mitzi56

Im planning a trip this comming mid-may 2011 to yellowstone with my sister , and we would also like to see the grand tetons as well during our 8 day trip, but... what are the chances of squeezing in a 2 day trip to glacier national park as well?
We will be flying into jackson hole and renting a vehichle from there, We would also like to try a one day guided tour through yellowstone and a one day tour throgh the grand tetons to become familiar with them and maybe stay in jackson to have access to both parks for the 4 -5 days. Then maybe take a trip to glacier from there for another two days. then return our car by the eighth day and fly back home.
Are we asking too much? As this is a once in a lifetime trip for my sister , but I may return again some time. And is mid may going to be really bad weather season?
If this is unreasonable and going to push us too hard to really enjoy the parks views and wildlife then does anyone have any suggestions on wich parks would be the best to see and how much time should we spend at each park?
I have my travel agent slowly working on this now so I would love to get the best opnions on this idea
thanks for any help and suggestions you can give and I love this forum!!!

starrs

Yes, if you fly into Jackson and fly out of Kalispell (or another airport further north). There are several trip reports from this summer describing similar trips. Later in the season - even by a couple of weeks - may be better weather wise. I wouldn't use Jackson as a base for both GTNP and YNP. Use Jackson for a base for a couple of days in GTNP, then move on to Yellowstone for a couple of days (staying in the park if possible) then drive up to Glacier with an overnight in between and then Glacier for a couple of days. The Going to the Sun road won't be open then, but you can still both "halves" and have a great trip.

I sincerely recommend you read some trip reports and Fodors info (see links above) to get ideas rather have a travel agent book the trip. I was shocked to see how many travel agents book trips to "Yellowstone" using Jackson as a base, and the tours only go up to Old Faithful and that is it for Yellowstone. Personally, I prefer driving myself in the park vs tours but I loved the open air vintage buses (red jammers in Glacier) and was glad to let them do the driving for a couple of hours

mitzi56

Ya im more of an explorer myself, but my sister would feel better if we could have a bit of a tour to give us an idea on wich directions to go to and maybe advice from the tour operator on what areas to definatly hit, but i see your point and i will definatly use fodors as an idea on which areas would be the best to see. and print some out,and still take a one day tour to appease my sister who gets very nervous about trips into the wild lol. Im sure there are plenty of signs throughout the parks so between that and a GPS im feeling pretty confident.
You suggested using the links above? are you talking about the tags such as destination and trip ideas ect? you also suggested flying out of kalispell or another airport further north? is this the closer version from glacier if we do that last on the trip? REmember I have no geographical know-how so im trying to understand. Im also confused about the sun road and getting both halves? Halves of what lol? do you mean between glacier and yellowstone/grand tetons?
Yes I know the weather will still be very cold but the travel agent so far has said that many of the hotels will be open by that time and we love snow as long as its not to deep to drive in. we might get a four wheel drive rental just in case.
Im assuming your suggesting staying in jackson for a couple of days due to ynp being such a big park it would be a waste of travel time correct? then going into the park for 3-4 days in order to be closer to the sceneries and wildlife early in the morning, which we are planning on doing. Ok so far I think i got what your suggesting and it sounds good, now remeber we will be having our own vehicle to do our traveling as we will be renting one, the one day tour is just to relax the first day when we arrive and get a feel for the parks. so we have an idea of where to go. But we will have to return that vehicle most likely to the same airport, but ill check on that too.
thanks for your help and if i dont have it right then just reply to this and thanks a whole lot!!

starrs

Let's see...
Reading a guidebook or a trip report will help you, but let's give this a shot.
You can rent a car in Jackson and drop it off at Kalispell.
Yes, if you want to add in Glacier NP then make it a one way trip. It's too far to return the car back to Jackson WY from Glacier NP in 8 days.
The parks are easy to navigate and drive.

GTP = small. One main road that will take you from Jackson through the park to the entrance to Yellowstone NP in just about an hour. So, if you allot 2 days to Grand Teton NP, you can ride that main road many times, or take the small roads that go off of it many times. It's pretty hard to get lost in the Tetons. Jackson Hole is the vally and Jackson is the town and you are surrounded by the most gorgeous mountains you can imagine - but it's pretty darn hard to get lost in that valley. If you have a GPS even better. Take a look at a map of Grand Teton NP and you'll see what I mean.

Now, Yellowstone is huge, but it's just as easy to navigate. There are two loop roads and they meet to form a figure 8. The roads were set up so there's a major intersection with a place to sleep about every 30 miles or so and there's a smaller place to stop and have a picnic in between. It was set up that way when the original visitors took the railroad in to Livingston MT, got on one of the open air tour buses. Back then folks paid for a week long tour and they stopped at a different place each night and at the midway point for lunch.

So, if you are in Yellowstone, you can go in any direction on the figure 8 but you are going to loop back around on the same big 8 that's made up of two loops - the upper loop and the lower loop. Take a look at a map to see what I mean.

There are some roads that lead in to the figure 8 - one from the south coming in from Grand Teton NP, one from the west coming in from West Yellowstone, one from the NE coming in from Cody WY, etc. Those are towns outside the park that you can stay in regular hotel rooms, but it's much nicer to stay in the park in one of the park's lodges or cabins.

Take a tour if you like tours, but GTNP and YNP are easily navigated without one.

The biggest question you'll have is what route you want to take from Yellowstone to Glacier. It's a long drive on regular roads with regular hotel options etc.

Once you get to Glacier, you're at a big park. There's an entrance at the west boundary and an entrance on the east on the eastern boundary. For a short time in the summer, there's a road that goes through the park that is one of the prettiest drives anywhere on the Going to the Sun Road. You'll be there before the pass is open, so you'll have to drive in Glacier on one half of the road and go back out of the road. Repeat on the other side. Hwy 2 runs south of the park and connects them. One of my favorite photography location is on Hwy 2 at the Goat Lick. Stop there (when you see the other cars pulled off the side of the road) and take pictures of goats in the canyon below. It looks like a scene out of Switzerland.

Good luck. We took this trip this summer and it was wonderful. I'd been to each of the parks before but this was the first time I'd done all three together.
Fly into Jackson, WY pick up a rental car and drop it off at Kalispell, MT and fly home from there.

mitzi56

sounds like a neat plan mostly the goat views lol ok i will proceed with a plan thanks a lot for your help
mitzi56

emalloy

Mitzi, starrs has given you good advice. Do get the 4 wheel drive car, when we went to Yellowstone in late June we hit snow but the roads stayed open. In May if the snow is too deep they will close some of the roads. It is nice to visit when there are no big crowds, and you do want to stay in the park, even might want to use two different bases for lodging. The baby bison and elk should be everywhere when you go. Have a great trip.

happytrailstoyou

I wish I could encourage you, but I see two problems with this plan: too early in the season and too few days.

For instance, with regard to Glacier NP: "While portions of this scenic route remain open year-round, for the next 8-10 years, weather permitting, the entire Going-to-the-Sun Road will be open for vehicle access from mid-June to mid-September. Before and after this core summer season, accelerated road work will be allowed and sections of the road will be closed."

HTTY

ElendilPickle

I agree with happytrailstoyou. Go to Yellowstone's website (I'm having difficulty opening it, but it should be http://www.nps.gov/yell ) and check to see which roads will be open in mid-May.,

Lee Ann

starrs

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it looks like if "mid-May" is after May 13th the roads will be open.

starrs

mitzi, the interactive map at that link ^^^^ is very handy.

Here's a listing of the facility openings. Again, mid-May looks good.

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisi...closedates.htm

Carrabella

Mitzi, if you meet two old Aussies in Yellowstone mid May, it may be DH and me! Just to compare - it will be our fourth trip, and we've decided to go for four days. We'll drive up from Salt Lake City, through the Tetons, left round the bottom of the figure 8 loop past Old Faithful, and stay in West Yellowstone for the four days, because it's a whole lot cheaper than inside the park, and conveniently in the middle of the Figure 8 loop.. If by some chance the road is still closed through the Tetons, then we'll take Route 20. (This happened to us the very first time we went)

I don't think a tour is necessary,really. Everything is well sign posted, and it is fun to discover things on your own. You can read all about what to see and when on the NPS site, as above. We've never used a travel agent - but the AAA maps are excellent, as is the information on this site. Happy travels!

spirobulldog

My opinion. You can't do everything you mention in 8 Days. I think there is a very good chance that half of the roads in Yellowstone will be closed. I think there is a very very good chance that the main road in Glacier will be closed.

Stick with Yellowstone/Tetons and if you go go Mid-June would be far better. Get lodging ASAP, whatever you end up doing.

Connie

Yes, it can be done in 8 days BUT the road across Glacier (Going to the Sun Road) will not be open until late June/early July. In my opinion, there is no reason to go all the way up to Glacier if you can't do the road--it is Glacier for most people. Some of the Yellowstone roads may not be open yet either--just depends on snow fall.

starrs

Here's an article from today that talks about Glacier in seasons other than summer -
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/art...or-all-seasons