Should I drive from Seattle to Yellowstone in early June?
 

I'll be in Seattle on business next June, and I'm leaving from there for a trip to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. I have booked my Yellowstone lodging starting on June 8, and I was planning to fly from Seattle to Jackson on that day. However, it now turns out that I'll be finished with business stuff in Seattle earlier than expected, in early afternoon on June 6. So now I need to decide what to do with the extra two days.

Options include:

(1) Stay in Seattle and check out the city a little more as a tourist.
(2) Extend my Yellowstone/Glacier trip a little bit by flying out there earlier.
(3) Instead of flying, rent my car two days earlier, and drive from Seattle to Yellowstone.

I have been to Yellowstone once before, but I've never been to Glacier. Nor have I ever been to Seattle, or any other part of the Pacific Northwest. In general I enjoy road trips, and I like to see places that are new to me by driving through them. But I don't know whether or not there's anything particularly interesting or unique to see on the way from Seattle to Yellowstone. Also, it occurs to me that there may still be a lot of snow around in early June, and some roads might be closed. So what should I do?

Since you're flying into Jackson, do you plan to spend any time in Grand Teton NP? If not, that's how I would spend my extra time.

We went to Grand Teton and Yellowstone in early June of this year. If you like, click on my screen name and you can read my trip report.

Lee Ann

ElendilPickle, I did indeed read and enjoy your report! And I am certainly planning to include GTNP in this visit. My last time through, I saw GTNP as a long day trip, on my way out of Yellowstone, heading in the direction of my next destination: Moab, Utah. That didn't really work out so well, because it happened to be a cloudy and intermittently snowy day, and that spoiled my views.

This time, I'm bringing less-mobile family members, so I'm planning to spend the whole YNP/GTNP part of the trip in one single hotel in YNP, rather than moving from hotel to hotel every night as I did when traveling alone. I'm anticipating only a limited number of clear days, which I plan to spend at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and/or day-tripping down to GTNP. I figure I'll spend the cloudy, rainy, sleety days looking at geysers. As the weather gets colder, I find myself longing for the feeling of warm sulfurous geyser steam wafting over me on a frigid morning.

So basically, I could extend the YNP/GTNP part of the trip by a couple of days, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything special in that drive. I'm unlikely to ever get the chance to drive that particular route again.

There is lots to see and do between Seattle and Yellowstone, but not in 2 days. That only gives you time to take the interstate and maybe do one small detour, so it wouldn't be worth it IMO. With more time you could take a more scenic route over the Cascades (instead of the interstate), explore the Idaho Panhandle, drop down via the Sawtooths into Sun Valley/Ketchum area, visit Craters of the Moon National Monument, etc etc. Maybe the NW is another trip, another time.

Agree with christy1. a great drive if you have time to see and enjoy parts of Eastern, WA, Idaho, etc. Personally I'd spend the time in Seattle, one of my favorite cities. In addition to the city, you can make a day trip to Mt. Ranier Nat. Park, Port Townsend or Whidbey Island. Also Woodinville for a little of the WA wine country.

We have visited YNP in early June and had no rain, clouds, sleet, or frigid weather. You may be pleasantly surprised. June in Glacier, on the other hand, gets lots of rain.

Thanks for the tips. I guess maybe the scenic drive should wait for another trip. I do like the idea of a day trip from Seattle.

I'll keep my fingers crossed regarding the weather at YNP. I guess I may be pleasantly surprised, but I would have been happier last time if I had planned activities in advance for different kinds of weather.

""Should I drive from Seattle to Yellowstone in early June?""

(here, let me consult the SpongeBob SquarePants Magic 8-ball: )


Answer: """Ohh No!"""

With limited vacation time, I would fly. We live in Seattle and have done the trip by car a couple of times and are planning to do it again this summer, but I wouldn't do it unless I had time to burn and had seen everything I wanted to see in Seattle. Idaho has some attractions, but Eastern Washington after the Cascades is pretty stark until you get to Spokane. I would add one extra day to Seattle and one extra day to Wyoming/Montana. There's great seafood in Seattle that you won't get in Wyoming or Montana, and you could take a ferry to Bainbridge Island or Whidbey Island and have a beautiful Puget Sound experience...again, totally different than Yellowstone, GTNP, etc. So I would break it 50/50 if you can.

If you want to rent a car in Seattle, they probably want it returned to Seattle.
My wife and I have ridden from Seattle to Whitefish, MT (Glacier NP) on the Empire Builder (AMTRAK) and rented a car there. The Going-to-the-Sun road should be open by early June.
It is about a 6-7 hour drive from Glacier to Yellowstone.
The Empire Builder leaves Seattle @4:40PM and arrives @Whitefish, MT at about 7:30AM. Rental cars available at the Kalispell Airport.

<i>The Empire Builder leaves Seattle @4:40PM and arrives @Whitefish, MT at about 7:30AM. Rental cars available at the Kalispell Airport.</i>

I guess they won't get to see much of the scenery between here are there.

HTTY

Going eastbound, once you leave the Cascades and pull away from the Columbia River the scenery is not that great. Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon is mostly High Desert. Amtrak joins the 2 sections of the Empire Builder sometime after midnight in Spokane, WA.
If you don't like the train, consider flying from Seattle to Kalispell instead of Jackson.

I'm reviving this old thread because my plans have changed a little bit. It now appears that I may actually have to drive from Seattle to Jackson Hole, for complicated reasons, but I'll have a little more time to do it than I thought. I could even spend two nights on the road, if necessary.

With that in mind, if I do drive, should I take the northern route (I-90 through Spokane and Missoula), or the southern route (I-82 and US-30, through Boise and Idaho Falls)? It appears that the driving time is almost the same for the two routes, if I stay on the highways. But I would have time for the long detour to Craters of the Moon, if taking the southern route.

Thanks for any advice!

I've done both, and I prefer the northern route. Also, on the northern route there are detours that are more appealing to me than Craters of the Moon. One is to drive to Livingston (the railroad gateway to Yellowstone) and into the north entrance of Yellowstone. Another is to drive via Virginia City, Ennis, Driggs, and Victor.

HTTY

Good advice from HTTY. I also prefer the northern route. Are you returning to Seattle with the rental car for your flight home? The logical place to stop after a full days drive would be in Missoula, MT. I hate big drop off fees.

Thank you! Tomfuller, I am not driving back to Seattle. It's a one-way drive, and I'm indeed going to pay a big drop-off fee.

I can't really go to Livingston on the way, because, since I started this thread, the itinerary changed a little bit, and this trip is actually between Seattle and Jackson, WY, not Seattle and Yellowstone. But Virginia City, Ennis, Driggs, and Victor would be right on the way. What's there?

Also, as it turns out, after Yellowstone, I need to head out through the Northern entrance to Bozeman. So I might be able to see Livingston then. What goes on in Livingston?

Any idea where you are going after Bozeman/Livingston?
To save the big drop off fee, I would ride the Empire Builder to Shelby MT. The train gets there about noon. Rent your car there. Shelby to Driggs is 7 hours mostly on I-15 and ID 33.
Driggs is only 45 minutes from Jackson, WY.
The quickest route from Jackson to Bozeman Mapquest says is back through Driggs and West Yellowstone but not through Yellowstone NP.
Jackson has an airport. I don't know about Shelby. I think the Amtrak fare is less than your drop off fee. Driving all the way from Seattle is too far to be practical. Driggs info-http://www.inidaho.com/City.asp?City=DRIGGS