Yellowstone & Grand Teton Favorites
 

I've been reading various sources for planning information.

Then I decided, "why not ask those who know the most".

What are you favorite YNP & GTNP favorites:
Sight
Geyser
Wildlife viewing location
Waterfall
Hike (short) < 4 miles total
Hike (long) > 4 miles total
Lodging
Other

Thanks.

YNP
Sight: Overlook into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Geyser: Steamboat Geyser, Norris Geyser Basin (#2 - Giant Geyser, Upper Geyser Basin)
Wildlife: Willow Park, south of Mammoth Hot Springs (moose!)
Waterfall: Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (a no-brainer)
Short Hike:
Long Hike: Avalanche Peak (I love this hike!)
Lodging: Lake Yellowstone Lodge - cabins

GTNP
Sight: View from Inspiration Point (see short hike). #2-view from top of Jackon Hole Tram
Wildlife: Along Snake River on a sunrise float trip
Waterfall: Wilderness Falls, near Jackson Hole (#2: Hidden Falls - see short hike)
Short Hike: Cross Jenny Lake on shuttle boat, hike up Cascade Canyon to Inspiration Point
Long Hike: Continue up Cascade Canyon to Lake Solitude.
Lodging: Luton's Cabins, north of Jackson Hole

I forgot the Yellowstone short hike - Bunsen Peak, near Mammoth Hot Springs; but there are just too many good ones to count!

Our favorite things were wildlife and the geysers. Couldn't really rate one over the other. Canyon and Tower Falls would have been our 3rd choice. I would certainly see Old Faithful (but it was our least favorite geyser). Castle Geyser was our favorite. Riverside was a good one and Daisy was nice. There are 6 or 7 geysers they predict and the rest are just a crap shoot. Old Faithful is +/- 10 minutes.
The other geysers they predict are +/- two hours. We didn't really care for Mammoth area at all. The only thing we really felt we missed was soaking in the Boiling River. We didn't do near the hiking we did at parks such as Mesa Verde, Arches. We did a lot of walking and a lot of stopping and watching wildlife while going down the road. You can turn a 30 minute drive into 2 hours just by stopping and watching a couple of bears or a fox along the way. We knew this and didn't really plan to much of a schedule. We saw several people playing cards or board games while waiting for an hour or two to watch a geyser erupt. While waiting for Daisy Geyser two bison with calves kept us entertained. The calves were really running around until a coyote showed up. The mama bison turned and stared down the coyote and the calves stopped being frisky for about 30 minutes. At old faithful expect at least 1000 people for an eruption. At the others just a handful. Maybe you can get lucky and catch Beehive or some of the other ones. You can sortof time it right and catch several throughout the day. We did hike around the Canyon area and it was a nice hike with view of the falls along the way.

spiro,

I suspected there would be less hiking than my previous trips, more hanging around and more early in the morning/evening viewing.

I think you're kind of confirming this.

I know that you were a little worried about the climbing aspect and steep dropoffs when you went to arches, etc. Good news is there is no steep dropoffs. Just watch out for the bears and don't fall into any boiling water. LOL. There are a lot of good looking hikes, we just didn't really have the time for them. The altitude kinda bothers my wife and we were concerned about the bears. Had we done a hike where many people weren't around we would have bought bearspray. I think that Yellowstone really gives you more bang for your buck than any of the other NP's I have been two. It's like you can have a great time doing about anything. Just driving looking for animals was really cool. Do check out the Lodges and have a meal at some of them. The lunches are good and not really very expensive. We slept better in the cabins than we did the lodges. The walls are super thin in the lodges. Lake Hotel is the only place that I thought was expensive. You might check out the tent cabins at Colter Village, or the cabins for a bargain. We are going to Zion in October for 3 days. Seems like you and I are taking about the same trips for the past 2 years. Next summer I am looking at Acadia or Oregon. I haven't been to Bryce or Cap Reef and that is on my list as well. But I have seen a lot of Utah and thought I might give the rocks a rest for a year or two. Glacier looks cool also, but it seems like it might be a lot like Yellowstone. My problem is that I can only be gone for 5 days, so we always have to fly and then are somewhat limited timewise what we can do.