If you want something a little different, rather than I-80 across NVm go south on US 93 just after you cross the border from UT and spend the night in Ely. Then drive the Loneliest Road in the US, Route 50. A brief side trip to Virginia City, then maybe an overnight along Lake Tahoe before Yosemite.

If you take I-80, I don't see any reason to stop before Reno, but Winnemucca offers more than the other towns along way if you need to stop before Reno.

I love boom_boom's suggestion to drop down to Route 50. It's one of my favorite roads but it will add about 100 miles and a couple more hours of driving time. There are a lot of things to see on Route 50 that will give you short breaks though the day! Hickison Petroglyphs, Pony Express Stations, Sand Mountain, historic old town, Grimes Point Petroglyphs, Carson City the Capitol and if you continue on Hwy 50 you will get to Lake Tahoe.

http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2033/travel.html

If you only have two days to travel from Yellowstone/Grand Tetons to Yosemite you won't have a lot of time for Lake Tahoe, but just driving along the coast will let you see it's beauty!

You will get to see Yosemite high country and Tuolumne Meadows as you enter the park. Make sure you stop at Olmsted Point on your way though Yosemite! If it were me, I'd spend my full day in Yosemite in Yosemite Valley.

Utahtea

Canyon Lodge is right in the middle of the figure eight (that's the best way to describe the YNP drive). Drive times in the park will be very, very slow going due to traffic, bear jams and all the stops for scenic lookouts. I might consider leaving off Cody and giving that extra night to the park. There is a rodeo in Jackson that is fun and entertaining. Granted I have never been to Cody but I have been to the park five times and would still go back again and again.

I might consider going from SLC to JH staying the night there then driving up to Gardiner spending the night there then driving out and back in the Lamar Valley spending the night at Canyon and then finishing up the lower loop with the last night back in JH and then heading to CA from there. This way you can also drive thru Teton NP which is unbelievably spectacular and you would also see the West Thumb Geyser Basin, one of the best IMHO. Also, you will make it to the overlook that Ansel Adams made famous.

classic.mapquest.com to S Lake Tahoe Tioga Pass yosemite.com

roadtripusa.com other options

best for me very scenic lots to do Ahwanee my fav

Wawona if budget but cheapest rooms have shared baths no fun.

Book ahead in peak season...

Happy Travels,

Buy your gas in Nevada (Winnemucca Reno or Carson City).
I paid $4.999/gallon in Bridgeport, CA earlier this month.
Don't go over Tioga Pass with less than half a tank.

Just seeing this posting - what a wonderful trip!!! Are you still planning to spend time in Jackson/Tetons? I hope so as the Tetons are just magnificant even if you just drive through the park and look from afar - totally different than Yellowstone and Yosemite due to the way they were formed and they just seem to rise out of nowhere! Even better is a short hike on one of the trails near the base (cascade canyon is probably the most popular and can be as short/long as you like).

Here's some input on the driving as well as a few Yosemite tips that will hopefully help you.

Whether you start in Jackson or West Yellowstone might impact your routing going towards I80 - (i.e., cut through the corner of Idaho or head south through Utah).

Once in Nevada, I've always taken I-80 - usually to Reno and then south on 395 as it is more scenic IMO than south on H95. I've never taken Route 50 so defer to other posters there. However, I will say that in my many trips between CA and Yellowstone to visit my family in MT, our biggest challenge is in where to spend the night in Nevada! As you will see on the Nevada map, there aren't really that many ways to go (I-80, Route 50, or I suppose Route 6)and depending on your routing, you are looking at a 17-19 hour drive WITHOUT stops. So, yes it is definitely possible in two days but you really don't have the luxury of a lot of stops so you will want to be strategic and prioritize where/when to stop. For example, if you only have two days after you get to Yosemite and want to prioritize entering by the east to see the Tuolumne meadows on the day you arrive, you will want to get there during the daylight. Therefore, that means you need to try to get as far as possible into Nevada on the first day in order to make it to Tuolumne in time. I recall that I could get to Reno from the Yellowstone area in roughly 13 hours or Winnemucca in about 10 hours on I-80 but that is pretty much driving straight with minimal stops. So, that leaves you with a much shorter second day to enjoy the journey down 395 and get to the Yosemite in daylight. I'm not sure you would have time for a side trip to Tahoe unless you got up really early or made it to Reno on day 1.
I suggest you do some playing around on google maps to see the timings.

Stopping for the night - Also, maybe I'm unlucky but I often tried to play it by ear in Nevada to see how far I could get on I-80 before stopping for the night and have been surprised to have difficulty finding a motel room in Winnemucca or even Reno! I know it may seem shocking to not find a hotel/motel in Reno due to the hordes of casino hotel/motels but when you are in a car calling around all the main players, then the second main players, then the third, etc. etc, it becomes frustrating! Same happened to us in Winnemucca and we finally got a room at the 7th motel we tried (starting from the nicest looking Best Western and Holiday Inn and asking the employees to recommend in order of niceness) and let's just say that I wouldn't walk on the carpet in bare feet and I'm not really that squeamish. Again, maybe bad luck on my part but I think that because there are so few towns in Nevada, if you show up at 8pm at night, you may have some challenges so consider calling ahead.

On one trip, we did find a motel in the tiny town of Lovelock when we couldn't find a hotel in Winnemucca and were too tired to push to Reno. Was also pretty bad but dirt cheap (like $40)!

On to Yosemite - keep trying to in-park lodgings as you never know if something might pop up on a cancellation. The most likely option to come up is Curry Camp which are tent cabins as you may have seen. We love car camping so Curry Camp is great IF you don't mind a camping style of experience with shared bath/shower facilities etc.

Otherwise, Mariposa, Groveland (on H120), or anywhere you can find ideally as close as possible. Since you plan to come into the park thru Tuolumne, I recommend one full day in the valley and the other day could be driving up to Glacier point, Mariposa grove, etc. Also depends if you are big hikers as there are so many great hikes out/around the valley floor. If you haven't found it yet, there is an "unofficial" yosemite website called yosemitefun.com that you MUST check out as it tells you all sorts of things about Yosemite and has lots of pictures, etc. I go on this website when I miss Yosemite and want to see what's going on there.

Good luck!

Thank you all!

You have given me some great suggestions in your answers. I will pretty much copy the itinerary proposed by Utahtea and boom-boom

odie1 - I am having some difficulties organizing the Yellowstone days without any real life experience.

I figuered we start from West Yellowstone as it is closest to the entrance. If we do the upper loop (+detour to lamar valley) on the first day, and sleep at the canyon lodge, the lower loop the second day, and exit to Cody for the rodeo, the third day we drive in from Cody, spend the day on the lower loop and exit to Jackson Hole.

I will probably plan for us to leave Jackson Hole after lunch, after a two hour mountain trail ride in the morning, and drive via Twin Falls to Wells where we will stay the night (6 1/2 hour drive). Next day we drive from Wells via Hwy 50 to South Lake Tahoe (approx 7 hour drive + stops). The day after we will take Hwy 395 south to Lee Vining and enter Yosemite on Tioga Pass, hwy 120(approx 4 hour drive + stops).

In theory it sounds good, and will even give us one evening by Lake Tahoe.

What do you think?


thanks also tomfuller for the very valuable tip on where to get gas, and NorCal-Jo for the yellowstone site!

At Tuolumne Meadows is High Sierra Camp. Tent cabins and family style dining by chefs from the Ahwanee Hotel. If your timing is right.

Thanks BillJ for your tip.

I have had incredible luck with in-park lodging in Yellowstone,
but no luck at all with Yosemite.

Even outside lodging(I am thinking Mariposa)is really hard to find.

grendel-

So when you come back in from Cody, are you planning on doing some backtracking? Meaning going back up to the west entrance and then turning around and coming back down?

The boat ride across Jenny Lake and hike upto hidden falls, while very popular, is also a fantastic hike.

odie1, I have had incredible luck with Yellowstone lodging. I booked everything that came up (starting with the canyon lodge), and finally I could even choose from different options.

The result:

Drive up from Bryce Canyon (We skip SLC to add one extra day to Yellowstone). First night in Old Faithful Inn (!!), second night in Mammoth Frontier Cabin, third night in Canyon Lodge, fourth night in Cody, fifth night in Jackson Hole.

I would love a boat ride followed by a fantastic hike! Jenny Lake is close to Jackson Hole, right? I wonder if we would have time to drive from Cody to Jackson Hole and do the hike on that same day? The day after I am planning for us to do a 2 hour mountain trail ride out of Jackson in the morning, before driving west.

I imagine the Jenny Lake hike is a hike you need to book if you are taking a boat ride? Thank you for the tip, I will google it right away!