Yellowstone and Grand Tetons
 

Hi, We are planning a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons in June. We will be landing in Idaho Springs, so hoping to get into the park from the west entrance. We have a week in total and thinking we might do 5 days in Yellowstone and the last two in Grand Tetons. Our current itinerary is
day 1: Start driving north towards Gardiner (viist Norris Geyser, Mammoth, Lamar valley and stay at Gardiner)
Day 2: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Hayden Valley (stay at Lake/Canyon)
Day 3: Yellowstone Lake (stay at Lake/canyon)
Day 4: Old Faithful and surrounding areas
Day 5: Snake River rafting and Stay at Jackson
Day 6: Spend the day at Grand tetons and Stay at Jackson
Day 7: Spend the day at Grand Tetons and drive back to Idaho Falls

Wanted to also see the Beartooth highway, but it looks like it might be quite a drive on day 1 if we started from Idaho Springs and spent the night at Red Lodge instead of stopping at Gardiner. Suggestions/ideas on if/how we might be able to include Beartooth highway in the itinerary. Other itinerary suggestions on places to see/stay also welcome

Thanks for your time

Is it really cheaper to fly to Idaho FALLS than to Missoula or SLC and rent a car? Whichever way you go, try to go through Driggs Idaho either coming or going . If you can get lodging in Mammoth, you can skip Gardiner.

Or fly into Cody, north to Beartooth, then down through the valley and then to Mammoth or Gardiner?

If you haven't already made reservations for park lodging, jump on that TODAY. If there is no availability, try to book something outside the park that can be cancelled. Then call every day to grab any cancellations. Enjoy your trip.

You can check for park reservations on line now; that's how I got Mammoth lodging this fall. One day nothing, next day a cabin!

Already made reservations to fly into Idaho falls, so cant change that.

If you click on my user name you can see my trip reports for Yellowstone and Jackson. We are in Utah so drive through Idaho Falls and then in through the West entrance. The only way for you to do day one is to go up the west side of the park's figure 8 loop and see things there. For reference--it took us a whole day just to go from the West Entrance to Old Faithful because there are so many stops. And there will be lots of traffic and animal jams. So figure your first day is travel and seeing the Mammoth area. You have planned out your next days well. If you don't have your lodging in those areas, then be prepared to be driving around a bit to get back to your hotel etc.

Thanks for the feedback , will look into your trip report as well.

Thanks - good read on the thread too!

I think you are bouncing around a lot. One thing that is very special in both Yellowstone and the Tetons is the wildlife. You need to get up early. I also loved just hanging out at the main lodge at the Tetons-which has great view from the balcony!