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Need help planning trip to Yellowstone

1101 Views 22 Replies 6 Participants Last post by bigskyguy, Jul 9, 2009

roc865

Discussion Starter · Jun 29, 2009

Hello everyone.
I'm in the process of planning a trip to Yellowstone and not sure where to start.
Should I stay just outside of the park at Jackson, and than take a tour bus, or should I stay at Cody, rent a car and drive???
I really don't want to be doing alot of driving and would much rather do the bus/suv tour or something like that.
I would like to include on my list of activities, mtn.biking, fishing, nature/wildlife walks.

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roc865

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jun 29, 2009

i've also heard good things about Pinedale. That it's less touristy, cheaper prices, good fishing and everything else.

dir-T

· #3 · Jun 29, 2009

Pinedale is a pretty long drive from Yellowstone. In fact, if you stay in Jackson it will take you at least an hour of driving through Teton Nat'l Park to get to the south entrance of Yellowstone. Not that that's a bad thing but it will eat up time.

Taking a tour and letting someone else handle the driving in the Park is a great idea. The only drawback might be how to arrange for hiking if you wanted to do something other than what the tour group has planned.

roc865

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 29, 2009

dir-T said:
Pinedale is a pretty long drive from Yellowstone. In fact, if you stay in Jackson it will take you at least an hour of driving through Teton Nat'l Park to get to the south entrance of Yellowstone. Not that that's a bad thing but it will eat up time.

Taking a tour and letting someone else handle the driving in the Park is a great idea. The only drawback might be how to arrange for hiking if you wanted to do something other than what the tour group has planned.

should i stay in jackson and do a day tour?
is there anything to do in jackson? fishing excursions, hikes, etc maybe from the hotel?
jackson or cody?

split.therapy

· #5 · Jun 29, 2009

There are lots of options around Jackson. You can certainly go hiking and mtn. biking from town. Fishing would be a little tougher.
There are wildlife tour companies who do all the driving.
Hole Hiking Experience offer 1/2 and full day hikes with a naturalist and they will pick you up at your hotel.
You can rent mtn. bikes in town and ride the trails close to town.
There are numerous fishing guide services and the Snake River is just short drive west of town.
There are busses to Jackson Hole Mtn. Resort. There is good hiking around the resort plus the option of taking the tram up or down. There is the gondola as well.
I would say there is a lot more to do from Jackson than from Cody. Pinedale is too far away.

dir-T

· #6 · Jun 29, 2009

roc865 said:
should i stay in jackson and do a day tour?
QUOTE]

Do whatever you want. It depends on how interested you are in seeing Yellowstone versus seeing the area outside the park.

How long will you be visiting for? One day is not nearly long enough to see Yellowstone.

At the very least, you'll want one day to see the southern part of the figure 8 loop road and another day to see the northern. Even then, you'll only have time to see the roadside sites and to walk a few of the boardwalks around the geysers and hot springs etc. Throw in a couple "bear jams" and other delays and it can turn into an exhausting and hurried experience if you haven't given yourself enough time.

roc865

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 29, 2009

So what do you think about staying in Jackson, doing a few days of bus touring Yellowstone, and than I can hang out in Jackson and mtn bike, fish the rest of the days.

AlliKat

· #8 · Jun 29, 2009

I would plan your other excursions outside yellowstone as the park is pretty restrictive. I would recommend something like: stay at little yellowstone at south end. see lower half. stay somewhere near middle of figure 8. see middle section for a day. tour to north end and stay around mammoth. You can easily burn most of a day driving through the park if you go very far.

falcon guides has a good hiking book.

roc865

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 29, 2009

AlliKat said:
I would plan your other excursions outside yellowstone as the park is pretty restrictive. I would recommend something like: stay at little yellowstone at south end. see lower half. stay somewhere near middle of figure 8. see middle section for a day. tour to north end and stay around mammoth. You can easily burn most of a day driving through the park if you go very far.

falcon guides has a good hiking book.

What do you mean by stay at little Yellowstone? Stay at a hotel nearby?
Stay somewhere near middle of figure 8?? hotel near middle?

dir-T

· #10 · Jun 29, 2009

roc865 said:
What do you mean by stay at little Yellowstone? Stay at a hotel nearby?
Stay somewhere near middle of figure 8?? hotel near middle?

Yeah, Allikat is right about this. If you use Jackson as your base for multiple days of touring the park, you're going to cover the same route into the park each day you go there, wasting lots of time. It would be akin to sleeping somewhere in Pennsylvania every night during a three day tour of NYC. Don't underestimate the size of the park or how slow traffic moves in there.

Personally, I avoid Jackson like the plaque this time of year. It's a zoo with TONS of tourists. It's a cool town to visit but it's certainly not the only place around.

Where are you coming from? Flying? Which airport? How long do you have?

I've never heard of Little Yellowstone but there are towns with lodging adjacent to each of the entrances (except the south entrance where I think you only have one lodging option - Flagg Ranch). West Yellowstone, Gardiner, Cooke City, and Cody. You can also stay in the park at Mammoth, Old Faithful, and Lake but they are probably booked for the season.

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roc865

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 29, 2009

I'm flying in from Boston and looking at 5 days.

rideit

· #12 · Jun 29, 2009

We have some siiick riding and fishing over here in Teton Valley, IIdaho) shops to rent good bikes, etc. You might think about a night or two over here. Posibly stay at grand Targhee? There is a bus from Jackson that is dirt cheap, just a thought!

AlliKat

· #13 · Jun 30, 2009

my bad. it is west yellowstone. http://www.westyellowstonechamber.com/ it is much cheaper outside the park.

I went 9/20/2001. It was REALLY quiet then. I vaguely remember being there as a young kid and waiting and waiting behind granny driving the rented RV.

dir-T

· #14 · Jun 30, 2009

I recommend you look into the bus tours that Xanterra (the park's conscessionair company) runs. I assume they depart from Mammoth and West Yellowstone and the number of days/routes that they run will dictate much of your planning in terms of where you need to stay etc.

See if you can get a 2-day tour. That should give you enough time to see the main attractions along the Grand Loop road. Then you can use your other 3 days to fish and bike outside the park. You can hike in or out of the park on one of those days too.

roc865

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jul 1, 2009

So stay at a hotel outside the park on West Yellowstone?
Can you recommend a hotel?

AlliKat

· #16 · Jul 1, 2009

I stayed in a best western or something cheap. I view a hotel as a place to sleep and drop some junk. No roaches and I'm happy. Depends on your intent.

dir-T

· #17 · Jul 1, 2009

Yeah, that's the problem with asking locals about places to stay - I always sleep at home (or camp) when I visit Yellowstone

.

You may even consider staying in Bozeman. You could fly right into Bozeman and stay there. You could drive to West Yellowstone (1 hr 45 min drive) for your tour of the southern part of the park and the other day you could drive to Mammoth/Gardner (also 1 hr 45 minutes) to start your tour of the northern part. Both drives are gorgeous and there's plenty of fishing, biking, and hiking to do in Bozeman - without the same density of crowds as in Jackson and West Yellowstone.

Really, there's about a thousand different ways to do this trip but without knowing exactly what's most important to you in terms of sites, activities, and accomodations there's no way to give much more advice.

Good luck!

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roc865

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jul 1, 2009

AlliKat said:
I stayed in a best western or something cheap. I view a hotel as a place to sleep and drop some junk. No roaches and I'm happy. Depends on your intent.

i'd be perfectly happy with best western. all i need is a place to crash, recharge and head back out. i welcome cheap and roach free.

roc865

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jul 1, 2009

dir-T said:
Yeah, that's the problem with asking locals about places to stay - I always sleep at home (or camp) when I visit Yellowstone .

You may even consider staying in Bozeman. You could fly right into Bozeman and stay there. You could drive to West Yellowstone (1 hr 45 min drive) for your tour of the southern part of the park and the other day you could drive to Mammoth/Gardner (also 1 hr 45 minutes) to start your tour of the northern part. Both drives are gorgeous and there's plenty of fishing, biking, and hiking to do in Bozeman - without the same density of crowds as in Jackson and West Yellowstone.

Really, there's about a thousand different ways to do this trip but without knowing exactly what's most important to you in terms of sites, activities, and accomodations there's no way to give much more advice.

Good luck!

honestly i'm looking for two days yellowstone, possibly 1 of the days wildlife watching, 1 day fishing, 1 day biking. (i'm assuming it won't be hard to find a bike rental shop), with beer stops in between.

dir-T

· #20 · Jul 1, 2009

roc865 said:
with beer stops in between.

Ahhh, well THAT I can help with!

Lone Peak Brewing = Big Sky
Bozone Brewing = Bozeman
Madison River Brewing = Belgrade (down the road from Bozeman)
MT Ale Works = Bozeman
Neptun Brewery = Livingston (on the way to Mammoth from Bozeman)
Snake River Brewery = Jackson

There's probably a few more that I didn't list in the Jackson/Driggs area but I just don't know them.

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