hope_t

first visit – Glacier and Yellowstone. I, my husband, 12 years old daughter, and our friend’s 9 years old girl will be traveling for 2,5 weeks at the end of July.
We reserved air tickets and hotels in both parks. But we need a help with a few itinerary points. Our itinerary was made around available hotels at the parks:

July 16 - arrive into Missoula, MT afternoon, drive toward to West Glacier and stay at the hotel outside of Glacier (Question A - where?)

17 – 23 at Glacier
Lake McDonald Logde 1 night
Village Inn at Apgar 2 nights
Swiftcurrent Motor Inn 1 night
Rising Sun Motor Inn 2 nights

July 23 (Wednesday)- drive from St Mary area toward Yellowstone and stay overnight in Helena (Question B - where? Other options?)

July 24 – August 1 - at Yellowstone (arrive to North entrance)
Mammoth hot springs hotel 2 nights
Grant Village 1 night
Old Faithful lodge 1 night
No reservation yet for 1 night (Question C- should we stay at Grant Village? - may find vacancies)
Grant Village 1 night
Canyon Lodge 2 nights

1 of August(Friday) drive from Yellowstone and stay overnight in Bozeman (Question D - where? Next day we have yearly flight, may save $ on car rent for this day)
2 of August 7:00 am flight to DC from Bozeman

Also I am open to any advises how to handle 2 girls at the parks – they are good hikers, have stayed at overnight camps

utahtea

Yellowstone is Mother Natures Disneyland, if they like the outdoors, your daughter's will love the park.

If you want to find wildlife get out early in the morning or at dusk to go driving around. Hayden Valley is an excellent place for wildlife, but you can find it in all areas of the park. Our boys liked to have wildlife contest, who spotted what and how many.

Utahtea

monpetit

In Glacier, a nice hike is Swiftcurrent pass trail-perhaps only the first part with your daughters :
it's easy and a lot of chance to encounter moose, bear, deer,...
Some falls and 3 lakes(redrock falls, fishead lake, redrock lake and bullheadlake : possibility to swimm,...).
Another nice hike is to Grinnel Glacier, and possibility to avoid the beginning by taking a boat ride to Josephine lake.
Try to begin early to avoid crowds, but not too early to avoid bears from too close...
Iceberg and Craker lakes trail are other ideas, but sometimes closed due to bear activity...
At Swiftcurrent the garden restaurant is perfect for families.
At morning the combo are terrific and enough in size to content 2 people with one plate...
With my wife, we take a combo and their muffins sampler...
In the west part, the drive to Logan lake worth the miles : it's like to be in a Disney's cartoon(donald as ranger in a canoe..).
Avalanche lake is easy to hike, Snyder lake, trailhead just acroos lake Mc Dionald lodge is nice not too strenous, without crowd and a lot of berries...
Erik
NB : I have made a trip report of our 2 weeks in Montana last year.

letsgo39

Why are you staying at so many different locations at each park? I have been to Glacier and Yelloestone several times and never moved around that much.Seems to me your going to be spending lots of time packing up and moving.That said,Glacier will take your breadth away!It's beautiful.

monpetit

i ask myself the same questions, but I think the "hotel's schedule" has been based upon availability...
If not, I think Swiftcurrent would be better for the 3 nights in the east part and or village inn or lake Mc Donald lodge in the west part.
Erik

hope_t

utahtea - thank you for your info – it make me feel little happier with "natural" entertainment
monpetit - you red my mind about food question ( I will be responsible for "cooking" It make me worried how much food will cost for entire trip. I will check your trip report
letsgo39 – lack of good planning - we didn’t have a choice – it was only available places for us when we did our reservation in January

letsgo39

Hope t

I would check back again with those hotels as many people are cancelling trips due to the high cost of gas.Something else might have opened up by now.Three days at each side of the park would be ideal.A horseback ride into the park might be fun for the girls.I believe this is offered by Mcdonald Lodge and several other outfitters.. We have ridden many times on the west and east side of Glacier but we are horse people so what is fun for us might not be fun for someone else.Whitewater rafting out of Jackson is really a blast too.The boat ride and than the hike to Grinnel Glacier in Glacier Park is a great idea.When we go to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole we stay at a ranch called Turpin Meadow Ranch in Moran. Great family place with lots of activities and easy access to Jackson,Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.It's near the south entrance.