We (husband, 16yo son, and I) spent three nights in Yellowstone in June 2010, one at the Old Faithful cabins, one at Mammoth Hot Springs cabins, and one at Canyon in a Pioneer cabin. We felt like this was enough time for us; maybe one more day in the Old Faithful area would have been good. It would also have been nice to spend a night in the Tower/Roosevelt area, but lodging was still closed in early June.

Your flight arrives late enough that I would spend my first night in Jackson. You'll probably be tired, and there will be enough animals on the roads to make driving at night somewhat hazardous.

Lee Ann

The Jackson airport is 7 miles north of Jackson. It is over 50 miles from the airport to Canyon. http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/transportation-&-travel-resources-195.html
Check the availability of Linx. If you could find 1 night lodging in Grand Teton, it might save you 14 mi. R/T to Jackson.
After they have seen Old Faithful erupt 3 times, the novelty will wear off for the kids.
Have you checked the prices for flights to other airports (Cody or Billings) and rental car prices?

It's about 120 miles from Jackson Airport to the canyon area. That's about a three hour drive.

I would sleep over in Jackson if you're arriving in the evening.

There are some excellent sights on the way taking the outside road.

Mormon Row barns with the Tetons in the background.
Schwabacher Landing.
Oxbow Bend.

You might be staying in Canyon a day or so too long.

You mentioned hiking some of Mt Washburn. Why some?

The Mt Washburn hike is not difficult at all. Essentially, it's a dirt road used to take supplies up to the ranger station. The problem isn't difficulty but lack of oxygen. The starting elevation is 8,800 ft and ending at 10,300 ft. Walk slowly, drink water, rest often and you'll all be fine. Sometimes there are big horn sheep of other wildlife on the trail.

Around OF you have the Inn and lodge cabins. The lodge cabins may either have private or shared facilities. Obviously the shared is less expensive that the private.

The OF area isn't about seeing Old Faithful erupt 3 times. Just wandering thru the Geyser Bsin at different times of the day is really interesting. There are many other geysers and they all look different.

Grand Prismatic Spring is amazing. Look for my trip report where I describe a short hike to an unofficial trail that takes you above GPS for an amazing view.

There are different kinds of wildlife all over the place. They're most active early and at dusk. So you want to be staying near those areas.

The Tetons are spectacular. You can hike up or drive up Signal Mtn. We saw a bear just off the road.

You can see photos of my trip at:

www.travelwalks.com

Obviously, select the Yelowstone trip.

I think it would be great to spend that much time there.
You can always spend a day driving the Beartooth HWY.
Maybe spending that first night and day in Jackson might be a good idea. Maybe your kids would enjoy the Alpine Slide there.
Perhaps spend part of a day swimming in the Firehole River and then at the hot springs near Mammoth(the legal one, I am blank on the name right now). A Yellow bus tour is nice way to take up a few hour to half a day. We really enjoyed the Sunset Butte Tour on the yellow bus. You could even rent a boat and spend the day on Lake Yellowstone.

You could easily drive for 3 days and never even leave your car and see a ton like that.

Definately spend 1 or 2 days just geyser gazing. Your kids will need some patience for that though. The family that was waiting with us for Castle Geyser had a board game and cards. You can get approximate eruption times for about 7 or 8 of the geysers. They can predict just those with a bit of accuracy9within 1-4 hours). The other hundreds of geysers are crap shoots. The only one that the predict very close though is Old Faithful. Castle and Riverside were our favorites. I really wanted to see Beehive go, but never could time it right.
Perhaps do the horseback ride instead of the hayride. You could do a white water rafting or snake river floating in the Tetons. There really is limitless things to do.

Utah is one of my very favorite places. Iv'e been there every year for the past 5 years. However, Yellowstone and Yosemite are truly amazing to me. Yellowstone is a "complete park". It has everything and then some.

Thank you for your thoughts Spirobulldog and Myer I had several questions answered by you for our utah trip last year too. I loved Yosemite and I have not been to Yellowstone yet. My husband has been twice but not for a lot of years.

We were considering a float trip or a rafting trip as well as swimming in the Boiling River. The horseback ride is a must do they have one in both Yellowstone and Grand teton? We did a lot of driving in Utah last year. I'm glad we did but our best days were our complete hiking days (The Narrows and Observation Point). There are only so many of these with the kids but the variety within Yellowstone will really help make it different.

Myer I just hadn't investigated Mt Washburn enough yet. I'm sure it won't be harder to hike than several of the hikes we have made in the past. I think I read your trip report at one time, I think I will read it again.

I think I will look into staying in Jackson or even better GT the first night. Maybe the last night we will stay in Jackson.

It was suprisingly, less to fly to jackson then any of the other airports, Bozeman, Cody, Bllings, Salt Lake. Of course this changes by the hour.

We were looking at the Beartooth Hwy yesterday on google earth. How does it compare to Devil's Backbone? Is it worth driving to Cody?
Thanks again for insights.

When our boys were young we would always spend at least a week in Yellowstone. There is so much variety in Yellowstone, I don't think you will regret the amount of time there! Check with the Visitor Center at Old Faithful to see the predicted times for some of the larger geysers...that's ALWAYS a thrill!

Utahtea

I think the Firehole River is swimming and the Boiling River is a great place to just soak. I think they suggest not letting your head go under at Boiling River as there good be some microrgnisms that make you sick. Further, it depends on how much the Firehole River is running as to whether you can swim there or not. Now, I really don't know what I'm talking about here and may have some of my facts wrong. We were there in the early season(June) and neither place was open yet for that type of activity. I really wanted to do both, but knew in advance that these are only open in July or August> So, You will just want to read up a bit on it.

After several nights at Canyon, we left the park via the NE entrance and drove to Cody via the Chief Joseph Hwy, two nights in Cody, and back to Yellowstone through the east entrance and on to Old Faithful. Fantastic changing scenery all the way, but it took at least four hours in each direction (more for the northern route). We make lots of photo stops, but there are places along the way where your family could enjoy a brief hike.
If you think your boys would enjoy Cody, staying in a motel with a pool and seeing a rodeo and/or the "shootout" performance outside Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel, you can easily do that by cancelling your last night at Canyon. Look at a map and websites for Cody to see if it is for you.

Definitely allow time to see the Tetons -- stay your first night in the Jackson area and take the outer Teton road north to Yellowstone; you can take the inner park road on your return trip.

Thanks kayd. I did not realize Cody was so far. What about the horseback riding in Yellowstone? Has anyone done it? What about outside Yellowstone? There look like a few good ranches outside the park. Any thoughts?

Yes spirobulldog my DH got terribly sick when he was a child in Yellowstone. Missed a lot of the trip. The hospital said it was bacteria in unfiltered water. He doesn't remember drinking any but I believe you. We were just looking for a change of pace for the kids.

Has anyone rented bikes?

An adult in semi decent shape should never get bored. But I could see kids getting a little bored. If you like hot springs, don't miss Huckleberry Hot Springs in Grand Tetons as well as the the other swinmable hot springs in Yellowstone proper.

If you just wanted to see Cody, you could make the trip out and back to Yellowstone on the same route--only about 60 miles between Cody and the East Gate, but the driving inside the park is very slow -- max anywhere is 45 mph, but bison jams and winding roads in many areas mean your average will be closer to 30 mph.

Our route north from Canyon was over Mt Washburn, to Tower Junction and out of the park via the Lamar Valley, all fantastic areas worth exploring, so we took nearly all day to go only about 120 miles to Cody.

My kids have never gotten bored in Yellowstone and we visit every year, multiple times per year. The list on this site http://www.yellowstonesecrets.com/forum­/content/150-yellowstone-kids.html is just the beginning of what you can experience in Yellowstone with your kids. I say take as much time as you possibly can and experience some of the off the beaten path experiences. ESPECIALLY in July.

Think about 2 nights in Jackson. You can take the tram up to the top at Teton village, you can see the "shoot out" in the middle of the square and you could white water there. Then think about a night or two in West Yellowstone.

There must be horse back riding around Jackson and I know that the Diamond P outside of West Yellowstone does horse back rides... there is also a little rodeo outside of West Yellowstone that is great fun. Virginia City and Ennis are north of West and entertaining. And the Lewis and Clark Caverns are not too far. (Our cabin is by West so that is obviously the area I know a little more about)

The best of the white water rafting is south of Jackson and there are many many great companies in Jackson that you will be able to google.


A great distraction as you are driving from place to place is to play the license plate game. We came through the park last fall and played it and found 45 states (and we are in our 60's).

Hi - I am similar concerns for my 7 & 9 year olds. We are traveling in mid August. Here is my plan so far and I am hoping to make some changes. We live in PA so this will be a complete change of scenery for us and a big trip.

Flying in to Billings, MT. Spending the night at a C'mon Inn for the pool and looks like an interesting chain hotel.
http://www.cmoninn.com/
Next day we will take the 3 hour drive - to experience Beartooth Highway. Will stay in Silver Gate, MT for two nights in a cabin at Pine Edge Cabins.
http://www.pineedgecabins.com/
Then we have reservations at Mammoth Springs for 3 nights which I desperately want to change to 1 night - holding the room until I can get into OF. Will look for back up locations in West Yellowstone. Was thinking of flying out of Bozeman but may reconsider Cody - seems like an interesting stop. I want to find horseback riding that we can all do - in park you have to be 8. Kind of ironic because my daughter is the only one in our family that is qualified to ride - she takes lessons .

Good luck -I will follow your thread to educate myself more.

familytravels,

I made the mistake of staying at the Pine Edge Cabins a few years ago. I had booked 4 nights and left after 1!

The picture shows their "newer" cabins right after they were built. They are significantly older now.

I'm not a super picky person and travel on a small budget. I also backpack etc., so I can go primitive.

I was in one of their older cabins, very old. There were NO electrical outlets in the bathroom so drying hair was difficult. The fiberglass shower was cracked and stained and had very little waterflow. The indoor/outdoor carpet was stained and I would not have gone within a mile of the so-called BBQ on the front porch of the cabin.

The area in front of the cabins was not nearly as nice as you would expect from the picture. It was not nice really at all. These cabins are quite close to the road - lots of traffic.

The final straw was the 3" gap under the front door of the cabin that allowed mice to come in. In the evening I was reading and saw something run along the floor under the dresser. I got down and looked straight into the little eyes of a mouse. Mice don't scare me and I actually think they are cute, but I don't want them in my lodging (especially when I had my dog with me) and I don't want them getting into my food.

So I had to get up and put my food, etc. back into the cooler or in the refrig for overnight. I stuffed towels under the door hoping that would help keep the little guys outside.

The beds were comfy though.....

There are other, much nicer places to stay in the tiny town. Try for one if you must stay there.

Personally, I would keep trying for res inside the park.

Okay I am tweaking our trip. I have a few questions if anyone can help me.

I was told we can have 5 stay at the places we reserved in the park but we need to provide our own bedding for the 5th person. Any suggestions here? should we fly with air mattress and sleeping bag or find a place to rental place? (Does this exist? Suggestions?)

Is there a place to stock up in Jackson the first night we come into Wyoming? We usually stop at a Walmart or similar place and get lunch meat, ice, water etc. I know this can be more pricey in the National Parks so any suggestions along the way welcome.

Also suggestions on places to stay in Jackson our first night would be great. This would open up a Saturday night at Canyon in midsummer that was made more than a year ago for all those looking for an in the park reservation. I will post when I cancel. : )

Definitely do Cody. it has a wonderful museum of all things cowboys which my boys loved. Buy them a book about cowboys before you go. They loved the rodeo and there is even an event in which kids can participate. We have great photos of them in cowboy hats and red neckerchiefs.
There is so much to do there. Our favorite part is the Lamar area. You tend to see more animals there. Love the park.

Spent a lot of time today looking for reasonable lodging near Jackson. We don't land until 8:00 after car rental and stocking up we can't make the trip to Canyon. Everything in Jackson is REALLY expensive. I found a place called Teton Gables Motel that might work. Not sure if this is doable from the airport or not. Has anyone been here?

Also for sleeping bag rental, has anyone used leisure sports adventure in Jackson? My sons would be sleep a little better on an air mattress but I have not found a place to rent this yet. Thanks for any insights.