Hi all I am starting work on our summer trip for next year. My first question is how much time should I allot for the trip?? How may days is it optimal to stay in each place?? I have looked at the package tours to get ideas, but I am afraid they jam it all in. We like to see and do a lot!!
Any advice or links to other postings that are great would be greatly appreciated!!
TIA

Just got back from this trip two weeks ago. I would allot at least 10 days. Don't know what your interests are but you could easily do three days at each place whether you are hikers or enjoy the sights from your car.

I'd advise you just to start using the search engine here (trip reports are great). The NPS.gov web sites are a great place for an overview -- activities, etc. Also, have a map handy of the areas to reference. There are tons of different ways to visit those areas -- just pick the things that will work for you. You will be seeing and doing alot and there's no way you will be able to do/see everything. I'd research a little so you have more specific questions -- like ages going, things you like to do, camping vs.lodges etc.

Plan on a day to drive from Yellowstone area to Mt Rushmore. And make reservations ASAP if you want to stay inside the parks. People make them a year ahead of time -- and then cancel as the time gets nearer and they decide not to go. I'd spend the bulk of the time in Yellowstone -- but don't really know what kind of time frame you are looking at.

It is an awesome trip to plan, but can be very confusing at first because there is so much to do (and everyone has a different opinion on the best way to do it).

I got nervous about lodging and booked today. . .
I booked the Old Faithful Inn for 2 nights and the Lake Yellowstone Hotel for 2 nights. Now I am working on the rest of the trip. I am thinking of starting in S.D. and moving west and then flying out of Jackson Hole. I am trying to do 12 days max.
Is 4 nights a good amount of time Yellowstone?
Thanks.

Good idea about the lodging -- you can always cancel, change or add as you get closer. With 12 days I might add another to Yellowstone at the northern end. We found 2 nights in the Mt. Rushmore area plenty, but we weren't travelling with kids which could make a difference in what you want to do. Or you might want to spend a day and night in Cody on your way in. There's so many different ways to do this, but IMO you are giving yourself enough time that you won't be rushed. What month are you going?

There is a lengthy trip report from lindsyb if you haven't seen it yet titled Yellowstone/Grand Teton Report from this summer. Also, if I remember right she had a lot of questions before the trip so if you click on her name it might be helpful. This may be the link (or not I never know if I do this right):
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1

Our first trip to Yellowstone / GTNP: Trip Report
Tagged: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
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Author: lindsyb
Date: 07/26/2008, 10:08 am

Sorry -- that link didn't work. This is the heading at the top of the report.

MBM: My wife and 2 kids did this exact trip a few years ago. 10 nights, started in Rapid City, flew out of Jackson, WY. This was our itinerary:

Night 1&2: Rapid City/Black Hills: Day 1: Badlands, Day 2: Mt Rushmore, Wind and/or Jewell Cave

Day 3: Drive to Devils Tower for the day(definitely worth seeing) and then drove to Sheridan and overnighted there(about 2.0 hr drive from DT, but eats into drive to Ystone)

Day 4: Drive rest of way to Y'stone via Hwy 14 Cody and west entrance, long but very scenic thru Bighorn Mts.

Day 5-9: Yellowstone- 2nights Old Faithful Inn, 3 nights Lake Yellowstone Hotel.

Day 10-11: Grand Teton: Stayed in a hotel in Jackson, forget which. But very short drive into GT.

Excellent work getting your reservations now for OFI and Lake Yellowstone. I booked a year in advance; called back to change them 2 months later and was almost completely full.

Regarding time spent, if anything I wish we could've spent an extra day in each place. Fascinating Badlands NP is not to be missed outside the Black Hills. Yellowstone is so big, I could easily see spending a night or two up near Mammoth Hot Springs to better explore up there or at Canyon Lodge area. Remember, there are several distinct areas of the park and they are not close to each other. For ex: Old Faithful to Lake Yellowstons is about 45 miles, more like 70 to Tower. If you're interested in doing the Roosevelt cookout, need to reserve that in advance also. 2 full days was enough for us in GTNP but could easily see a 3rd day, esp if like hiking.

I agree, stay one night in Roosevelt Lodge. We did 3 days in Yellowstone this past and we should have stayed at least one more day, maybe two. We liked Yellowstone far more than the Tetons. Be sure and see Castle Geyser. We saw 5 or 6 Geysers go, and Old Faithful was our least favorite. You just don't realize how much time you will spend on the side of the road watching wildlife. We are normally, pretty big hikers. We really didn't hike at all. Just to much to do without hiking it. We did do a little hiking in Grand Tetons and it was good.

We stayed in a cabin in Colter Village as well. It was nice in the fact that it had 3 beds.

www.photoworks.com/members/spirobulldog

click on Yellowstone for our photos. you may have to click on view all first.

dw732 - thanks for your itinerary. So you didnt stop in Cody or The Ranch at Ucross??

Is there anything worthwhile to check out in those places? Should we stop overnight is one of those??

My kids will be 9 1/2 and 6 1/2 at time of trip just for those who asked.

Should we stay in Jackson or in GT Park?

MBM

We did not stop in Cody although there is a Cowboy museum there and probably some other things of interest. If I recall my mindset by then was to just get to Old Faithful Inn which is located on the opposite side of the park from the west entrance. I think it took us at least an hour to get to OFI from the east entrance(not the west like i said in the first post).

Also, definitely would've stayed in GTNP if Jenny Lake or others were available but they were booked. I don't think there are as many places to stay there, smaller park in that regard.

By the way, no picture will ever do justice to seeing Rushmore in person.

We did a similar trip this summer although I can't comment on the Mt Rushmore part as we came up through Utah and spent some time in SLC and Park City. (and I also don't know how to link to the report but if you click on my name you should get there)

We did 3 nts. Old Faithful Inn, 2 nts. Mammoth Cabin, 3 nts. Lake Hotel, 2 nts at Signal Mtn Lodge in GTNP and 2 nts Jackson at the Trapper Inn.

I think the only thing we would do differently would be to add a night in the Mammoth area, but I'm not sure where I would subtract any. One of my priorities was to see wildlife (which we certainly did) but wished for a bit more time in the Northern part of the park where the wildlife is more of the focus.

You will have a fabulous time!

I am going to stop at the Bookstore today. There are so many choices and so little time!!! I just pulled out a map of Wyoming!! It is giant!!

I also saw something about dinosaurs too. Any one stop at any of the dinosaur fossil learning centers?

We got back from doing that same trip a week ago. But were in a motorcoach so can't comment on lodges/hotels.
Don't know how many National Parks you are planning on seeing but you could look into the NPS Annual Pass. It is $80, good for one year from the month you purchase it and gets you and your carload into everything. Only place it doesn't work that I know of in SD and WY is for parking at Mt. Rushmore which was $8.
You might also look into getting the Passports for your children so that they can get them stamped at all the attractions. You can get them online or if you are from Miami just go to Everglades Visitor Center and pick them up with your first stamp from there. Also get on line www.nps.gov and check out the Jr. Ranger programs for the parks and see if that is something your kids would be interested in.

Remember the Sturgis Rally is August 3 to 9 2009. Are you planning your trip around that time? If you are, try to book hotels asap, but they will be expensive at that time in SD because everyone jacks up the prices.
A couple of extra thoughts. Your kids might like Wall Drug. Pretty famous place and although a little kitchy, you have to do it once in your lifetime. You could fit it in with the Badland which is really breathtaking.
You can do many things in one day in SD. No need to spend a whole day doing anything and they are easy to drive to. Rushmore and Crazy Horse easy to see in one day and you can probably fit in one more thing. Don't know how long you are planning in SD but there is plenty to see and do.
Devils' Tower is also worth the short drive. Have the kids see the movie ET before you go. Always people climbing and since a sacred area to the Indians there are always prayer bundles in the trees. Also check out the Prairie Dog area on the way out. This year they were all out eating and very close to the area where you can watch them. No fencing it's just you and these fun little creatures.
I agree with others that Yellowstone is huge and we had plenty of construction on the roads which made travelling around very slow. I would also check with the NPS when it gets closer to the time about construction, because it was very slow moving in some sections. Try to avoid them if possible.
Grand Teton is very scenic but if you are not hiking can be seen in a day or two at the most. The park is only about 40 miles long with great fast access routes.
Jackson is a fun quaint cowboy town. Main center is not very large and doable in a day unless you really like going from shop to shop and brousing.
There are plenty of places to go and things to do but those are some of the highlights.

OOOPS! Not the movie ET it is actually Close Encounters. Another senior moment.

We got back from Yellowstone/Grand Teton last week and did 4 days in each park. For hiking, a week in each park would have been ideal, but we got the main sights in and did some hiking (especially in Grand Teton which is primarily a hiking place).

You are smart to reserve accommodations now and change things later if need be as your trip falls into place. We also stayed at Old Faithful Inn and Lake Yellowstone Hotel - both wonderful.

I posted a trip report last week if you're interested (Yellowstone and Grand Tetons with Teens).

You will LOVE this trip!!!

I just found out that in order to use my domestic companion benefit the tickets have to be roundtrip from a single airport. S I cant fly into Rapid City and Fly out of Jackson.

Does anyone have a suggestion for which airport to fly in and out of? and then how to accomplish the itinerary without killing ourselves driving??

Bummer. IMO, and I am more partial to Jackson area than Rapid City, I'd fly in and out of Jackson. If you aren't doing any hiking in the Tetons, depending on when your flight arrives, you can see alot of the sights on your way from the airport to Yellowstone. We have spent one night in the Tetons on two different occasions and were able to do this on the way in and on the way out. Or you could spend the last two nights in the Tetons.

There are two different routes on the way to Sheridan (I think it is 14 and 14A) that could vary that ride. Or, you could go out the East Entrance through Cody and then return to Yellowstone via Billings and the Beartooth Highway. (not sure what route that is)

I've tried to use companion tickets a couple of times -- there are alot of restrictions on them, but with 12 days you should still be ok.

Wow. I just did this trip myself about a month ago.

I like that you're staying 2 nights at Old Faithful, and 2 nights at Lake Yellowstone. It's a perfect mix, and I hope you got a cabin at Old Faithful. Our cabin allowed us a view of Old Faithful when we walked out our cabin door. Some cabins have a direct view of Old Faithful as well. The cabins are very basic but clean. No TV.

I drove from Denver up to Mt. Rushmore, then spent an overnight at Deadwood, SD, which is about an hour away. Great historic town, the only whole town on the Historic National Registry. Thinking back, I wished I stayed 2 nights, as there are other interesting places in the area I'd like to explore. While you're at Mt. Rushmore, make sure you head over to see a current work in progress, Crazy Horse Monument, which is about a 30 minute drive from Mt. Rushmore.

And while I agree with you that packaged tours cram everything in, you can get some pretty good ideas for you trip from them, just readjusting it to your liking, which is what we did. As such, on our drive from Deadwood to Yellowstone, we stopped by Devil's Tower (I'd always wanted to see that and didn't realize it was kind of on the way).

If you decide to stay inside GTNP, I really liked the Jackson Lake Lodge and the Jenny Lake Lodge, both locations which I scouted out this time for my next trip there. You can get more info at http://www.gtlc.com

I got a bit more adventurous and headed up to Montana, visiting Big Horn County Historical Museum, but that was a long drive... In case you're interested:
http://www.bighorncountymuseum.org/

Hm...regarding your current dilemma requiring you to return to your same airport, consider Denver. That way, you do a circle trip, everything is on the way anyway. Then again, I'm partial to this as that's the route I took.

This is what I did (not that it helps you since it's not what you want as your itinerary, plus, looking back, it was a crazy and crammed itinerary):

Day 1 - Denver to Mt. Rushmore - 6 hr drive
stayover in Deadwood, SD
Day 2 - Deadwood to Devil's Tower - 3 hr drive
Devil's Tower to Big Horn County Historical Museum - 4hr drive
stayover in Billings, MT - 1hr drive away
Day 3 - Yellowstone National Park - 4hr drive
stayover in Old Faithful cabins for 3 nights
Day 7 - explored GTNP, headed to Jackson Hole, WY.
stayover Jackson Hole, WY

After that, I headed out to Arches National Park, and thus our plans diverge.

I think the drive from Jackson Hole to Denver is about an 8 hour drive. Something to think about if you decide to go this route.

Thanks all, I am working on google maps to see what the shortest loop would be, I'll let you know!!