Trip Report: Timbers at Island Park, Idaho (Yellowstone) * Looking for your sightseeing suggestions *

[DeniseM]

We have checked into Timbers at Island Park and we made a grocery run. We acquired this timeshare more than a year ago, (on the TUG Free Timeshares Forum!!!) but due to a last minute conflict we couldn't use our fixed week last year, so this is our first trip. We flew from Reno, to SLC, to West [Yellowstone] Airport which is tiny, but only about 30 min. away. It's cool with a few cloud bursts today, which is a nice break for those of us from Hades, CA. The front desk guy was especially nice and helpful - Blaine?

The timeshares are basic mountain style condos, but we have a nice golf course view. I'm excited to see what it looks like after they finish the renovations that are in progress.

Golf course view from the deck:

 

[slip]

Looks like an awesome place to spend a week. Enjoy!

 

[geist1223]

Checkout Earthquake Lake. Start at the Ranger Station on the Westend. Then travel East seeing many of the sites mentioned at the Ranger Station.

 

[Passepartout]

Day one into the Park, go S. (Right) at Madison jct. Oh, get the map & stuff at the entrance. Take the jct at Firehole River. Take most of the parking areas. Get out of the car and look around. Lunch at Old Faithful Inn. We like the game buffet. After you see an eruption, you can either go back and go to Earthquake on the way back to IPV. Or continue to Yellowstone Lake. Take the narrated boat ride. Then go back.

Did you get tix to Yellowstone Playhouse? You'll Love it!

Second day into the Park, go Left at Madison Jct. Stop at the parking areas for the Geyser Basin. Take a Ranger Walk whenever you find one. We always head for Canyon and take the obligatory pix at Artist Point. Continue on to the open land, and wherever a cluster of cars-and especially if a Ranger stops, stop. They know where to spot bears & wolves. Bison and elk are everywhere, so after you see a few hundred, it's ho-hum.

You can really use that map you got. Your phone won't work in the Park.

Around Island Park, go to Harriman St. Park. There is a good Fly fishing store/guide outfit at Last Chance. Good advice, too. Drive the 'scenic drive' to Ashton, Idaho. Upper and Lower Mesa Falls are well worth a stop.

The resort is on Big Spring Road drive down about 5ish miles to the spring where the whole Henry's Fork comes out of the ground whole. Visit the Johnny Sack Cabin that is there. You can continue back to Hwy 20. Decent pizza in the Marriott, or Mexican across the bridge. Good place to rent a boat/canoe/raft and get a ride to float down Henry's Fork included. We have seen moose when we have floated it.

Have fun. If you have ?? or I think of more, ask.

 

[DaveNV]

Denise, it’s West Yellowstone airport, not West Yosemite.

Dave

 

[DaveNV]

Eat at Running Bear Pancake House in West Yellowstone. Great breakfast. They’ll also pack you a box lunch, if you’ll be out hiking.

Watch for wolves hunting along Gibbon Meadow, on the way from Madison Junction to the Upper Geyser Basin.

Elk might be rutting up at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Take the Fairy Falls Trail and climb the hill to see Grand Prismatic Spring from above. The view is way better than from the boardwalk at the spring itself.

Have fun! It’s hard to not enjoy Yellowstone.

Dave

 

[Passepartout]

Good eats at Lakeside Lodge in I.P., and at Connie's across Hwy 20 from the resort.

 

[TheHolleys87]

Checkout Earthquake Lake. Start at the Ranger Station on the Westend. Then travel East seeing many of the sites mentioned at the Ranger Station.

I agree. My husband and kids were quite impressed, seeing it for the first time. My parents had taken us there about a year after the earthquake happened, so I was interested in the changes that happened over time.

 

[DeniseM]

Thanks for all the tips!

Jim - we had a great dinner at Connie's last night! We are not going to do the Yellowstone Playhouse because with my food allergies, it's really hard to do justice to a dinner like that, but it sounds like fun.

We are having a quiet morning after a busy day yesterday and not much sleep the night before, but we are definitely going to the visitors center to get help planning the rest of our week and then into the park, today.

We got a bag of black oil sunflower seeds (natural seeds that are healthy for birds and squirrels) and a little squirrel has discovered them this morning. We've also seen a red fox and a grey squirrel this morning.

Island Park has a nice 9 hole golf course and it's very reasonably priced. If you were a golf fan, this would be an ideal location. One of the holes is about 30 feet off the back deck.

IPVR Golf

Welcome to Island Park Village Resort. Members and visitors are welcome to browse the website and learn about the amenities and activities available at the resort

islandparkvillageresortid.com

Not a great red fox picture - a woman in the next unit was calling it and scared him away, so he was on the move.

 

[DeniseM]

Right after I posted this morning someone hit a golf ball onto our deck - they were very apologetic!


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[DeniseM]

Saturday: Saturday we drove to Yellowstone and did the top half of the Grand Loop. *The entire Grand Loop is 140 miles. I downloaded a touring App from the App store that provides a detailed audio tour of all the notable spots along the Grand Loop, and it was very helpful in deciding where to stop, and to know what we were seeing. We just did the top half of the loop and that was a LOT! App: Action Tour Guides - they have lots of different options for many different places.

We say herds of Bison and Elk, and a huge Bison that decided that the narrow shoulder of a busy road was a good place for a nap! Near the end of the day, when we were on Mount Washburn, a tour van somewhere in front of us caught on fire and burned to the ground and that stopped traffic for a long time, so it was a long day.

Today: Change of plans this morning - I woke up not feeling well at 5:30 am (my usual digestion issues) took some medicine and went back to bed until 9:30. We decided to hang around on the deck until after lunch to be sure I was fit to go out in public. I was, so after lunch we drove a short distance to Johnny Sack’s Cabin, Big Springs and Big Springs Water Trail. What started off as a disappointing day turned into a great day, and we toured the cabin, checked out the amazing spring, fed the ducks, and did a beautiful 2 mile hike along the Big Springs Water Trail. (Henry's Fork of the Snake River - made famous by Lewis & Clark.)

* Funny story - there was an old fashion dispenser by the bridge to buy duck/fish food, and every time we put a quarter in, we got a handful of the food, and 1-3 quarters mixed in. Not sure what was going on there.

Briefly, Johnny Sack's Cabin is a beautiful little cabin which was completely built with hand tools, with expert craftsmanship and love, on the banks of Big Springs, which is a huge spring that produces 120 million gallons of crystal clear water per day! This water comes from the snow melt in the Yellowstone mountains and percolates through the porous volcanic rock and comes up out of the ground as a huge spring in Island Park, ID. The vast amount of water generated becomes Henry's Fork of the Snake River. This river is as clear as glass - I have never seen a more beautiful river!

Johnny Sack's Cabin
Big Springs
Big Springs Water Trail

Yellowstone Grand Loop:

Tired Buffalo with poor survival instincts:

Johnny Sack's Cabin (that's Rod, not Johnny Sack, who was 4"11".)

Big Springs - hard to capture in a picture, but you can see the water bubbling up from the ground all over this area:

Big Springs Water Trail along Henry's Fork of the Snake River -

Tomorrow: Back to Yellowstone!

 

[Passepartout]

Glad you're enjoying our back yard!

Now go down and check the Railroad Ranch, (Harriman St. Park) and Mesa Falls. Get a 1 or 3- day fishing license and go to Box Canyon. Or just take a picnic there.

Jim

 

[geist1223]

When we visit Yellowstone and see a single Bison laying around. We joke that they take turns for the Tourists. That after a couple hours he/she will get up and meander back into the Brush and say: "OK Mabel it's your turn to give them a thrill."

 

[billymach4]

When we visit Yellowstone and see a single Bison laying around. We joke that they take turns for the Tourists. That after a couple hours he/she will get up and meander back into the Brush and say: "OK Mabel it's your turn to give them a thrill."

Straight out of "The Far Side"

 

[rickandcindy23]

We are going next July and haven't been since 1988.

 

[Thomfam]

How long is the drive from the timeshare to West Yellowstone Visitor Center?

 

[Passepartout]

How long is the drive from the timeshare to West Yellowstone Visitor Center?

25 minutes or so. (22 mi)

 

[DeniseM]

On our way to Grand Teton Natl Park this morning!


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[DeniseM]

I have been lagging on my trip reports! We have been busy all day and pooped in the evening!

Day 4: Monday we went back to Yellowstone and did the 2nd half of the Grand Loop. We made the obligatory visit to Old Faithful, and had a nice lunch at the historic Old Faithful Lodge, which reminded us of the Ahwahnee in Yosemite. Rod enjoyed the Bison Brats; I stuck with the Walleye. At the Lodge, they celebrate Christmas twice a year: Dec. 25th & Aug. 25th. The highlight of the day for me was the lower falls of the Yosemite river, and our tour guide, a 30 lb. Marmot. As soon as we stepped out on the observation deck, he jumped up on the boulder railing in front of us, just in case we had any extra snacks we wanted to get rid of.

Old Faithful popped off 5 min. early:

Day 5: R&R day at the resort + I got caught up on some work. I love the view from our deck:

 

[DeniseM]

Day 6: Last night we spontaneously decided to visit Grand Tetons National Park today. It was only 2 hrs. away and a fairly short tour, so we knew we could make a doable day trip out of it. We entered through the Jackson Hole gate, and Jackson Hole is Hoppin'! The Grand Tetons (AKA "The Big Breasts" as the native people supposedly called them) are breath taking! And there is a beautiful lake, reminiscent of lake Tahoe, as well.

Here is the famous Jackson Hole Elk Arch - Elks shed their antlers every year, and the local Boy Scouts do a joint fundraiser in which the Boy Scouts collect Elk Antlers, sell them, and share the proceeds with the park, to support the Elk Preserve there.

The Grand Tetons:

Jackson Lake:

We saw the largest & closest buffalo herd at Grand Tetons: maybe 50 buffalo?

On the way home I mentioned to Rod that Mesa Falls was on the way back to Island Park, and it would be easy to incorporate it into our trip home, so we did. This is a spectacular water fall, but suprisingly, there wasn't very much signage, and I lost my internet connection, so we weren't sure we were on the right route - but we found it: The Mesa Falls are 10 stories high, and photos don't really do it justice, but it was amazing! It has multiple viewing platforms, including one right at the top of the falls:

 

[DeniseM]

DAY 7: Tomorrow is our flight home, so we had an R & R day today, after an 11 hour day yesterday, and got ready to go home. One of our traditions is to have a special dinner someplace on our last night of vacation, so we had an early dinner at Lakeside Lodge, on the Island Park Reservoir & Rod got to have a Bison Burger, which was one of his goals for this trip. We loved this location!

Farewell Idaho!

 

[Passepartout]

@DeniseM It looks like you did a pretty good job of hitting the main spots for sightseeing the area. There are still some great, and maybe lesser-known places to explore. I'd guess that you can catch them on subsequent visits. Maybe concentrating on slowing down and taking the time to actually ENJOY the place, rather than rushing off to catch yet another bucket list attraction.

Safe Travels to you!

Jim

 

[DeniseM]

We had a GREAT time, got lots of exercise, and satisfied our FOMO tendencies!

 

[rickandcindy23]

Great trip report. Looks like a great time. How much did you hike?

That buffet looks good. I am used to Disney prices, so those seem very reasonable. Our daughter-in-law will have a list of restaurants for us to visit in the parks.

 

[DaveNV]

Subsequent visits will give you more time to enjoy the area. So much coolness around there.

Next time you visit Jackson Hole, take time to visit the National Museum of Wildlife Art. It's a really amazing place. https://www.wildlifeart.org/

Dave