cmstraf

We will be driving from Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Tetons to Blue Sky cabins in Red Lodge, Montana. We would like to drive through Yellowstone to northeast entrance at Cooke City and then on the Beartooth Mountain Road to Red Lodge.

It begins to look to me like this may not be feasible to do in one day. Can anyone tell us
1) how long this drive would take
2) where a good place to stop overnight on the way would be?

Many thanks for all help.

gailscout

What time of the year are you traveling?

mama_mia

I am getting 4 hrs 55 minutes (194 miles) on Google. That is if you take a direct route from Jackson to Canyon to Tower and then towards Cooke City.

I believe from other posts you would be going in summer. So it will take longer (there will be folks stopped on the side of the road, slowing traffic).

Are you hoping to stop overnight in the park? Or stop and see main sites away from the main route (e.g., Old Faithful)?

If your main plan is just to get to Red Lodge, then you can do it in one day and would not need overnight lodging. You also have the long summer days in your favor.

If you want to see some sights, you could stay overnight in the park at Canyon or Lake. By the time you get outside the park, you are so close to Red Lodge it would not seem worth it.

happytrailstoyou

I depends on time of year and weather conditions. One June we wanted to drive into Yellowstone from Red Bluff, and we were stopped at the pass on the Beartooth Highway. It was closed by snow!

If you drive around Yellowstone going east, it is about 270 miles to Cody (an interesting place) and another 64 miles to Red Bluff (a six-hour drive all together).

If you drive around Yellowstone going west, it is about 400 miles (a seven-hour drive).

I like both drives, but I would go through Cody to spend time at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

HTtY

cmstraf

DH is Italian and would love Cody. But we really really really want to see Beartooth Highway. July 1--hmmm, might be risky.

happytrailstoyou

Snow can close high passes at any time of the year, but the probabliy of such a closure on July 1 is slim.

Also, the NE corner of Yellowstone isn't as overrun with visitors as some other areas. It is quite beautiful.

HTtY

jayne1973

We did Beartooth mid June and it was fine. Windy and cool for sure.

cmstraf

Thanks, all. Ok, the plan is a 6 am breakfast, a 6:30-7:00 am departure, driving through Yellowstone, with some 15 minute walks, some sizable break at the Northeast corner of yellowstone then onto the Beartooth road and the hot tub in our luxury isolated Blue Sky Cabin in Red Lodge.

elbegewa

Good decision. There is always *possibility* of snow that time of year, but the *probability* is low. There is no easy source of probability for the pass, but look at https://weatherspark.com/ (and scroll down to percipitation)- for Yellowstone and for Red Lodge to get a feel for the general area. It's the only convenient source I know that shown in visual graphs the average and the probability of many weather phenomena, and its easy to see at a glance the difference between early, middle, and late or any day inbetween for any month.

WoinParis

There is a place called 'grands Tetons ?'

I want to go there !!!!