Agree with 1214mom that the food in Yellowstone is bad. The food at Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton was excellent though. I’d recommend buying picnic food for Yellowstone and its more convenient as distances in Yellowstone are such that you might not be near a lodge. In Yellowstone, the best place to see bison is the Lamar Valley particularly in fall.
As far as other wildlife and geysers, its just luck. We were extremely lucky to see grizzly 399 when she had 4 new cubs! She ‘lives’ in the Tetons. I drove 1000 miles to see her and it was worth it. We also saw Steamboat geyser on another trip. This geyser blows very infrequently but is the biggest geyser in the world. It’s at Norris Geyser basin.
Custer State Park in South Dakota has a bison roundup in the fall. You can check for dates. We we’re not there for the roundup, which draws a huge crowd, but were very lucky to see the herd in the corrals after the roundup. Vets were checking them over for pregnancy, giving them vaccinations, etc. They were branding new calves and setting aside those to sell. The herd has to be managed. Anyway, it was fascinating. Also in Custer there’s a really cute prairie dog town.
If you go through Bismark, ND, the reconstructed Mandan village is interesting. It’s where Lewis and Clark spent their first winter and met Sacajawea.
Can you clarify which direction has a road out? Is this if we’re coming from SLC or Bozeman?
Using Google Maps, it suggests about 5 hours from SLC airport to the southern start of the Grand Teton scenic drive. From the Bozeman airport it says 4 1/2, so didn’t seem like a big difference and that was there would be less redundancy as we continue on to Yellowstone and Bozeman and the rest of our trip. But if there’s something that prevents that or in general the SLC drive just isn’t nice, would be good to know haven’t booked the flights yet.
Which one is the new one right next to it? From the map, the other accommodations nearest the Old Faithful Lodge are the Old Faithful Snow Lodge (separate from the regular lodge) and the Old Faithful Inn. Nothing else seems close.
Bozeman to West Yellowstone is 78 miles. The Teton Pass had a massive landslide. It is highway 22 out of Jackon heading west. We took it 2 years ago from Jackson to Idaho Falls which if memory serves is on Interstate 15. The other route we’ve taken from Logan, Utah north of SLC goes through Logan Canyon which is very scenic and then past Bear Lake. The road down to Bear Lake is steep and curvy though. Then north to Jackson.
Bozeman is much closer to Yellowstone and would be the preferable route for me. FWIW, I have driven to Yellowstone 3 times in the last 5 years.
Several years ago, my husband and I stayed at the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins, right next to the Old Faithful Lodge. Our cabin was one with a bathroom - it was basic, but clean and comfortable. The best part was watching Old Faithful erupt at dawn, when there was barely anyone else there. One thing to note - we flew into Jackson and drove up and barely made it in time before the hotel check-in closed for the night. Yellowstone Park is definitely a place I would return to - it truly is spectacular.
I love the Badlands and agree with seeing it in the morning or early evening. We really enjoyed the Minuteman Missile National Historical Site. If you can, get tickets to go down in the silo. On a kitchy note, the Spam Museum in Austin, Mn is a hoot. And there is a giant Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, Mn. I would skip Mt Rushmore, you walk up look and really, your done. Custer State Park is amazing. The Cody Museum in Cody is fantastic- like a Western Smithsonian.
Pretty sure Snow Lodge is one I was “recommending.” (I think they are all pretty “rustic.” I don’t know if any of them are air conditioned, and I remember the Snow Lodge at least had internet somewhere.
I will add if you go through Bismarck, the North Dakota Heritage Center is a nice place to visit. https://statemuseum.nd.gov. It was a must visit every time we were in Bismarck visiting relatives.
I disagree with the ‘kitchy’ comments concerning Rushmore. We went late in the day in fall and it was uncrowded. There’s a very interesting new museum about the construction and maintenance of the monument. There is a boardwalk up to the base of the mountain. I enjoyed seeing it all.
Seems like we’ll have to make a choice of the ND route or the SD route. We’ll hit Rushmore and the badlands either way. Honestly a large motivation for the ND route was simply to visit the state and we want to see all 50. After this trip I’d be up to 46 if I included ND and it seems unlikely I would make a special trip just for it in the future. And didn’t see that close to just jump over the border and return back south. On the other hand, it does seem like we would be missing interesting things along the SD I-90 route. A dilemma…
It’s been a few years, but we liked the food at the General Store near Old Faithful. It’s a separate building from the hotels, and we thought it was good enough to eat there twice.
Actually, I just realized it is five, since we originally planned to continue on to Wisconsin but aren’t now.
For me Wisconsin, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. My wife has a few more that I have been to that she hasn’t that we’ll have to catch on another trip too, like Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska.
I’ll plan that next trip for ya - Wisconsin, take the ferry to Michigan, do all the Lake Michigan shoreline down to Indiana….and off to Iowa and Nebraska from there!
As others have said, Teddy Roosevelt NP in North Dakota. We really enjoyed it and saw many wild horses and there were no crowds. The stars at night are gorgeous.
My suggestion would be to fly into Jackson Hole and eliminate all the driving from SLC. The Grand Tetons are worth it even if you aren’t hikers.
I would find a way to leave Yellowstone by taking the Beartooth Highway out of the NE (Lamar Valley) entrance. Easily one of the most scenic drives we’ve ever been on.
I would then work my way back into Wyoming/SD to spend time at Devils Tower, Custer State Park and the Badlands.
I looked into flying into Jackson Hole but it didn’t work well for several reasons. I wasn’t able to get direct flights (and we hate connections), the flights were more expensive and it was more expensive to rent our one way rental car from there.