Yellowstone

[WinniWoman]

Can anyone give me the "tips" on visiting Yellowstone National Park? Staying in West Yellowstone. (Flying into Bozeman, which is 2 hours fron West Yellowstone I understand. via Denver from NY) Will be there just a week. Some have suggested even going to the Tetons, but that is 3 hours away. Need some tips on making the best use of our time without wiping ourselves out! After all, it is a vacation and we don't want to be overloaded!

 

[Jim Bryan]

Visit Cody if you can.

 

[Passepartout]

I'm envious. Jackson WY is a 300 mile round trip from West. Every inch of it is 45mph limit. It's a loooong day. You don't say when you are going, but if in Summer, there will be lots of traffic and it all stops whenever any wildlife is seen. After a while you find yourself screaming, "C'mon people it's only a couple of elk or bison." A really good telephoto lens will make your pictures better- you won't be pointing at a speck and saying, "There's really a wolf there, really."

Otoh, it's a short drive to Old Faithful, the Firehole, Yellowstone Falls. Only 3% of Yellowstone can be seen from a road, so plan time for some hikes. Bring a day-pack along or you'll be buying one. From West, go South and take the scenic drive along the Henry's Fork down to Ashton, ID. Stop at both upper and lower Mesa Falls. Very nice 30 mile (one way) drive. Stop at Big Springs just down the road from Island Park Village (TS). There are dispensers for food to feed the VERY large trout and muskrats that hang there waiting for a handout.

Bring insect repellant.

Enjoy your trip out to our little corner of the world.

Jim Ricks

 

[DaveNV]

IA really good telephoto lens will make your pictures better- you won't be pointing at a speck and saying, "There's really a wolf there, really."

Jim Ricks

Hey! I have that picture! :hysterical:

Dave

 

[jlwquilter]

Hey! I have that picture! :hysterical:

Dave

Me too - except mine is of a bear in a meadow at Many Glaciers :hysterical:

 

[chellej]

We enjoy the area around island park as much as the park itself. Some things besides yellowstone:

Quake Lake
The grizzly discovery center/imax
Big Springs - you can rent canoes at Macks Inn and they will drop you at big springs and you float back down - very easy float - also visit the cabin
Upper and Lower Mesa Falls
Warm River - you can feed hundreds of fish at the bridge also good flyfishing area
Sawtelle Peak - amazing views and will often still have snow in July.
Harriman State park - you can tour the old ranch and also see trumpetor swans

Inside the park the cowboy cookout which leaves from roosevelt is great fun - you can go by wagon or horseback
My favorite area of the park is the canyon area - artists point among other lookouts.

Yellowstone is 2 main loops. One goes in goes north West to madison, to norris to mammoth to roosevelt, down to canyon, l and back to madison. The other loop goes south. West to madison to old faithful, to yellowstone lake and back around canyon to madison.

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/YELLmap1.pdf

 

[WinniWoman]

I'm envious. Jackson WY is a 300 mile round trip from West. Every inch of it is 45mph limit. It's a loooong day. You don't say when you are going, but if in Summer, there will be lots of traffic and it all stops whenever any wildlife is seen. After a while you find yourself screaming, "C'mon people it's only a couple of elk or bison." A really good telephoto lens will make your pictures better- you won't be pointing at a speck and saying, "There's really a wolf there, really."

Otoh, it's a short drive to Old Faithful, the Firehole, Yellowstone Falls. Only 3% of Yellowstone can be seen from a road, so plan time for some hikes. Bring a day-pack along or you'll be buying one. From West, go South and take the scenic drive along the Henry's Fork down to Ashton, ID. Stop at both upper and lower Mesa Falls. Very nice 30 mile (one way) drive. Stop at Big Springs just down the road from Island Park Village (TS). There are dispensers for food to feed the VERY large trout and muskrats that hang there waiting for a handout.

Bring insect repellant.

Enjoy your trip out to our little corner of the world.

Jim Ricks

Thanks for all the info. We are actually going in mid-Sept. so it should not be crowded at all I would think.

 

[Greg G]

mpumilia

We split our time of a little less than 2 weeks between the Grand Tetons staying in Jackson Hole and then Yellowstone staying in West Yellowstone.
If at all possible you might consider extending your vacation to do something like this (maybe staying in Grand Tetons first followed by West Yellowstone so you are close to Bozeman for your departure). That way you've only expended one round trip flight for essentially 2 vacations.

Greg

 

[falmouth3]

The best advice I can offer is to get this book: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park, Yellowstone Treasures, written by Janet Chapple.

It is an incredibly well written mile-by-mile guidebook. We used it every single day. On the front page, I started writing each type of animal that we saw. It was amazing how many animals we saw!

We also stayed at Island Park Village. It wasn't a bad drive because it's 75 mph on the majority of the road. A couple of days we were slowed by paving activities. But I would prefer to stay in West Yellowstone if we go again. There isn't too much going on in Island Park.

 

[WinniWoman]

Good idea. Wish we could extend, but can't. Will just be there essentially for 6 days (and 2 days travel). We are renting a timeshare privately from someone in West Yellowstone - paid for the week.

 

[WinniWoman]

I will look on Amazon for that book. Thanks! We are staying at Worldmark, West Yellowstone.

 

[jjking42]

We just got back Yesterday
25 hour drive home to Texas
Perfect weather at Island park and 100+ in Texas
1 week was not enough time so we did not do Jackson Hole

Saturday Arrival

Sunday
Sleep in, visit Imax and wolf and bear center in west Yellow stone
Drove down in the evening to see old faithful and made reservations for Wed. night at the old faithful inn.

Monday
Did Yellowstone from Madison around to Norris geyser basin and canyons.
Virginia cascade was fun we hiked down the the bottom and played in the water. Not a real path, not for little kids,. We also hiked to the brink of the lower falls. That wore us out.

Tuesday
White water rafting on the Galatin river near Big Sky class 3&4, had a blast.
http://www.raftmontana.com/

Wednesday
Did Yellowstone north of Norris basin to mammoth springs around the top and back to canyons around the lake and back to old faithful in time for dinner. Long day after dinner hiked around the old faith full area until dark.

Thursday
Rented Canoes from macs inn and went from near big springs back to I-20(very nice). Then went to big springs , we saw a Moose in the stream 200 yards down from the bridge. Saw lots of seagulls, a few trout and muskrat.

Friday
Went horse back riding in Harriman state park in the morning and then to Mesa falls in the after noon

Saturday and Sunday drive back to Texas.

Now we want to go back in the winter. We also want to go spend some time in Big Sky and Jackson Hole.
For a Texan trying to escape the heat it cant get much better than the weather in Yellowstone

 

[Passepartout]

Glad you enjoyed our little corner of the world, Jim. Winter is truly another world there. We have snowmobiled the park as well as the Island Park area.

My dad spent much of the great depression as caretaker of the Harriman Ranch- then known as the 'Railroad Ranch.' He regaled me with many stories while we fly fished the Henry's fork.

Jim Ricks

 

[jjking42]

Glad you enjoyed our little corner of the world, Jim. Winter is truly another world there. We have snowmobiled the park as well as the Island Park area.

My dad spent much of the great depression as caretaker of the Harriman Ranch- then known as the 'Railroad Ranch.' He regaled me with many stories while we fly fished the Henry's fork.

Jim Ricks

I just wish it was not so far from Texas

 

[RIMike]

Just remember

Just remember that Yellowstone, not counting the Grand Tetons is larger than Rhode Island. So it is big. Bozeman has better air connections, but you could also drive up from Salt Lake City, UT, which is about 6 hours away and an enjoyable drive and much less expensive for many.

The fall season is also beautiful!

I hope to be going next late August myself...and I was there last winter to see the wildlife. Bye-the-way, wildlife viewing is much better in winter, especially the Lamar Valley.

 

[tombo]

We flew into Salt Lake City because the air fares were much cheaper. We stayed in Park City for 2 nights and went to the great Salt Lake andswam in water so salty that you can't sink. lay on your back or stomach and you float. We went to the Mormon Tabernacle and toured downtown Salt Lake City.

We went to the olympic Ski Training facilities and watched the skiers go off of the giant ski jumps and land on astro turf. It was amazing and something I have only seen on TV. They also practiced ski-batics doing mutli flips and twists landing in a pool. That was impressive too. You can ride on the Olympic bob sled course at speeds of up to 90 miles an hour with a professional bobsled driver for a big fee which i did not do this time but would if I went back.

We also went to deer park and mountain biked. They rent you bikes and lift tickets. You ride up the chair lift with your bike hooked on the side and all the biking is downhill. They ave bike trails marked like ski slopes with green, blue, and black diamond courses. We also did a toboggan run down a concrete course where you control your speed with a stick you push or pull to increase or decrease speed.


The 3rd day we drove to Yellowstone and spent 6 days in yellowstone. 6 days in yellowstone was not too much time there. We saw everything we wanted to see but less than 4 full days would not have been enough.

We drove home through the grand teton natrional park eating lunch at the lodge and then we went to Jackson hole for supper. We got to Salt lake city late at night and flew home early the next morning. This itinerary worked well for us.

 

[WinniWoman]

Thanks. Thar's what I thought about Yellowstone. We only really have 6 days, because 2 days are for traveling back and forth from NY. Flying into Bozeman and then driving to West Yellowstone. I ordered the book that falmouth suggested.

 

[Carlsbadguy]

Staying in Jackson for a week starting Thursday. I am planning 1 long day trip through Yellowstone- any one have a suggestion for a route or should I split into 2 days.

 

[Karen G]

Staying in Jackson for a week starting Thursday. I am planning 1 long day trip through Yellowstone- any one have a suggestion for a route or should I split into 2 days.

If you could split it into two days, you'd be able to see more stuff of course. Study the great map in post #6 above. You can see that there are roughly two circular routes you can take. Notice the purple dotted line that goes around the lower circular route? That's the "approximate caldera boundary" and I think that means that's the top of the volcano area.

I think I'd drive north from Jackson and go west at West Thumb toward Old Faithful. Stop at the lodge there and see Old Faithful. There's an interesting free tour of the lodge where they tell you the history of the building. Most of the interesting geysers and bubbling things are along this route such as the Grand Prismatic Spring, Artist Paint Pots, etc. You'll need to get out of your car and walk to see these amazing sights. But, don't miss them--they are unlike anything else I've ever seen.

Continue on around this loop and stop to see the Upper and Lower Falls. Continue back along the huge Yellowstone Lake to West Thumb. Go back south to Jackson. It's likely to be a very slow drive with lots of stops along the way when any animals are spotted.

 

[JohnPaul]

We spent a week at Worldmark West Yellowstone in late September 2008. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the crowds thin but things were starting to close down.

We had a very full week just trying to see Yellowstone without venturing to the Tetons. Remember that it is slow travel on the roads so something 30 miles away is much more than 30 minutes away.

When we were there you could rent a GPS guide in West Yellowstone. Since it used GPS it knew where you were and then told you about it. We found an amazing little picnic area on a lake with this that we would have never found on our own.

Funiest part of the story - we are from California. It turned out my cousins from Seattle were in the very next unit for 5 of the days we were there and we never saw them.

Enjoy yourself.

 

[WinniWoman]

Thanks! That's what I thought about the Tetons. Would love to see them, but thought, too, that it would be too much to squeeze into the 6 days we are in Yellowstone. Figured it would just be too much driving, etc. Hope the weather is nice when we go as well.

Where in West Yellowstone did you get the GPS guide? Sounds like a great thing!

Funny about your relatives!

 

[JohnPaul]

Thanks! That's what I thought about the Tetons. Would love to see them, but thought, too, that it would be too much to squeeze into the 6 days we are in Yellowstone. Figured it would just be too much driving, etc. Hope the weather is nice when we go as well.

Where in West Yellowstone did you get the GPS guide? Sounds like a great thing!

Funny about your relatives!

The GPS was heavily advertised and we rented it from an outfit on the main drag in town, but I don't remember the name.

Also, the only place we actually saw wolves and bears was at the refuge in West Yellowstone which is worth a visit. We did see Elk and a lot of other wildlife in the park.

 

[wcfr1]

Just got back from my first ever visit this week. Beutiful place.

Do you plan to hike for a day at a time or just drive the loop? If not hiking you should have plenty of time to see all of Yellowstone and Tetons.

We drove the south loop one day and the north loop the next. W stopped at a number of thermals, stopped at the rapids, the waterfalls several anumal sightings etc?

We just didn't go out hiking eating up the day.

If we had another day we could have easily driven out the South Entrance and into the Tetons.

Saw, Grizzly with 2 cubs, a Black Bear with 2 cubs, a single Black Bear, a wolf and more Bison and Elk than you could imagine. Didn't see an Moose though.

Are you planning to exit the park each night to go back to the condo in West Yellowstone or are you planning on staying at Old Faithful Inn or one of the other lodging properties in the park?

We also flew into SLC, spent time in Park City before heading up to Big Sky then back to Yellowstone for few nights, then back to Big Sky and finally back to PC and SLC. It took two weeks but wish I was still there. I guess theres always next summer.

 

[WinniWoman]

That's good to know! We will probably drive more then anything else, although I know we will get out of the car and walk a bit to see some stuff if it's not too far in. I like your idea of driving the different loops each day. We will be going back to West Yellowstone each night. We do want to go inside and "see" the Old Faithful Inn, however. Maybe have lunch there? We also want to go white water rafting one day. And probably the bear/wolf discovery center - I also think there is a earthquake lake or something near West Yellowstone? My son will probably want to see the movie at the IMAX theater...So we will try to do other things in the area if possible - gee- we really need a month! Ha!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time!

 

[Karen G]

I also think there is a earthquake lake or something near West Yellowstone?

Yes, and it's worth going to the visitor center. Here's info about it. They show a really interesting film about the earthquake.

We stayed in West Yellowstone last summer and had a wonderful time exploring the area. One thing we really enjoyed was a half-day flyfishing float trip on the Madison River. We arranged it at one of the flyfishing shops there.