Message: We will be traveling to Grand Teton/Yellowstone in Sep 2003.

*4 nights at Signal Mtn, GTNP

*3 nights at Old Faithful Lodge Cabins

*4 nights at either Mammoth Springs or the Canyon area (1 of these days planned for a day trip)

*3 nights at the Yellowstone Hotel

My question: we want to take a day trip (from either Mammoth Springs or the Canyon area thru the northeast entrance) to Red Lodge on the Beartooth Hiway, then to Cody on the Chief Joseph Hiway and back to Lake Yellowstone Hotel thru the east entrance.

For 2 reasons, I don't know whether to stay the 4 days in Mammoth Springs or the Canyon area.
Does this day trip sound too ambitious?

Which one would be easier to leave from for our day trip?

Which one would be better to see the "sights" in the area north of the canyon area?

Thanks so much in advance for your help. Researching this trip has been an exhausting process.

Betty

I dunno Betty, what do you wanna do?

Mammoth is far enough from everything else that it warrants time there. Canyon and Lake Yellowstone are close enough that you can see the area from either one.

As far as going to Red Lodge, Mammoth is a bit closer but not a huge difference.

I don't think the day trip is too ambitious. It will be a long day but you will want to stop and take it all in a few times so you won't be in the car non stop.l

It will be one of the highlights of your trip--maybe any trip.

Personally for me this would be too long a day. We just returned from Yellowstone area a couple of weeks ago. We went from Canyon to Cody via the Northeast entrance. We spent two nights in Cody. We had kids with us so on our two days in Cody we took it easy. As a result, we really did need the two days at the Buffalo Bill Historic Center. And even at that we didn't see the whole thing. We returned to the Tetons via Lake Yellowstone. I think each way was probably 3 to 3 1/2 hours (maybe a little longer) but it was July, so maybe slower traffic than September.
It depends how much driving you want to do in a day.

The drive from Mammoth to the top of the Beartooth Pass, and then descending via the same route and on to Cody is a beautiful trip. Highly recommended.
I don't think it is anywhere too long a day! There is too much to see and too much to do on the trip to get bored!!

Yikes!! You are out there to see the place, right? You cannot do it sleeping in your room.
The Chief Joseph Highway takes you through the Absoraka Range, which are less steep-sided mountains than the Bearthooths, but they are just as scenic.
I think you will enjoy the trip, and returning to Yellowstone via the east entrance is dramatic. I think it is the most scenic of the 5 entrance/exits in the park.
You will be returning to the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, which means you do not drive back to Mammoth. We did it easily in one day from West Yellowstone and then returned to Signal Mountain Lodge.
If I had to make one comment, I think you should stay a 4th night in the Old Faithful area and then move to Canyon.

I think you can see what there is to be seen around Mammoth as part of a day's excursion from either Canyon or Old Faithful.
Old Faithful, Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth, Canon in one day is quite easy to do.
Of course it depends so some extent on when you are there. The road from Tower Falls to Canyon is often the last one to open in the late spring because of snow drifts.

I think you should take a night off your planned stay at either Mammoth or Canyon and spend that night in Cody. The drive out of Yellowstone and up the Beartooth--a gorgeous drive--and then down Chief Joseph--another beautiful drive, will take the whole day if you stop occasionally to walk a bit, take pictures, maybe even eat (!). When you get to Cody, spend the night there. Spend most of the next day in the Buffalo Bill Museums and return to Yellowstone, perhaps at this point heading for your three nights at the Yellowstone Hotel. We did a similar trip last summer but had a total of only five nights. Most of the eight people in our group had been to Yellowstone before, and our trip was mostly a family reunion, but how I wished we had a few more days!