How long to drive direct through Yellowstone NP traveling N-S?
Aug 11th, 2014, 08:10 AM
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How long to drive direct through Yellowstone NP traveling N-S?
My husband and I are driving our friend's car to L.A. for him and making a road trip out of it. We're taking a northern route and we don't have much time to sightsee, but I mapped our drive as scenically as possible. On our third day of travel we will be departing Rapid City, SD in the early morning to arrive at Red Lodge, MT hopefully by noon, then proceeding on to The Bear Tooth Highway, through Yellowstone, through Jackson Hole, and overnighting in Alpine, WY. I understand this is an insane itinerary with little allowance for stops, which is less than ideal for sightseeing in the area, but better at least than skipping the area altogether which is our only other option with our time constraints. We plan to drive straight through Yellowstone along the eastern road, not driving the loops but just going straight down from top to bottom. I have no idea how long I should expect this to take given whatever traffic there may be, so in planning I've allotted two hours to BTH and a generous seven hours to Yellowstone, landing us in Alpine between 9:00-11:00 pm. Does this seem realistic? I wish we had the time to do it "right", but I'll take a glimpse over none.
Aug 11th, 2014, 08:23 AM
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With no stops, Red Lodge to Alpine would probably take about 6-7 hours. Realistic not to make some scenic view stops? Probably not! But I understand sometimes needing to do marathons through places you'd rather have stayed over.
(That's a minimum 11-12 hour driving day, if you count 6 hours from Rapid City to Red Lodge; I'd try to be on the road by 4 a.m. and not be driving any part of the second leg without daylight.)
(That's a minimum 11-12 hour driving day, if you count 6 hours from Rapid City to Red Lodge; I'd try to be on the road by 4 a.m. and not be driving any part of the second leg without daylight.)
Aug 11th, 2014, 08:31 AM
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Oh lovely! That's better than I thought. 4:00 am sounds intimidating, but we will have gained two hours in time zone changes by then so maybe it won't feel so bad. I know we won't be able to resist pulling over a few times, definitely. I was thinking it would be ok to drive from Jackson to Alpine after dark if we're careful. I know we'll want to stop for supper in Jackson since dining options seem to be limited in Alpine.
Aug 11th, 2014, 02:57 PM
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As a recall, the road you are taking from Jackson to Alpine is rather challenging even during daylight hours...but locals would have a better handle on that. Too bad you don't have more time for the whole area because the driving requires patience (bison slow-downs, road construction, high volume of cars, etc.) and there is so much to see.
