Would you critique my trip plans? We are in our early '60's, we don't mind driving and usually picnic on our way to the destinations. We enjoy some short hikes probably no more than 3 or 4 miles at one time. We like to look at the scenery and photography it. We are not interested in fishing or horseback riding (I am terrified of horses - long story)...white water rafting, maybe. Any suggestions about what to see? What hikes? I have done some research but I would like your input. BTW, we have been to Yellowstone but it was in the winter.

Glacier, Yellowstone, Teton

1. Fly to Billings, rent car & drive to Great Falls, Mt (217 miles) (Fairfield Inn in Great Falls)


* 2. Drive from Great Falls, Mt to (213 miles) Lake McDonald stay at Lake McDonald Motel


* 3. Drive “Going To The Sun” Road (53 miles), Drive to Many Glacier Lodge (2 hrs, etc.) Stay at Many Glacier Lodge


*4. Stay at Many Glacier for the day, (boat tour) then drive to Waterton, Canada ,Stay at Aspen Village


* 5. Waterton to Browning (58 miles), (lunch at Prince of Wales)(Plains Indian Museum) to Great Falls (129 miles) (Fairfield Inn)


*6. Great Falls to Gardiner via Lewis & Clark National Forest (172 miles) stay at Mammoth Lodge Hotel in Yellowstone Park


*7. Gardiner through Yellowstone, stay at Moose Creek Inn West Yellowstone


*8. Yellowstone stay at Moose Creek Inn West Yellowstone


*9. Yellowstone to Grand Tetons (Colter Bay) stay at Colter Bay Cabin


*10. Tetons to Jackson (1 day in Teton, night in Colter Bay) Stay at Colter Bay Cabin


*11. Colter Bay through Yellowstone to Cody (194 miles) stay at Cody Legacy Inn


* 12. Cody to Billings, spend night (103 miles) See Cody Museum Stay at a Fairfield Inn


13. Fly Home

The numbers are day 1, day 2, etc. This trip is planned for August

You say "early 60s" like that's old. I'm 71 and I've been to Yellowstone, Glacier, Banff & Jasper several time in the past few years.

When is this trip schedule to take place.

Yes, you certainly are planning to do a lot of driving for the number of places you'll be passing. Note I wrote passing and not seeing and/or enjoying.

It appears you're going to Lake McDonald just to drive one way along GTTS Rd.

How much of a photographer are you? Can I assume you are interested in Spectacular scenery, wildlife and a few moderate hikes?

I'll assume the trip isn't this summer so lodging dates are still available. Am I correct?

From Billings I would go directly to Many Glacier. GTTS Rd isn't what it's cracked up to be. Much better scenery doing other things.

In Many Glacier, the 15 minute walk from the end of the Swiftcurrent Moto Inn parking lot to Fishercap Lake gets you to wildlife central for the last couple of hours before sunset.

The rather long but relatively easy hike to Iceberg Lake will fill a good part of the day with all the scenery you'll want that day.

Add a night in Rising Sun on GTTS Rd.

Go to Logan Pass fairly early as the parking lot could fill up by 10AM.

Hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook for more spectacular scenery and possibly see some mountain goats up close.

After this hike if you feel like it cross the highway and do the beginning of the Highline Hike. Depending upon how you feel about heights (the trail is actually quite wide with a cable to hold) either go until or just past the cable. Then return to your car.

You will have driven about half of GTTS Rd.

Start driving back east and stop at the St Mary Falls trailhead. Do this fairly short hike to a very nice waterfall.

From here you can either add a day and go to Waterton Lakes (I stop there for a few hours on the way from Glacier to Banff) or skip that (what I would do) and go straight down to Yellowstone.

I ran out of steam so unless nobody else jumps in and does Yellowstone, I'll stop back in tomorrow and continue.

I'll take a crack at picking up where Myer ended.

"*6. Great Falls to Gardiner via Lewis & Clark National Forest (172 miles) stay at Mammoth Lodge Hotel in Yellowstone Park"

If you have time this day do the one way upper terrace loop drive at Mammoth Hot Springs and possibly the trails around the Mammoth Hot Springs. If you don't have time today do it on day 7.


"*7. Gardiner through Yellowstone, stay at Moose Creek Inn West Yellowstone"

Drive though Roosevelt to Tower Junction, see the Tower Falls and then over Dunraven Pass down to Canyon Village to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the water falls. Then to Norris Geyser basin. If you have enough time this day do the hiking around Norris Geyser Basin. Artist Paint Pots and Gibbon Falls are two stops before you hit Madison.


"*8. Yellowstone stay at Moose Creek Inn West Yellowstone "

After Madison campground head south towards Old Faithful. Do the one way Firehole Loop road, then the one way Firehole Lake Drive and if you're lucky you might see the Great Fountain Geyser. If you wait a short time you will see the white dome geyser go off. At the end of this drive you can cross the road and do the Fountain Paint pot walk. Midway Geyser Basin, Biscuity Basin, Black sand Basin are all short walks. Then on to Old Faithful Geyser area. Check out the visitor center to see when some of the more predictable geysers are scheduled to go off and try and time your walk in this area to be in the right place. This is going to take the better of the day to do this area especially if you want to have time to wait for some of the geysers. If you didn't have time to do the Norris Geyser basin the day before you could do that now.

*9. Yellowstone to Grand Tetons (Colter Bay) stay at Colter Bay Cabin

Check out any of the geysers you didn't have time for the day before. Do the short hike around West Thumb Geyser Basin.


*10. Tetons to Jackson (1 day in Teton, night in Colter Bay) Stay at Colter Bay Cabin

The shuttle boat ride on Jenny lake was fun. I'm not as knowledgeable on the Grand Tetons so I'll let someone else do this area.


*11. Colter Bay through Yellowstone to Cody (194 miles) stay at Cody Legacy Inn

Check out Yellowstone Lake and keep heading north to do Mud Volcano and Hayden Valley where you should see wildlife. If you didn't have time for Canyon Village, you could do that now before heading to Cody.


"* 12. Cody to Billings, spend night (103 miles) See Cody Museum Stay at a Fairfield Inn"

I'd much rather spend my time if it was limited in the out doors than a museums so take that into consideration when I say I'd skip Cody and spend more time in Yellowstone and take the Beartooth Highway up to Red Lodge and then on to Billings.


"13. Fly Home"

I'm also in my 60's and have been to Yellowstone many times since 1974. We've never spent less than a week in the park and since we've retired we don't spend less than 2 weeks just in Yellowstone. Yes...there is that much to do!

Utahtea

Thanks for the great information. Utahtea, your advice is "spot on". Myer, thanks for your suggestions for hikes, we will do some of them. Yes, we have set the dates and have the reservations for this August. I am interested in highlights of the places we will be going through. We intend to hop in the car and drive, stopping to look at great scenery and doing short hikes. We also stop for picnic lunches, in scenic spots. It is as the title says, a road trip.

Day 2 . I suppose you drive by Highway 2 : there are some nice spots for pictures and notably one with mountain goats. Don't miss them.
As you have your reservation don't miss to stop at Apgar village(nice shops) but also nice panorama from "the beach".
An huckleberry ice cream at Eddie's and feet in the lake is a must.
While arriving at Lk Mc Donald lodge if time allows, there are some little hikes onthe opposite side of the road. The restaurant at the lodge is above average...

Day 3 : I will get up early to do Avalanche lake hike . Not difficult and if you arrive early not too much people et a very nice destination.
Then GTTS road and if you are lucky you can park at Logan Pass(we didn't wait more than 20 mn there...).
As Myer suggests Hiden Lk overlook or the start of the Highline trail are some hot spots.

Day 4 : If you do the boat, try to hike to Grinnel lake but more than this boat tour I will hike the beginning of Swiftcurrent pass till Redrock falls. It's easy and often ther is wildlife(moose, bear, deers...). Ans the falls are a nice spot to have a lunch. If you continue after the falls on the beginning of Buillhead lake there is quite always some moose.
The road is easy to Waterton and so not necessary to drive early.

Day 5 : The indian musuem at Browning is nice but I will try to make a detour to Two Medecine. It's a superpanorama, road is easy and you can also have a boat trip.
There are some easy hike and often some wildlife.
The Browning museum can be done in the afternoon.
The itinerary could be : Waterton/Babb/Two Medecine/Browning/Great Falls.
In Great Falls, on D1 or D6 a visit to Lewis& Clark center or to the Russel museum is a nice eventuality...

Day 6 : Mammoth terrace can be a nice hike on sunset...
the restaurant (not the cafetaria) is nice.

Day 7/8 : there are so numerous highlights in Yellowstone that you have to make some choices.
Not to miss : Geysers, Hot springs, Lamar Valley(buffalos, wolves), Hidden valley(buffalos, bears), the river with its canyon...
The hikes are on wood pathways for geyser and hotsprings and in the valleys thera are some hikes but to challenge with wildlife and so ask to the rangers.

Day 9/10 : Grand Teton : the Jenny/String lakes district has a lot of easy hikes, but also Two Ocean,...Try to know where is the wildlife. There is alos a boat trip to after hike to Hidden falls but sometimes very crowded.

Then In Cody effectively there is a lot to see at the museum complex and there is also a rodeo every night. There are good nights and bad nights...

As you say the title is a road trip but the scenery is so terrific that planning only a road trip could get you some frustration...
Erik

Thanks utahtea.

I'll just add a few comments.

I'd skip Tower Fall (yes "Fall" and not "Falls"). People stop there because of its previous reputation. The hike down to the bottom is permanently close and the tree growth blocks almost all of the falls. Since there's a snack bar with picnic tables there a lot of people also stop for that.

On the way to Old Faithful definitely stop at Grand Prismatic Spring.

Depending upon your timing and how adventurous you are and if you think (I do for sure) the elevated view of Grand Prismatic Spring is worth the effort it do the following.

After leaving Grand Prismatic Spring, head toward Old Faithful for about a mile. Pull into the Fairy Falls parking lot.

The Fairy Falls hike is on a level dirt road. Hike the first 2/3 mile (approx.) until you get to Grand Prismatic Spring on your right. On the left side you'll either see some people going up a path up the hill or pick one of the unofficial trails up the hill. Pick a good spot to look down at this spectacular view.

In my opinion Yellowstone is an attraction park while Grand Tetons is a scenery park.

Grand Tetons.

If photography is some kind of a priority you'll want to make short scenery stops at the following early in the morning before the sun is too high.

Oxbow Bend near the northern junction of the inner and outer roads.

Schwabacher Landing. Down the outer road there's a turnoff for Schwabacher Landing on the right. Drive down about a half mile and you'll see the river with the Tetons in the background. Spectacular.

Mormon Row. Then back up to the outer road. Drive down the outer road another minute or so until Antelope Flats Road on the left. Turn there and go less than a mile. You will see one barn on the left and the other a few hundred yards along the right side.

You will face the barns with the Tetons in the background. Again, spectacular.

You can take the Jenny Lake boat ride and then hike to Inspiration Falls or as far as you'd like.

Drive along the inner and outer roads and stop at viewpoints or just pull over. Lots of roadside scenery.

You can even pull into Signal Mountain Lodge for lunch and/or great views of the lake with boats in it and the Tetons in the background.

You can see my photos at:
www.travelwalks.com

Keep the advice coming but I am beginning to feel overwhelmed!

No! No!. Don't let it get to you.

Take a map and look at what both of us wrote.

Look at my photos and decide what you want to see.

Then comment and we'll be back.

marlib, If you have yet to see it, I have a current TR of our very recent trip to Yellowstone and GT. We had many of the same interests as you and are a few years older. Both parks are very accessible. The TR begins with our views of the places where we stayed, and if you read it, our views of Moose Creek Inn in W Yellowstone were far from favorable. We switched to the nearby 3 Bear Lodge and found it to our liking. At the time, it cost less too and unlike Moose Creek, included a good breakfast.

Here is a link to the TR which also has photos.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...onal-parks.cfm

Total confusion with the answers. Wayyyy too much to absorb!! Get a guide book, pick the places you want to see, go for it and stay flexible!!

Monpetit, yes, we will take hwy 2 over to Lake McDonald. Thanks for all the great advice.

Basingstoke, I read your trip report and it was interesting and I enjoyed the humor. Really, your trip sounds like what we want to do! Thank you!

John, you may be right, a guide book and a good map is what I need.

Essential in GNP is to be flexible...
When we are in this park(we have been 7 times, miss this year but back in 2016...) we have a programm day/day but at the end, what we have done is not what we had thought to do...

Weather, wildlife, closed trails...all those need adjustments...

And sometimes you drive to a trail but another seems better...
A good map, a guide book and a hiking book are great...

And as you have your reservations for the nights, allow you what you have the feeling day/day...
The programm is one but circumstances are other...
You will not be disappointed, but I'm sure you will feel the sejour too short...
Erik