NYTomW

Planning a trip in September 2004. Will arrive at SLC and after overnight there will drive to Jackson where we have 3 nights booked at Signal Mt Lodge. We have then booked 3 nights at the Old Faithful Inn, followed by 2 nights at Mamouth Hot Springs Hotel and 3 nights at Yellowstone Lake hotel. Initially, I planned on driving the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge and then the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody on the day we leave the Hot Springs hotel. I am wondering now if it would be a better idea to skip the Hot Springs hotel lodging altogether and instead overnight 1 night in Red Lodge and 1 night in Cody inbetween stays at Old Faithful and Yellowstone lake. Thanks for the advice.

cd

You're spending a lot of nights in Yellowstone and is fine if you plan on doing a lot of hiking. We were there last summer and never went to the Mamouth Hot Springs area as it did not seem to offer anything we wanted. However, some of the best scenery IMO was Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Highway and I am so glad we decided to drive them.

utahtea

I don't think your spending to much time in Yellowstone. I think it takes a week to really see all of the park.

I've done the Beartooth Highway and it is well worth the time. We haven't done the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody but I've heard it's worth it too.

I would at least make the trip up to the Mammoth Hot Springs area with a little time to explore the Hot Springs. These hot springs are not the kind you bath in, but are beautiful terraces created by mineral-laden water and evaporation. Also take the drive past Roosevelt too. It's a nice drive.

Utahtea

amyx

We were in YNP at the end of last September. If you want to see fall foliage definately spend some time driving between the Hot Springs area and the Northeast entrance. There was no fall foliage to speak of in the southern part of the park. The hot spring terraces at Mammoth were much different from the thermal features in the Old Faithful, worth seeing. A few herds of elk seemed to like to hang out in the Mammoth hotel/cabins area. You can get great pictures of them early AM.

HowardR

When we were at the hot springs one September, they were dry!

utahtea

OK, I've never been to the Mammoth Hot Springs in September, but I do know that they are constantly changing. The park service even has to build new walking paths to keep up with the changes. I've been some years and was dissappointed and other years amazed at the beauty. I guess it's the luck of the draw. I would at least make a stop to see for yourself.

Utahtea

dixon

Four years ago,. All in one day, I drove the "loop" from Old Faithful, out the northeast entrance, up to the top of the Beartooth Pass, along the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody, and back to the Park via the East Entrance to Old Faithful. It is doable, but it was a little of a long day but temendously enjoyable. Red Lodge is ok to visit and stay overnight.

The Beartooth Pass looks different in the reverse direction, so I would have no reservations about driving it twice in short order.

The Chief Joseph Highway is a different sort of scenery when compared with the Beartooths. The Absorakas are volcanic ejecta mountains that are rounded from erosion than Bearthooths, which are igneous intrusion type of mountains that much more jagged and rocky because the granite is more resistent to weathering.

Mammoth Hot Springs is interesting if you drive up to the top of the terraces and walk along the trails in the active part of the spring.

The museum at the headquarters are is interesting, too, and worth a visit.

I find accommodations in the park, outside of expensive suites at Old Faithful Inn, to be marginal to poor.
I think some of the rooms at the Old Faithful Inn are wretched. We spent the night in one last year and left quickly after the first night because the room was awful. The shower was so small that I knocked the shower curtain down trying to wash myself. The curtain was on a spring loaded bar and it came down and conked me on the head.
I complained at the desk. The primary concern was for the shower rod, not my head. I guess I should have mentioned law suit, but the college age woman behind the desk hit me as being a study in indifference.

After leaving Old Faithful Inn, we sought refuge at a motel in West Yellowstone that was much more comfortable and spacious.

I question 3 nights at the lake hotel. I personally could spend considerable time in the geyser basin that has Old Faithful, Castle, Grand, and Riverside Geysers. They are all spectacular.
Farther up the rode, Great Fountain also puts on a spectacular show when it blows its top. The pools in Biscuit Basin are also fascinating as are the Fountain Paint Pots.

My favorite geyser of all, however, is Lone Star. The trail to it is a little over two miles along an old road that winds through lush meadows and dense, unburned forest along the upper Firehole River.
The geyser itself is spectacular. It erupts about every 3 hours in two phases, one minor followed in a few minutes by a major spurt.

We usually take our lunch and snooze under a lodgepole pine until the show starts. If you have a bicycle, you can ride along the road to a stopping point a few hundred yards from the geyser.

Also, the forest framework around Osprey Falls has grown back enough now that it is again a pretty woodland waterfall. The trailhead is located along the Bunsen Road that leaves the main road just north of the Norris Geyser Basin. I have not been there in the past few years, so I presume the trail is open again. Ask about it, I think you will enjoy the walk.

One word of caution, the Bunsen road descends the same escarpment from Norris to Mammoth as the paved road, but the turns are tight and the descent is precipitous. If tight turns and heights bother you, then don't do it.
On the other hand, I cannot imagine that is of much concern if thoughts of the Bearthooth attract you. Just take it easy on the down grade and remember that rear wheels can skid on tight turns.

To answer your question about Mammoth Hot Springs. I think one night there would be sufficient. You could spend your other night in Red Lodge or near there.

Also, I am not sure you need a full day on the Chief Joseph Highway. The first time I did it, we took a full day. Last year we did not need a night in Cody to make the drive easily. We left West Yellowstone in the morning, drove out the East Gate to Cody, took the Chief Joseph Highway all the way back into the park to the Lamar Valley to look for wolves (no luck). Then we retraced our steps through Cooke City to Red Lodge where we spent the night. Then we continued on to Bozeman and the fabulous Museum of the Rockies.

I might add, for those of you who have not seen the Museum of the Rockies in the last 4 or 5 years, that the museum has undergone a dramatic facelift. There are new and expanded exhibits all over. For those of you who have not seen it, I recommend a visit. It has a lot to offer, both in paleontology and the history of the frontier.

If you shorten your Mammoth visit and spend only one night enroute to Red Lodge, you will have an extra day.
I suggest returning to the park via Bozeman and pay a visit to the Museum of the Rockies.

Just a thought, but we enjoyed our second stop there more than the first one.

maj

Agree with what has been said so far.We went to Yellowstone two years in a row in late September. Spent some time in Mammoth Hot Springs both times--worth seeing (and the elk in the fall are plentiful there), but agree that 2 nights is alot of time to spend there. We spent less than a whole day there both times (and walked all around the Hot Springs). One of our favorite places is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Tower Falls (which hasn't been mentioned yet). I'm not sure about accommodations at the beginning of the month, but there was plenty of availability when we were there(we stayed outside of the park).

halbo49

Dont miss Cody or Red Lodge if possible
After 3 days in Yellowstone last june
we were ready to move on.
we stayed 3 days & 2 nites in Cody and hated to leave. The drive to red Lodge from Cody and on to Gardiner Was fantastic.