I am thinking of visiting in late September or early October. Will there be snow on the ground by then? Also, I have never been to the park, so can anyone recommend a nice but realtively inexpensive place to stay?

Thanks!

Hi C,

Yes, there could very well be snow at the end of Sept. The colors start to turn at the beginning of Sept, so you should have some fabulous photo ops!

There are many little motels in the town of Jackson and their rates will have gone down by then.

The rustic cabins at Coulter Bay should still be open in Oct and they are not too much, but might be too cold at that time of year. They do have heat, but it's not much.

The other lodges inside the park are quite expensive, even in off season. Check their rates and see what you think.

Have fun!

Snow is a possibility. On our first trip there about 13-14 years, our flight home on September 10 or 11 was delayed five hours because of snow!
However, I still consider September the best time to visit the park!

We were there beginning Sept 15 this past fall. It snowed a lot while we were in Yellowstone, a lot stayed on the ground. There were snow showers in GTNP, but it didn't stay on the ground.

We stayed in a cabin with a fireplace at Signal Mtn Lodge. Perfect for us. Less expensive than some places.

I sure hope you can go into Yellowstone, at least to hear the elk bugle if you're there in Sept.

You could also get really lucky like us. We went the last week in September last year and had beautiful, sunny weather the entire week.

Putting the weather question into a true perspective, the point is NOT that it will snow, but that it might during that time of year.
Sure we had snow on the 10th or 11th of
September, but otherwise, the weather was wonderful!

Ditto what Howard said. Just because we had snow, and there was snow on the ground after that in Yellowstone, I did not mean to suggest we didn't have fabulous weather. It could not have been better, and one day of snow for these Louisiana folk was sheer heaven!

Bayou Gal, where in La. are you from? I am originally from Crowley.

The New Orleans area.

Buck Rail Lodge & Wagon Wheel Village are both nice and very inexpensive, both in Jackson Hole. (www.wagonwheelvillage.com and www.buckraillodge.com) It's unlikely that there will be snow on the ground, but you easily could get snow that time of year. We've been there in the first to second week of October and had beautiful sunny days in the 50's to 60's, and were there once at the same time and were snowed in in the town of Jackson! Late Sept./early Oct. is a perfect time...If you don't mind a bit of a drive, you might take a day trip up into Yellowstone and see the elk (bugling/mating season). Lots of wildlife down low at that time, and the fall colors should be great!