Bozeman for a wedding and then ...?
 

Hi-
My friends and I are from New York...we will be traveling to Bozeman during the second week of August to be in our friend's wedding. Right now, I think we are aiming to get in on a thursday, the wedding is on saturday, there is a brunch on sunday and then we would like to spend a few days visiting yellowstone.
I was hoping someone could give me some ideas about the trip from bozeman to yellowstone, which entrance we would go into and how much time we should spend there. we really can only get about a week off of work and the wedding will be taking up a few days. we would like to at least do a hike and obviously see old faithful. any other must sees or suggestions on how to fit everything we should do into several days would be fantastic! (i guess we could leave bozeman on sunday afternoon and would have to be back there to take a plane around tuesday or wednesday?)
thanks so much,
joanna

From memory, the West Yellowstone entrance is about 2 hrs from Bozeman. To save time (and if your budget allows), you might get a room in West Yellowstone. Other than that, pick up some books on Yellowstone and decide what you want to see.

Mike Honeycutt

I would recommend a trip to the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. They have some really good western and native american artifacts. A great meal/hotel destination near Bozeman would be the Gallatin Gateway Inn. We have eaten there on 2 trips to Yellowstone and had excellent meals. (they have a website)If you fish, that puts you in a good location for that as well. The park road loops around, so you may want reservations on the far end one night so you don't have to drive all the way back towards lodging every night. We have stayed in cabins and lodges within the park...they are all clean, small and quaint. I think it adds to the spirit of the trip to stay in the park. Swimming in the geyser heated Firehoile River is really neat...ask a ranger where you can enter the river. Bring picnic goodies for during the day. I think Bozeman is a great town, my brother used to live out there. Have a great trip!!

is there a reason we would go in the west yellowstone entrance and not the gardiner entrance? on the maps it looks like gardiner would be a more direct route from bozeman into the park.
does anyone have any recommendations about white water rafting trips or ranger led programs in yellowstone?
thanks so much for the help so far.

Gardiner works!!

Just tour the loop in Yellowstone, doing the major sites which will be readily identifiable on the NP map you will get when entering the park.

Another option would be to enter the North (Gardiner) and drive the Grand Loop Road starting on the west side. On your last day out exit/spend the night in Cooke City and drive the Bear Tooth Highway on the way back to Bozeman.

ok, i think i have come up with an itinerary, although, i have absolutely no idea if it makes any sense. so i would love any input!
my friends and i are bridesmaids in this wedding, so there are just certain things we need to do in bozeman, like the rehearsal dinner, etc. and so that takes up some of our time. we are traveling from nyc and only really have about a week to spend.
this is what im thinking:
fly into bozeman, drive to gardiner. spend one night in gardiner
drive the "left half" of yellowstone and stay at the flagg ranch resort (at the south exit)
drive through grand teton and spend another night at the flagg.
drive through the "right half" of yellowstone and spend another night at gardiner.
we would do this either before the wedding or after.
what do you think? is this just pretty much insane or does it make sense? i checked for hotels in yellowstone, and most of them are already booked.
we would also somehow like to fit in white water rafting and some hiking.
change it and fix it all you want please!!!!
thanks,
joanna

Couple of suggestions:
Rather than drive the same route between Bozeman and Yellowstone both coming and going consider seeing some new country by going or returning via US 191 through Gallatin Canyon north of West Yellowstone.

Also, rather than stay in Gardiner try Chico Hot Springs north of Gardiner. A lot quieter and not as touristy as Gardiner.

Your idea would work for a short trip to Yellowstone. An argument could be made for skipping GTNP with your short time frame and seeing more of Yellowstone - it turns into a personal preference as to whether you want to see more thing faster, or be able to get out of car and explore more in depth.

As to whether to do this before or after, it depends on what is going on pre and post wedding. If things are going to be stressed before wedding and you can offer some help or support, do it after - there always seems to be too much last minute stuff before wedding and there may be other out of town people with whom you want to visit.

If you go after, don't start out with a post-wedding hangover or you will miss a whole day - Yellowstone with a headache would not be nearly as much fun.

Your itinerary is ambitious and will not leave much time to get out of the car except in GTNP. GTNP is gourgeous but most of the hikes take you into the back country and will be at least a half day. You will encounter very slow traffic driving through both parks as Motor homes and RV's have difficulty with the incline and sharp curves. Animal sightings and crossings can also cause major delays as well. Make sure you have reservations for lodging. The cabins at Roosevelt are cheap. Old Faithful Lodge is worth seeing even if you dont stay there. Flag Ranch is btwn YNP and GTNP and not much more than a a motel on the side of the road. Artists Point at Canyon is beautiful. The hike up to Mount Washington is about 2 miles, relatively easy with great views and good place to see grizzly bears. Have a blast...its a cool place. Oh try Mckenzie River Pizza Co in Bozeman too.

CPPHOTO:
Good advice!
You seem familiar with Bozeman.
Did I perhaps canoe the Missouri River out of Coal Banks with you??

Perhaps we met along Mood Swing Coulee!?

Yes! That was me!!
How fondly I recall the day!!