared for ice and snow. The key is monitoring conditions and access.
@greenbutton You might be there for this. We were interested because we have three boy scouts but they collect about 8000 lbs of antlers. Elkfest then Old West Days through May 28.
Agreeing with the calls to be flexible about the weather. We camped, and it snowed, in early June at Canyon Campground. Dunraven Pass was closed/open/closed/open.
The 1st day we were in Yellowstone we had ALL weather conditions—sunny and clear, raining, freezing rain and finally snow. It was mid-June! Dunraven pass can be opened and closed as weather requires. The ranger stations have the current info as it evolves.
… you might not get another one, and the distances are massive. Yeah, GTNP is adjacent to YNP, but it’s an hour or more from one lodging in YNP to the nearest in GT.