trevor01

Hi
Can anyone please advise a schedule for my son and myself for visiting Yellowstone in early September. We have 6 days after arriving in Jackson before we leave from there for visiting area. Hopefully we should have already hiked to bottom of Grand Canyon and back. We don't want to just stay in car and would also like to reach Rapid City if possible. Any suggestions please? Thanks
Trevor

utahtea

I'm a little confused so lets see if I have this right. You will be arriving in Jackson and have 6 days to see the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and get to Rapid City. Seems like enought time.

1 day in the Grand Tetons
1 day in Old Faithful & geyser areas
1 day for Lake, Canyon, Mudpots, Thumb area
1 day for Norris Geyser, Mammoth Hot Springs and Roosevelt and exit the park on the Beartooth Highway maybe spending the night at Red Lodge or going back down to Cody, WY.
1 night on the road at Gillette or before
Last day take a detour up to Devils Tower, WY, Black Hills and Deadwood, SC before arrving in Rapid City on the 6th day.

Utahtea

Photodog

If you are interested in hiking in Yellowstone would suggest Hiking the Yellowstone Backcountry by Orville E. Bach, Jr published by Sierra Club or Yellowstone Trails by Mark C.Marschall. For the Tetons, Hiking the Teton Backcountry by Paul Lawrence a Sierra Club book or Teton Trails by Katy Duffy and Darwin Wile.
Custer State Park, south of Rapid City is a great park (their bison roundup is at end of Sept) and not that far away from it is Badlands National Park.
If you are into caves, Jewel Cave and Wind Caves National Parks are also in the vicinity. Also Mt. Rushmore.
In the fall there is a very colorful road trip through Spearfish Canyon near Spearfish, SD.
If you plan on visiting a number of national parks/monuments might want to consider getting a National Parks Pass for $50. Good for entrance for calendar year at all parks or monuments.

trevor01

Thanks for help, this gives me a good starting point.On the 6th day need to be back in Jackson for flight back to UK. Maybe we'll have to give Rapid City a miss. Thanks

utahtea

trevor01,

I didn't realize you had to be back in Jackson on the 6th day. I would save Rapid City for another time. You will find plenty to do in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone area to fill up your time. I would suggest doing the Beartooth Highway and coming back into the park via Cody, WY. This is a very scenic drive!

Utahtea

trevor01

Thanks Utahtea
Any suggestions on lodging. Would it be best to have 1 base in Yellowstone or use 2or 3. Would prefer 1 base but would suspect distances may be best covered by using a couple.

bob_brown

Rapid City is too little bang for the buck this trip. I suggest going to the geyser basins first, followed by the canyon and the falls of the Yellowstone River.

Now, if you have no idea what a geyser is or how one works, or why they are so rare and marvellous, you can perhaps see one and then go. But if you are like me, I spend hours around them.
My favorite is Grand Geyser which puts on quite a show.
To see it, one must be either lucky or be prepared to wait for a while.

The Beartooth route is very scenic.
I have done it several times, as recently as last September. Would I do it again? Yes. In a flash.

I do feel compelled to ask you if you have lodging plans yet? Some rooms are still available at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge and Canyon, but don't wait much longer.

utahtea

It would probably be better to have two locations to save some driving but it's not totally necessary. I would shoot for the Old Faithful area as my first choice. If you go for two areas then add Mammoth, Canyon or Lake.

If for some reason you can't get lodging in Yellowstone, then I would suggest W. Yellowstone, MT.

Utahtea