marilynb7

We are planing to take a trip to Jackson Hole the 1st of August. We just want to relax and enjoy the cooler weather. We are not adventurous people. No Children. However, being so close to YNP and Tetons we would like to see some of it. Is it possible to take a day trip one day to YNP and one day to Teton Park?? Just to get a quick view of the beauty of it. Are would we be wasting our time.

HowardR

First of all, you say you are going to Jackson Hole for cooler weather. Since "cooler" is a relative term, what is cooler to you? It can get hot there in August. I speak from experience.
More importantly, going to that area and only spending a bae minimum amount of time in either Yellowstone or the Tetons or both borders on the ludicrous. Taking nothing away from the town of Jackson (and I assume when you say "Jackson Hole," you are referring to the town of Jackson), I would urge to focus on those national parks for the majority of your time.

spirobulldog

You really need 2-4 days in Yellowstone and thats without really do any hiking or anything. You will be suprised just how much you can see from your car and with just a short walk to some sights.

spirobulldog

You could float the Snake River or take a boat on Jenny Lake. The snake river tours have everything from breakfast to dinner tours, etc. In Yellowstone be sure and see the Geyser Basin near Old Faithful-Many of them there are worth seeing. Also spend the better part of a day around Canyon area.

starrs

Jackson Hole is the valley. Jackson is the town. Grand Teton NP is easy to see in 1 day if you aren't doing a lot of activities. If you just want to drive and look you could drive through Yellowstone NP in one day. Try to spend the night at Old Faithful if you can - or somewhere else in Yellowstone NP. The road through Yellowstone make a figure 8 - and the upper and lower loops takes you to all the major sites in the park.

rkochman

I live in Jackson in the spring and summer. In August it can reach 80, but the humidity is so low it doesnt feel near that warm.Lows at night are generally in the 40s. Thats why very few homes, including multiple million dollar homes are air conditioned. When time is limited I take visitors to Old Faithful and walk around that basin where there is plenty to see. You can scratch the surface in a day trip from Jackson. GTNP is easy to take in by just driving it. While in Jackson have lunch at The Snake River Brewery

marilynb7

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am still confused if I really want to go. I just don't want to be in a car my whole trip (motion sickness). 80 degrees is a lot better than over 100 for Houston in the summer!

ElendilPickle

Can you take Dramamine or something similar? I find it helps a lot with motion sickness. Taking ginger capsules or chewing up some crystallized ginger (or Reed's Ginger Chews) helps as well.

Lee Ann

starrs

"I am still confused if I really want to go"

You really want to go.

It's going to be a LOT cooler in August. I promise you. You'll need a sweater or fleece at night. We were there in June and wore (what is for us) winter clothes.

You can drive one end of Jackson Hole to another in about an hour. That gives you PLENTY of time to get out and look around and walk on a trail and see the sights. It's pretty much a straight road and nothing to bother folks with motion sickness. Just pretend you are driving to Austin.

Yellowstone is amazing. The stops on the loops were arranged so that the first visitors would have a lunch stop and then a few miles later a place to spend the night. They built a big lodge at all the spend the night places. The park was designed for a week's tour in the open carriages. Take a look at the map -
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/int...emap/index.htm
Look at the distances of the segments - 12 miles to 21 miles long for each segment. Even if you get car sick, you can stop every 12 to 20 miles, get out and see something amazing. Geysers. Mudpots. Mammoth terraces. Lakes. Animals. There's no place like it anywhere. The entire loop is less than 150 miles. The roads connecting to it take you in and out of the park. I was there with an older couple and we didn't do much more than drive, get out and see some stuff and back for the next stop. 80% of the people who visit Yellowstone do the same. Yes, there are a lot of other options of things to see and do, but driving the loop and walking the boardwalks will give you an amazing trip. I suggest going to Cody afterward and spending a couple of days there if you can. See the museum. Go to a rodeo. Go to Meeteetse and buy some chocolate from the cowboy - http://www.meeteetsechocolatier.com/
A precious little town with a nice little museum. It's where Amelia Earhart had shipped her stuff and was going to live when she finished her flight. You'll love the area. Go!

HowardR

To put iot bluntly, those two national parks include some of the most beautiful scenery you'll ever encounter. To not spend most of your time while in the area in Yellowstone the Teton would indeed deprive you of one of most incredible visual experiences you'll ever have.
Because you don't want to hike doesn't mean you have to spend all your time driving around.....that is, assuming you don't mind doing a little walking and taking a relaxing float trip or two.

marilynb7

Thank you STARRS. You made me kind of want to go now that I have an idea of what to expect. Thanks for all the information.

polly229

Only time I've spent in the town of Jackson is the night I fly in if I arrive late or the night before I fly out if I'm leaving early. (Well, once we looked around the shopping area a couple of hours, which was more than enough.) Otherwise, I can't imagine why you'd stay there with two of the most beautiful parks so close. By the time you get to the airport you're just about at Grand Teton NP. By the time you get to the other end of GTNP, you're almost at the entrance of Yellowstone. Although my husband and I are working on a national park "body count" (29 so far, many more nat'l monuments) and are flying into SD to see Badlands and Wind Cave the end of the month, we're also driving to Yellowstone for our third visit since it's our favorite park by far. Previous trips have been 7 or 8 days each and we've found plenty to do. You could spend about all of one day at Old Faithful on Geyser Hill where there are dozens of geysers and four of the fairly predictable five large geysers other than Old Faithful (check the VC for times); in addition to those, there are several that erupt less spectacularly but quite frequently. A longish walk or a short drive puts you at two more great areas for smaller geysers and other thermal features. A drive to Grand Canyon of Yellowstone will give you another days worth of things to walk around and look at. You could spend still another day at Mammoth Hot Springs (which is like a cave but on the outside instead of underground) and not do much driving after you get there. It's a huge park and full of spots where you could spend half an hour driving, then spend several hours walking around and looking or just sitting and looking. You're not likely to get very hot during the day and you could be pretty chilly at night. Also, for motion sickness not helped enough by OTC meds, it seems to be a little known fact (including to many drs.) that you can get the Rx scopolamine not only in patches you have to wear all the time but in pills, so you can just take them when you need them; probably one in the AM on a day you'll be doing a lot of driving will do it if dramamine won't. (Sometimes you won't be driving, you'll be sitting in your car waiting for bison to get out of the road or something.)

Biggest problem you have now will be finding rooms. If you want somewhere in the park, you may have to collect them a day at a time as cancellations arise. It might not be too easy to get something in West Yellowstone (MT) or Gardiner (MT), either. But cancellations come up there, too. Cancellations are more frequent about a month before. I'd book something in W. Yellowstone that I could cancel and try to get some park rooms by checking frequently during the summer. (Use the Xanterra website, not the so-called national park one that charges a booking fee.) Not sure what your budget is but there are some nice resorts in the Tetons, though pretty expensive. We've stayed at Signal Mountain Lodge a couple of times, which is a lot cheaper, and we found it perfectly okay.

Not sure of your age but if over 62 you can get a lifetime park pass for $10 that will get the driver and passengers - or 2 others if it's not a drive-in park - that will get you into the almost 400 "units" of the park system. Best $10 DH and I ever spent. (Felt so guilty that I got one when I turned 62 even though I didn't need it.) I try to mention this after running into some people at Petrified Forest last summer who had driven from CA past several national parks, including Grand Canyon, and hadn't gone because of the $25 fee; the $10 they paid for Pet. Forest would have gotten them into numerous parks they'd already passed and several more on the way back to TX. Apparently a lot of people aren't aware of the senior pass.

HowardR

polly229 is so right about that $10 lifetime park pass for seniors. It's gotta be the best bargain the government has to offer! And, it's not just for the major national parks, but also many, many other national sites.

tomfuller

Anyone who suffers from motion sickness- Ask your Dr. for a Rx for TransDerm Scop (scopolomine). Stick a patch behind your ear after a shower and you are good to go for 3 days.

spirobulldog

I would throw up all the way and still want to go! It's a great place to see

dotty500

You have to go to the old faithful inn and stay a night in the old inn -it's truly wonderful. I'd also recommend the Rockefeller reserve in the Tetons easy trails and sublime views.

VRTravel

The National Parks, they really are gorgeous. We don't go to Jackson Hole or around there often so it was definitely worth going to Tetons and Yellowstone. The Snake River Lodge was beautiful (http://www.vacationroost.com/wyoming...ls-p98799.aspx) and was less than a mile from the entrance of the Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). You can pay one time fee to enter into both of the parks. Jenny Lake is where we stopped in the GTNP park and we took beautiful pictures (you can also take a boat across Jenny Lake which I did many years ago). I personally liked GTNP more than Yellowstone, but there are so many cool sites in Yellowstone but it takes forever to drive and get anywhere. Even getting from The GTNP entrance in Jackson to the top took us over 1.5-2 hours and then when you enter Yellowstone right after GTNP it takes awhile to get to any of the sites (like Old Faithful etc).

StantonHyde

You can do Yellowstone in a day. I took friends who were staying in Jackson there. We went to OF and then up to Canyon and back. Stopped along the way. There is a ton to look at just at the roadside stops--and very short strolls, not hikes. Believe me, there are people who look like they haven't left their couch in a looong time and they are out there So figure a long day--9 am to 9 pm and you will be just fine. (if you can get up and go earlier, great. if not, don't sweat it!) On the one day trip with my friends, we saw moose, bison, bears, etc. We truly hit the highlights and they loved it.

YOu have received good info here on visiting GTNP--easy to do in a day. Do a float trip on another day (float not raft--much easier on the inner ear ) You can spend a day in Jackson looking around. Drive out to Teton Village and see the shops there and take a tram ride. Plus there are great restaurants in Jackson.

While I agree the parks are amazing places and deserving of their own trip, unless you want to reschedule for next year and do something different this year, then you should go to Jackson. Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good!!

StantonHyde

As for cooler weather--oh yes! At that elevation it is awesome. We live in Salt Lake and we head up into the canyons in the summer for a good 10-20 degree difference in temps during the day. In the morning and evening, you will want fleece! And if you are from Houston, the dryness here will be beyond refreshing!!!

tomfuller

Ask your Dr. for a Rx for TransDerm Scop. You take a shower and stick the little patch behind your ear and you are good to go for 3 days with no motion sickness.
The most interesting thing I remember is the elk horn arch entrance to the big city park.
By all means enjoy as much as you can of GTNP and Yellowstone.