4Kristi

We would like to see the above 4 destinations. Starting in Portland Oregon. What is the best way to travel between these sites? Our thoughts are to Fly to South Dakota then drive back. We are open to trains/planes and automobiles. Has anyone else done this trip? Any suggestions are welcome.
It will be 2 couples and hoping for July or August of 2018.

Michael

If cost is an issue, driving from Portland might be the cheapest way of doing it. If time is an issue, flying would be better.

I would figure out a round trip from Portland by car, going first to the South Dakota and then coming back via Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

StantonHyde

Have you searched trip reports and other queries here? This is a fairly popular route.

emalloy

Are you thinking of doing it this July or August? If so lodging in/near the parks will be a problem. You should see if you can make reservations now.

Do you like long road trips? If not, Mt. Rushmore is the outlier, not really all that close to the other parks, probably an 8 hour drive to Jackson Hole, but if you fly, less than an hour from Rapid City. How much time total do you want to spend?

If you just do Jackson Hole, the Tetons and Yellowstone then you could fly in/out of Jackson or Billings or Bozeman and do a loop or into Jackson and out of one of the others.

Be prepared for a large drop fee if you return a rental car to a different city from where you get it.

Try to figure out if you want a long road trip and can get lodging where and when you need it. Then see if the costs and time considerations make sense for driving, hotels along the way, car rental, gas, etc. compared to flying, doing a loop to all 4 sites etc,

Do as StantonHyde suggests, use the search box at the top of the page to find TRs that others have posted for ideas.

Best of luck.