Driving from Rapid city to Yellowstone
 

Has anyone driven from Rapid city to Yellowstone State Park in May? We are driving from Ohio to Los Angeles and would like to know the driving condition in May, especially route 14 from Ranchester to Yellowstone.

Just depends on the weather. Yellowstone will start opening the interior roads in mid-April, the passes a bit later. If there are no storms, the driving conditions should be fine on 14.

I can't really answer your question about driving that route in May. But I did it last Fall, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the Needles Scenic Highway in Custer State Park, but I found the Iron Mountain Highway not really worth doing. From Ranchester, I took the Bighorn Scenic Byway to Greybull, even though it was a little out of the way, and that was a beautiful drive too. The peak elevation was over 9000 feet, so I guess you might have some issues with snow there in May.

After Greybull, I headed up to Red Lodge, MT, where I spent the night, and then I took the Beartooth Highway into the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone. Of course, that reached some high elevations too.

Thanks boom_boom and hawsbill. I am trying to allow more time on route 14 in case a bad weather. I am planning to pass Greybull to Cody and East Entrance to Yellowstone. Thx.

We drove 14 in the other direction last year and it was a beautiful drive. I picked it off the map as an alternative to back-tracking and had no clue that the scenery would be so gorgeous. (This was a different trip than most and I did little advance planning).

http://www.milebymile.com/main/Unite...nic_Byway.html

I'm guessing that in May there could be snow problems but if so they would close the road.

July 12 on my trip report -
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...e-crazies-.cfm

Another poster recommended seeing the Heart Mountain Internment camp and now I wish we had.

We LOVED an afternoon spent in Meeteetse, WY. A little town straight out of a Western movie, nice local museum and a GREAT chocolate shop :-)
http://www.meeteetsechocolatier.com/

Thanks Starr! What an amazing trips you had in July! Thoroughly enjoyed your report. I wish I could stay in Wyoming for two weeks and see all of the natural beauties plus Belgian chocolate. Thanks for the web site, milebymile.com

I confess to Montana bias, but road conditions permitting, I'd strongly consider detouring to Red Lodge and entering the Park via Beartooh Pass and Cooke City. To me the Beartooth Highway is the most beautiful drive in the country. Of course as a former Red Lodge area resident was, in the summer, the best way into the Park. Starrs is right that 14 is a great drive and you can't go wrong with it, just IMO Beartooth is better.

You mentioned your trip is in May but don't mention if it's early or late May.

I see that the Beartooth Highway has been mentioned but it usually doesn't open till the Memorial Day weekend. It's a beautiful drive, but check to make sure it's open first! http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/beartooth/

You will also want to check to see if the roads into Yellowstone are open. http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Utahtea

Last May, my boyfriend and I drove from Calgary to Yellowstone, all through Wyoming and into Rapid City and back home in 5 days.
I can say that the weather changed drastically about 12 times throughout the way from Yellowstone to Rapid City (not the most exciting town, I'm guessing you may be going there for Mount Rushmore, which was very cool and the night demonstration was very touching when all Veterans in the audience were asked to come raise the flag.) Parts were sunny and then it would snow and back again. Also, in the area where we exited Yellowstone there was some construction which slowed us down for about 30 minutes, but so did a family of Buffalo who refused to get off the road (the joys of such a beautiful, diverse park.) Being from Calgary, I'm very comfortable with snow driving, but I can say that even in the unpredictable weather, the roads were still very manageable. If you're a relatively confident driver, you'll have no problems. We were pleasantly surprised by how nice Wyoming was. It's a beautiful trip!