We are planning a trip in August with our 3 kids, ages 11, 14, 18, to Yellowstone. We are arriving by plane in Jackson on Aug. 21 at about 3:30 PM and proceeding from there to Yellowstone. We will spend the first night at Grant Village. The next day we will spend time in the YS lake area and then start to work are way north towards Gardiner. We plan to spend the 2nd an 3rd nights in Gardiner and our 4th and 5th nights in West Yellowstone. We then go Jackson Hole for 2 nights, explore GT PARK. and then head home.
a) Does anyone have any opinion about this plan ? Why my wife doesn't like all the hotel switching. She would rather skip Gardiner and spend 4 nights in West YS.
b) Can anyone provide me with a plan of how to spend each day ?
c) Should I make a drive on the Beartooth highway part of my itinerary? Is the drive a scary drive?
d) should I go on a Safari tour, or will we be able to see enougth wildlife on our own ?

You can do it from one place but I'd stay more nights in the central or southern area instead of Gardiner. There's just more to see and do in the southern end.

When you enter the park they will give you a really good map that clearly shows all the points of interest.

We stay somewhere central the whole time (like Canyon) and do the southern half one day and northern half the second day. Another day for hiking or revisiting an area is nice. Your kids would enjoy swimming in the Firehole River on the Firehole Loop Drive.

We've never taken a tour and seen lots of wildlife but if you like tours, I've read good things about them.

The Beartooth would have been great but they've had massive mudslides that have wiped out parts of the road. It looks like it could be closed all summer but I'd sure check since you're not going until August.

The Gardiner area was our least favorite part of Yellowstone -- not all that scenic compared to other areas. You might want to substitute the Canyon area, which is near the gorgeous waterfalls, wildlife sightings, and Roosevelt Lodge, which offers fun trail-ride cookouts with cowboy entertainment. Perhaps the other half of your trip could be headquartered out of the Old Faithful area, which offers unbelievable geothermal areas and great hikes.

We stayed right inside the parks to alleviate a lot of driving and take advantage of enjoying the parks. I definately would make time to stay in the Old Faithful area. It is so worth seeing - and unlike any other area you have ever seen before. It is spectacular! The Grand Canyon area of Yellowstone is also very beautiful and worth seeing. The previous suggestion to center a stay in the southern part of the Yellowstone is a good one - the park is huge.

Jackson airport to Yellowstone is a distance away - why not consider staying in the town of Jackson for the first night? It's just a short drive south of the airport (about 1/2 hour if I remember correctly?) The town is very nice for walking/shopping and also there are numerous restaurants.

As stated before, you will get a map when you enter the park and your park admission is good for both parks - or at least it was. We saw wildlife on our own by just driving. Your kids might enjoy a white-water rafting trip - we used Barker-Ewing out of Jackson and the kids had a blast! Also, we did the breakfast horseback ride out of Jackson Lodge.

It's a wonderful place to visit - and it was my family's favorite trip. Have a great time!

We had planned on two nights in Gardner, but accomplished everything in one day in that area and only stayed one night. The extra day and night was spent in the Big Horn Mts on routes 14 and 14A.

Hi Brooklyn -- We will be in YNP in August also but a little later than you.

I did not reserve early enough to get lodging in the Park so we are staying 1 night in Gardiner & 2 nights in W Yellowstone. We will have 3 FULL days in YNP.

We have been to YNP once before. If you have never been there, I think you should study the National Park Service website (nps.gov) for YNP & GT, especially the map for YNP. The Park roads make a figure 8 & you can decide in advance which main points of interest you want to spend time at.

If you are staying inside the Park at least part of the time (I hope you already have those ressies) you will probably not need to stay in Gardiner.

Your wife is probably correct. How about the 1st nite in GTNP or JAC, 4 nites in mid-YNP and then finish with 2 nites in GTNP/JAC.Remember that you can cover a lot of ground in a day trip, Gardiner/Mammoth lodging may be the most routine,packing with kids is a hassle and it's your vacation-relax.

I did mention that I will be staying the last 2 nights in Jackson an will be visiting GNP. I hear what many of you are saying about staying inside the park. However it is not practical for me, a)because we have dietary restrictions and have to bring our own food and the lodging in the parks don't have refrigerators and microwaves etc. b) since we need 2 rooms it becomes unaffordable for us in the park.
There we can only manage the first night in the park.
So the bottom line is should I split the next 4 nights between Gardiner and west yellowstone or stay all 4 nights in west yellowstone.

I would spend the 4 nights in West Yellowstone. It's really the best location to see all of the different areas of the park if you don't want to have to change lodging locations. I would rather be driving around the park than packing and unpacking! Keep a good eye out and you will see a lot of wildlife on the road between West Yellowstone and the Madisons Jct.

We camp and we've spent a whole week at Madison Campground which is very close to West Yellowstone. It worked great.

Utahtea

Ditto to everything. The Gardener area is low, and at times hot,and dry. There is not much to see there except the historic buildings and monuments and the active part of the hot springs, which is about 5% of the total area.

To me, it was a place to go through, not to.

I would not attempt to tell you how to spend each day. Geysers are no fun if you don't give a rip about what causes them and/or enjoy watching the fruits of the intricate interworking of forces that cause them to erupt.

Whether or not the safari trip would scare up more wildlife than you would see wandering on your own, I cannot say. Unfortuntely, the movement of the animals is not controlled and there are no guarantees.

Even with a safari, the chances of seeing a bear, a wolf, or a moose are limited. I will say this much, the guides know where the best places are, but the Rangers can give you the same data.

Surely you can review the various websites, look at a guide book or two, and decide what features of Yellowstone might appeal to you the most.

I can spend days there, but not everybody likes to wait for the big geysers to erupt, and read closely the material on how geysers produce the eruptions.

as far as nature tours ... definately take advantage of the park ranger talks and walks. Although my kids scoffed at them at first, you learn a lot and they enjoyed it. We went to one in GT that was led by Native American ranger and he called/pointed out all the bats flying in to bat houses around us ... we also did Yellowstone Glacier Adventures (private co - it was $300. for 5 of us for a day) and it was REALLY worth it. Guide brought spotting scopes, took us in his van to the Lamar Valley, showed us where to look for wolves, hiked to an abandoned bear den that the kids crawled in etc... very worth the $$ phone: 406-585-9041

Bob, I appreciate your candor. But looking at a map I see that attractions like Mammoth hot springs, Tower falls, Lammar valley(which has a large concentation of wildlife), lie in the Northern section of YP.
When I aked for help in preparing an itinerary, I was looking for help in mapping out the most efficient route, that would enable us to see most of the park.

The night you spend in Grant Village make sure you travel to Hayen Valley around dusk and you will see wildlife. In several hours in this area at dusk we saw a grizzly bear, a heard of bison, two bald eagles and lots of elk.

The last time we were in Yellowstone we saw a heard of bison between West Yellowstone and Madison.

Traveling anywhere at dusk will probably result in wild life sitings.

At the Grand Tetons ask the park rangers where the moose are hanging out this year. They will know, then be there at dusk!

Utahtea

I'd like to ask Connie about the Beartooth Highway being closed. We are going to be there the first part of June and I am wondering what you would recommend for driving to Yellowstone from Red Lodge if the Highway is closed. Or should we skip Red Lodge all together? We'll be coming from the east after having been to the Mt. Rushmore area.

According to the YNP govt website, The Beartooth highway is opening today.

I am sorry. According to the YNP govt website the beartooth highway is opening tommorrow.

According to the Yellowstone goverment web page it says:

This road segment is outside of Yellowstone National Park boundaries. It starts on the east side of Cooke City, Montana, and extends to the Wyoming state line. Expected completion is late summer of 2006. Open May 27-Oct. 10 with up to half-hour delays; no delays on weekends. Subject to change: more information is available from the Central Federal Lands Highway Division.

See the big bold letters that says Subject to Change

Click on that link:

http://www.nps.gov/cgi-bin/intercept...YBeartooth.cfm

then hit "FORWARD"

and you arrive at this website:

http://www.cflhd.gov/projects/WYBeartooth.cfm

Now click on the first link:

http://www.cflhd.gov/FtpInternetDir/...oothUpdate.pdf

Scroll down to the bottom where it says:

"PLEASE NOTE SEASONAL ROAD OPENING:
Due to recent mudslides, US 2112 southwest of Red Lodge, Montana will not be open to the publice Memorial Day weekend as scheduled. Please check the Montana Department of Transportation website for updated road closure information."

You can't miss it the back ground is YELLOW!

Utahtea

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...=utahtea&fid=1

Ooops, try this link:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34624411

Check out this link. Ther are photos of the damage to the Beartooth highway.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index...tooth-hgwy.inc