I Need Help Planning Our Next Trip

[Gumbo]

Thanks for the info Clay. We just returned from South Dakota and really enjoyed it there. I have a cabin on hold at a good price right now and while a week or more might be a little long we're looking to try and relax a little more on next years trip. We were on the go 28 out fo the 30 days and while it was fun it was tiring at times. I wish we liked to camp as this would be much easier.

Glacier is the one that's very high on our list so I'd hate to cut it out but it seems like it's the one with the most limited accommodations. I'm also thinking of just doing Glacier then heading over to SD this year then the following year doing Yellowstone. This way we won't be rushed and I want to see as much of Yellowstone as possible. All this info really helps...Thx!

hey AZ,

do note that the parks in Canada north of glacier are spectacular as well. Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t have paid attention to lodging situations since we were tenting

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[jsphlynch]

I definitely wouldn't cut out Glacier, but I might be biased as we went there for our honeymoon. It's been a while and we were technically there during the off-season, but we were really happy with North Forty outside of Whitefish, and the pricing (again, during off-season) was a really good value. Regardless of where you stay, I highly recommend a visit to Amazing Crepes in Whitefish.

 

[IdahoRanger]

We’re thinking about heading up to Glacier NP and also to Yellowstone NP and Grand Teton NP. So where I need help is trying to find a place to stay in all these areas that aren’t stupid crazy expensive. Doing a quick search online (booking.com) the prices are pretty expensive but I realize it’s a prime month (June) and that’s probably what the rates are.Someone we met on our trip told us they were just at Yellowstone and to stay in West Yellowstone as it’s a great area but we never got any info as to where they stayed. It looks like you could even stay in ID but having never been there I don’t know if this will work?

Steve @IdahoRanger I’m not sure where you are in respect to this area but do you know if there’s anywhere in ID that’s within a short distance to Yellowstone? We’d be willing to cut out Glacier NP if we had to but we really wanted to try and do all three of possible. For those who have been to these areas how much time would you allow at each of the three places? We’re also thinking of heading back over to South Dakota (time permitting) because we both really loved it there. We’re thinking 2-4 days at Grand Tetons, 5-7 days at Glacier, 5-7 days at Yellowstone and possibly 7 days (or more) back in South Dakota. Does this sound right or should I adjust our time at any one place? I already found a place in SD which is a cabin that we’d most likely stay at so any help with the other 3 areas would be greatly appreciated!

Dave, I'm way over on the SW corner of ID 4-5 hours away. Haven't been to Yellowstone for 30 years or so and stayed in West Yellowstone back then. We have Glacier NP on our to do list as well. So much to see and so little time so hopefully now in retirement we can see a few things. If your trip brings you to SW or west central mountains of ID near McCall we can accommodate you. If you haven't done a jet boat trip they are a lot of fun and available on the Snake or the Salmon River over here.

 

[BettaRanga]

That sounds awesome. Yellowstone is on my bucket list. My wife spent a few summers there and loves it so it won’t be a hard sell.

Just need my kids to be older or find somewhere to stash them

Heading to Grandfather Mountain area in western NC in October. I’ll be sure to get some picks of Ranger in the mountains!

 

[Flowgod]

Hey Dave, I was just up in the Tetons last week actually. If you wanted to go to Yellowstone and the Tetons you could stay in Ashton ID or Island Park ID. Island Park is more north and closer to west Yellowstone. Ashton is still a ways away from both but still a very pretty area and is more west of the Tetons. You could look at Tetonia and around Driggs as well. The Tetons in my opinion are one of the most beautiful places on earth

 

[BryanJay]

I did Yellowstone and Grand Teton in Sept 2018, both are well worth the trip. Spent 5 days total, and could have probably spent 2-3 more days in each park, there’s a lot to see and do in both places. A few things I learned…. 1) Parking is a major PITA anywhere in the park. I had a pretty rigid plan that died around noon on day 1. For the more popular places, expect to wait for parking, or take off and see something else, then go back later. Flexibility makes for a happier trip. 2) I stayed at Grant Village all 5 days. That was really convenient for the south half of the park and for Grand Teton, not so much the north end - by the time I got around to the Mammoth Hot Springs area it was already noon and everything was packed. My plan for the next visit is to move my home base around, a day or two in each section of the park. That way I’m hoping to be at the various attractions early enough to find parking and enjoy my day. 3) The park is bigger than it seems on the map - speed limits are posted 40 or 45 and really it’s pretty hard to do much more than that even if you wanted to. 4) People get excited to see Old Faithful first - really, the Old Faithful area is the only place where parking isn’t much of an issue, the lots are huge. You can really see that area any time, and if you do all of the trails it’s easy to kill an afternoon or more.

 

[Flowgod]

I did Yellowstone and Grand Teton in Sept 2018, both are well worth the trip. Spent 5 days total, and could have probably spent 2-3 more days in each park, there’s a lot to see and do in both places. A few things I learned…. 1) Parking is a major PITA anywhere in the park. I had a pretty rigid plan that died around noon on day 1. For the more popular places, expect to wait for parking, or take off and see something else, then go back later. Flexibility makes for a happier trip. 2) I stayed at Grant Village all 5 days. That was really convenient for the south half of the park and for Grand Teton, not so much the north end - by the time I got around to the Mammoth Hot Springs area it was already noon and everything was packed. My plan for the next visit is to move my home base around, a day or two in each section of the park. That way I’m hoping to be at the various attractions early enough to find parking and enjoy my day. 3) The park is bigger than it seems on the map - speed limits are posted 40 or 45 and really it’s pretty hard to do much more than that even if you wanted to. 4) People get excited to see Old Faithful first - really, the Old Faithful area is the only place where parking isn’t much of an issue, the lots are huge. You can really see that area any time, and if you do all of the trails it’s easy to kill an afternoon or more.

The crowds are what has started deterring me from going there. It is just the reality of Yellowstone though. If I were to go again I would go sometime in the spring or fall. Maybe it would be less busy during those times?

 

[BryanJay]

The crowds are what has started deterring me from going there. It is just the reality of Yellowstone though. If I were to go again I would go sometime in the spring or fall. Maybe it would be less busy during those times?

One of the reasons I went in September - we don’t have kids so first preference is always to take time off while school is in session. Thins out the herd, so to speak. Our parks in Canada are just as bad now, if you’re not to where you want to be by 9:00am, you’re likely not getting in.

i really enjoyed the parks in the fall, it was still fairly warm during the day but cooled down nicely in the evenings. Also saw lots of wildlife that might have been up in the high country in the dead of summer - there’s something about seeing a couple hundred bison crossing the road in front of you.

 

[AzScorpion]

Dave, I'm way over on the SW corner of ID 4-5 hours away. Haven't been to Yellowstone for 30 years or so and stayed in West Yellowstone back then. We have Glacier NP on our to do list as well. So much to see and so little time so hopefully now in retirement we can see a few things. If your trip brings you to SW or west central mountains of ID near McCall we can accommodate you. If you haven't done a jet boat trip they are a lot of fun and available on the Snake or the Salmon River over here.

Thanks Steve and I appreciate the offer!! This trip seems a little harder to put together because like everyone has said Yellowstone is so large it's hard to make one place a good home base. I'm still tossing around a few different ideas one one being going straight up to Glacier then east to South Dakota again for a more relaxing time there. Then doing Yellowstone and Grand Teton next year so I have more time to plan it and stay there longer. Or maybe Yellowstone/Glacier to SD and Glacier next year? This past trip was really fun but we really never had time to relax so the next one we want a mix of both.

I've done something similar down in FL. I went on an air boat ride through the everglades years ago and it was really cool. There were Gators everywhere and it stopped at this little island and all these monkeys came out of the trees wanting to jump onboard. lol

 

[AzScorpion]

That sounds awesome. Yellowstone is on my bucket list. My wife spent a few summers there and loves it so it won’t be a hard sell.

Just need my kids to be older or find somewhere to stash them

Heading to Grandfather Mountain area in western NC in October. I’ll be sure to get some picks of Ranger in the mountains!

Sounds like a fun trip you have planned Mike, looking forward to seeing all the pictures.

? Wasn't there a post I made recently about putting the kids in the back seat without seatbelts? Kidding of course!

 

[AzScorpion]

Hey Dave, I was just up in the Tetons last week actually. If you wanted to go to Yellowstone and the Tetons you could stay in Ashton ID or Island Park ID. Island Park is more north and closer to west Yellowstone. Ashton is still a ways away from both but still a very pretty area and is more west of the Tetons. You could look at Tetonia and around Driggs as well. The Tetons in my opinion are one of the most beautiful places on earth

Great info Seth Thx!! I'll look into all those places and see if I can make something work. I don't mind driving a bit but if you're having to do it every day it gets old quickly, especially at the end of the day when you're tired. Do you think that 4 days in Tetons be enough? I'll have almost 2 weeks to divide between Yellowstone and Tetons before heading over to SD.

 

[Bob902]

Glacier is on my list, too.

 

[AzScorpion]

I did Yellowstone and Grand Teton in Sept 2018, both are well worth the trip. Spent 5 days total, and could have probably spent 2-3 more days in each park, there’s a lot to see and do in both places. A few things I learned…. 1) Parking is a major PITA anywhere in the park. I had a pretty rigid plan that died around noon on day 1. For the more popular places, expect to wait for parking, or take off and see something else, then go back later. Flexibility makes for a happier trip. 2) I stayed at Grant Village all 5 days. That was really convenient for the south half of the park and for Grand Teton, not so much the north end - by the time I got around to the Mammoth Hot Springs area it was already noon and everything was packed. My plan for the next visit is to move my home base around, a day or two in each section of the park. That way I’m hoping to be at the various attractions early enough to find parking and enjoy my day. 3) The park is bigger than it seems on the map - speed limits are posted 40 or 45 and really it’s pretty hard to do much more than that even if you wanted to. 4) People get excited to see Old Faithful first - really, the Old Faithful area is the only place where parking isn’t much of an issue, the lots are huge. You can really see that area any time, and if you do all of the trails it’s easy to kill an afternoon or more.

Thanks for the info Bryan! That's exactly what I don't want to do is to be in one area that's to far a drive to get to others and spend a lot of time getting there. Sounds like it might be good to stay near Tetons for a few days then move more North for the rest. All the parks we were at last month were pretty much packed just after 9-10am. We're usually up early and try to get there by 7am the latest to beat the crowds to the main attractions.

At Arches NP we were coming down from Delicate Arch around 11am (Our timed entry was for 7am) and it looked like a heard of ants invading a picnic going up. Most kids don't want to get up early so you can beat the traffic doing the popular ones really early.

 

[DrewKD88]

Checkout Xanterra for reservations in Yellowstone. I've averaged $140 - $180/night staying in Cabins inside each National Park.

For Yellowstone I've stayed in the cabins at Old Faithful. More private than the hotel options and within walking distance to Old Faithful. It took me about two minutes to walk to. You can see the geyser go off through some of the cabin windows.

For Grand Tetons I've stayed at the cabins near Lake Jenny. The laundry facilities were nice to have on a long trip. Restaurant overlooking the lake was nice. Had the eggs and trout for breakfast.

I suggest doing the Grand Loop......although I don't know if the roads are still there.

 

[AzScorpion]

Checkout Xanterra for reservations in Yellowstone. I've averaged $140 - $180/night staying in Cabins inside each National Park.

For Yellowstone I've stayed in the cabins at Old Faithful. More private than the hotel options and within walking distance to Old Faithful. It took me about two minutes to walk to. You can see the geyser go off through some of the cabin windows.

For Grand Tetons I've stayed at the cabins near Lake Jenny. The laundry facilities were nice to have on a long trip. Restaurant overlooking the lake was nice. Had the eggs and trout for breakfast.

I suggest doing the Grand Loop......although I don't know if the roads are still there.

Great info thanks Drew! I'd much rather stay in a cabin, like you said they're a lot more private than a hotel. We stayed in a couple this past trip and loved them. Plus you won't have some kid running around upstairs at 1am.

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