# Visiting Yellowstone from Big Sky- best options?



## glenn1000 (Nov 14, 2006)

We have an exchange at Lake Condominiums at Big Sky next summer and are trying to figure out the best way to visit Yellowstone. Our desire is to spend 2 days in the park. I figure that we can leave early and drive back and forth and do the two days at different times during the week. My wife wants to get a hotel in the park for two nights since it sounds like the tours she looked at leave at 8AM. Any thoughts?

I would really appreciate advice from those who have been. How long will it really take to get to Old Faithful, Grankd Canyon of Yellowstone, etc. from Big Sky in July? Are there any tour guides or companies that have been especially good. We will be a group of four adults and three kids.


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## chellej (Nov 14, 2006)

I have not been from Big Sky  - we always go from Island Park & usually do several day trips.  You have to keep in mind that the speed limit in the parrk is any where form 30-45 mph - plus all the traffic jams for wildlife viewing.

Why not think about adding several days onto the front or end of your trip & stay in the park.  There are numerous places to stay inside the park that are a lot of fun in themselves.  We love staying at the Old Faithful Inn - It is old but has lots of character.  Roosevelt cabins are very rustic and like camping in a bed.  The cabins at the lake & in Canyon are also ones we've enjoyed.

As far as activities - try to go see the wolves in the NW part of the park and we enjoyed the chuckwagon dinner.  It is a Steak cookout, cowboy style.  It leaves from Roosevelt and you can book either on a wagon or easy horseback ride.

The Park can be done in a day but... I don't recommend it.  When we lived there we took a friend, left Blackfoot early in the morning, drove up through West Yellowstone, into old faithful, over to Canyon, down through teton park & jackson and back over the pass in time to make an 8 pm America concert that night.  It doesn't leave time to enjoy anything.


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## xzhan02 (Nov 15, 2006)

We also stayed at Island park.  Big Sky would add at least 30 min to the drive each way.  I regret that we did not stay at least one night in the park.  Roosevelt cabin is the most economical option, and the best location for wild life viewing in dawn and dusk.  I would reserve NOW to get the largest cabin (the cost of 4 beds and 1 bed is almost the same).


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## gmarine (Nov 15, 2006)

The park is enormous. It is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined. I spent a week in the park and didnt see it all. I would suggest staying in the park for the two nights as it will save a lot of travel time. During peak summer it can take hours to drive from one area to another with the traffic and ongoing road construction. Never mind the buffalo jams. 

Trying to drive back and forth each day and still see the park is going to be very time consuming.


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## DanM (Nov 15, 2006)

I visited Yellowstone in winter from Lake Condos. The drive to West Yellowstone entrance was an hour.


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## Sharp Traveler (Nov 16, 2006)

*Yes the drive from Big Sky to West Yellowstone is about an hour*

Also, if you are thinking about going in July, you might want to check out the road construction schedule.  My husband was just awarded a paving contract that will run from Big Sky to the entrance of the park.  The paving schedule for next year is not figured yet so we don't know when that job will be(he was thinking maybe July), we do know it will run for 6 weeks.  Yellowstone Park has a lot of area to cover(hence the 4 different entrances) and if you had to go to Big Sky every night it would be diffucult to see all of it!
Hope this helps!  Sharp Traveler.


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## glenn1000 (Nov 16, 2006)

Thank you for the responses.

Wow, I hope that the road construction starts after we leave!   We definitley plan on visiting the Wolf Grizzley Center as well as looking for the tree my father-in-law was chased up into by a bear when he worked in Yellowstone as a young man over 50 years ago.

I called Lake Condominiums and they recommended a tour company for visiting Yellowstone: Yellowstone Tour Guides (www.yellowstonetourguides.com). Tours are about 10 hours with an hour for lunch- 730AM-530PM- and we'd be in a 9 passenger van. Sounds pretty good for a group of seven. Cost is $450 per day and we'd do two days- one lower loop for geological sites and another day for the upper loop wildlife stuff. Any experience with them? I figure that we'll drive in one day on our own.

Though it might be more convenient to stay in the park I don't like the idea of moving around and paying for 2-3 hotel rooms. We can't add time since we bought our airline tickets.

Any other thoughts about what to do as a family with older kids in the Big Sky/Yellowstone area would be appreciated.


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## pointhound (Nov 16, 2006)

*You are in for a great time.*

We were at Lake Condominiums last July and had a blast!   The Big Sky area alone is great.  Access to Yellowstone is good.  About an hour to West Yellowstone - nice ride through the Gallatin Valley on the way.   Once in West Yellowstone, it's a relatively short ride to Old Faithful.   You can make Roosevelt Lodge past the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone using the lower loop within the day and stay there overnight.  Ask for the Frontier Cabins with bathrooms.  You have to reserve early.  In the morning, take Rt. 212 out the Northeast exit of the park and take the Beartooth highway past Cooke City and Red Lodge until you get to Rt. 90, which you can take back to Bozeman and Big Sky.  The Beartooth highway is breathtaking.     You can do this in two days with an overnight in Roosevelt Lodge, but if you want more time in Yellowstone, you can stay two.   The NE area of the Park is quieter with more wildlife IMHO.  We loved Lake Condos and the Big Sky area and will return next Summer.   We think it's a great way to access the Park.   Barbara at the Lake Condos office is very helpful with ideas for visiting the Park.  Every night the Beaver in the lake puts on a show.   If you're lucky, the moose will visit.  Try to get a loft unit (sleeps 8) on the lake.  Have fun!


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## CharlesS (Nov 19, 2006)

*Lake Condos and Yellowstone? Yes!*



			
				glenn1000 said:
			
		

> We have an exchange at Lake Condominiums at Big Sky next summer...


We too were at Lake Condos end of July last year.  Made several trips to Yellowstone.  All you need is a driver with some stamina.  Traffic wasn't that bad.  After visiting the sights the kids and some adults will simply sleep on the way back.  The scenery on the trip to and from Yellowstone is worth the effort alone.  Of course, Yellowstone is awesome.  Not as much water running at that time of the year so the waterfalls weren't as spectacular as earlier in the year.  But the weather was great.

Buy groceries in either Bozeman or West Yellowstone.  Prices in West Yellowstone were surprisingly good.  Bozeman has a Super Walmart just off the Interstate.  

The beavers also entertained us along with a mother duck and 7 ducklings.  Never saw the moose.  The endless supply of free, split firewood really finished off the day when the nights were cool.  I would easily return to Lake Condos except next summer the ocean is calling.

Charles


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## leylandpark (Dec 19, 2006)

We put in our exchange for our Marriott Newport Coast Villas for Boyne Vacation in Big Sky and haven't had any luck. My kids are dying to see Yellowstone. Okay, maybe I am dying to seeing Yellowstone also. Anybody got a hint in making this dream vacation exchange?


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## Holly (Dec 19, 2006)

*A direct Exchange*

Do you want to go in the summer?  Maybe someone would do a direct exchange.


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## PStreet1 (Dec 20, 2006)

You really don't need a tour in my opinion.  Driving there is easy--lots of places to pull over.  Make your reservations NOW for staying in the park during the summer.  We actually enjoyed the cabins:  they were clean and the beds were good.  Each had a sink in the cabin, and the showers and toilets were a couple of cabins away--rather like camping when growing up.  I wouldn't want to spend a week or two in them, but two nights was great.  We spent one night at Mammoth and one at Old Faithful to minimize driving.  We entered from the easy, Cody, early one morning and turned left to do the lake.  Then turned around and headed for Mammoth, with lots and lots of stops and a couple of ranger talks on the way (they had a great little guide book in the gift shop that told what to look for mile by mile).  The next day we went from Mammoth to Old Faithful using the guide book, lots of stops and several ranger talks--worked well.


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## glenn1000 (Dec 20, 2006)

*Tours*

Here is why we currently plan to do a tour:

-We have seven people and would probably feel crowded in a van or be in two separate cars.

-Our family never seems to be able to take advantage of things like guide books, free tours, etc. We end up zipping through things too quickly and getting less out of the experience than we could. Having a guide should make it more meaningful for everyone, especially since there is a continuous narration with a speaker system so that we can all hear.

-I don't enjoy driving and would find it more pleasant to be a passenger.

-We doubt that we'll get back here since our kids are already older so we want to have the best experience. If we could go 2-3 time and take our time then we'd probably try to do it on our own.

If there was some sort of well laid out self-touring option (maybe with cassette tapes) it might work but I haven't come across anything like that yet.


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## JustPlainBill (Dec 20, 2006)

glenn1000 said:
			
		

> Any other thoughts about what to do as a family with older kids in the Big Sky/Yellowstone area would be appreciated.



Depending on the water flow, you should consider rafting or riding inflatable kayaks on the Gallatin River. The company at the highway turn-off to Big Sky used to do a nice job. There are some nice mountain biking opportunities in the area too.

Check out http://www.nps.gov/yell/ and http://www.yellowstonepark.com/planner/


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## swift (Dec 20, 2006)

I typed in Google Yellowstone audio tours and came up with this. There were others as well but from a quick glance this looked more like what you were looking for.

http://www.yellowstoneaudiotours.com/


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## leylandpark (Dec 20, 2006)

We are looking for the summer when the kids are out of school.


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## LILASS (May 19, 2010)

*Horseback Riding*

Has anyone done horseback riding in this area?  Thanks for any info.


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## eal (May 19, 2010)

We own two consecutive weeks at Lake Condos and we always just do day trips to the park.  It is a 45 min drive to the West Yellowstone entrance, up to 1 hour if traffic is bad or there construction is active.  One nice feature of construction however is that they ban trucks from the road when they are working on it, so driving is actually easier.  

We love the Big Sky area and find that there is plenty to do close by as well as visiting the park.


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