LA to Glacier National Park to Yellowstone to LA

Hi
Planning a road trip from LA, with two kids - a 16 yo boy and 11 yo girl. We already have reservations at Glacier and at Yellowstone for mid June. The plan is:
Sat June 20 - Leave LA (we could, if necessary, leave Friday night and go a few hours)
6/20 - 6/22 - not sure?
Monday 6/22 - Arrive at Holland Lake (Glacier National Park) .
6/22 until Thursday 6/25 - Glacier Park
Thursday 6/25 - Leave Glacier and drive to West Yellowstone.
6/25 - 7/2 - Yellowstone
7/2 - leave Yellowstone
?? Not sure where to stop on the way home or which route to take after leaving on 7/2.

My questions are:

1. What is the best route from LA to Glacier? We were thinking of going through Salt Lake City. We also would like to stop at an interesting sight between SLC and Glacier, if anyone can recommend a place. We were told that the Golden Spike/Railroad museum is great, but not sure if that is on the way.

2. Can we get to West Yellowstone from Glacier, reasonably in one day?

3. When we leave Yellowstone what is the best route back to LA, that might have an interesting stop along the way? We leave Thursday morning and need to be in LA no later than Sunday. We wouldn't mind getting back on Saturday, but Sunday would work as well. Especially if we can find a great place to celebrate the 4th of July on the way home.

4. Any advise or recommendations? Are we planning it all wrong? We already have our reservations so we can't change much with that but we are open to ideas.

This is our first family road trip so any advise or tips is much appreciated. Thank you so much!
Sandy

Sounds like a lovely family road trip. Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

There is no single 'best' route just lots of options which you can base on your time and interests. On the way up I would be tempted to take US93 from Vegas up to Glacier. Although it would be full days on the road, it will allow you time from the car to take in a few sites and enjoy the scenery, but of course will take longer than Interstate. A few options along the way could include Cathedral Gorge State park, Great Basin, Snake river canyon [Twin Falls], Shoshone Falls, Craters of the Moon and the National Bison Range. You won't have much time but you could possibly pick from one or two.

Yes you could travel to West Yellowstone from Glacier same day.

From Yellowstone you could exit to the south and spend some time in the Grand Tetons. From there you could head south on 191 to Flaming Gorge and down into Southern Utah, perhaps visiting Bryce canyon and/or Zion NP.

Your planning seems fine, it's just a case of doing a little research and see what grabs your attention on the way up and than again on the way down. There is no shortage of options.

If you were in a big hurry, you could conceivably make it from LA to Holland Lake in 2 long days via I-15 all the way to I-90. So, if you have 3 days you have some (but not a LOT of) time to get off the beaten path and see some things.

You do know that it's a 2+ hour drive from Holland Lake to the West Glacier park entrance?

From the West Glacier entrance to West Yellowstone is about a 7.5 hour drive via US-93, I-90, and US-191.

Yellowstone to LA is a 2 day drive via I-15 if you were in a hurry to get home. So, with up to 4 days available you can plan on some significant sightseeing.

Be aware your arrival at GNP may precede the seasonal opening of GTTSR. Montana is on track to have a well above average snowpack this year and April/May often sees their largest accumulations. I think, on average, GTTSR is open by around mid-June, but it can be later than that, right up to mid-July as was the case in 2011 (maybe July 10 or 11 that year?).

If you were to choose to include it in your routing, US 93 is a very nice drive all the way from Wells, NV up through Idaho and to Missoula, MT.

Foy

Thank you for the recommendations! A lot to think about. If there are any "must see" sights please share. Vegas is a three hour drive for us and I am now thinking maybe we should head out Friday afternoon and get that far. It will give us a little more time on the way to Glacier. I like the idea of seeing Bryce or Zion on the way home too.
Thank you so much!
Sandy

LA to Las Vegas is three hours? Wow, never for us! Usually we take about 4-5 from the intersection of I-10 and I-15, into Las Vegas. You could, feasibly, go from LA to LV on a Friday evening if you haven't had a hard day at work that day and you were already packed and ready to go. Personally, I'd get away and try to get as far as Barstow, or maybe Baker.


Donna

If it's workable for you then I think making a start Friday afternoon would be a real bonus for the trip to Glacier, more so if you decide to take US93 and some of the sights along the way I mentioned previously.

I would agree that getting out the road Friday has some nice advantages, but I'm also puzzled as to where you are starting from that you can make it to Vegas in just 3 hours.

Even from well out into the Inland Empire, you'd have to be averaging nearly 80 mph - so frequently traveling at speeds of 90-100 - to cover the 250 miles in that time. Those speeds are especially unlikely on a Friday Afternoon/Evening, when the traffic on I-15 to Vegas is often quite heavy with people getting away to Vegas for the weekend.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sandrafzane

Vegas is a three hour drive for us

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Sandy, where are you starting from? I drive between LA and Las Vegas dozens of times each year. If you never hit a traffic slow down and you never exceed the posted speed limit (but travel at the highest legal speed) it requires every moment of a four-hour drive between Pasadena and Las Vegas. (I have been known to do this 3.5 hours -- but see above -- this required driving beyond the posted speed limit -- and a traffic stop for speeding will put a dent in your travel plans).

And, of course, you are blowing past some of my favorite scenic views on any Interstate Highway in America...

As far as lodging goes -- Victorville has the most choices for overnight motels -- there are a couple I'd recommend in Barstow -- not so much any in Baker.

Mark

No matter where in "LA" you would be starting from, I don't see the point in only going as far as Victorville and spending the money for a hotel room. I'd leave home bright and early the next morning unless you can go at least as far as Barstow on Friday. Friday afternoon/evening traffic on the way to LV is going to be pretty nasty, it should be a lot more peaceful in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Hello all
Thank you for the responses. I live in the Loma Linda/Redlands area - the very far suburbs of LA. I assumed most people on this sight would not know Redlands and so LA is much easier in terms of reference point. I have made it to Vegas in 3 to 3.5 hours before. Many of you made the point about Friday afternoon traffic, which I was not taking into account.

I make it a point to never leave for Vegas after about noon on a Friday. We usually take off about 8 or 9 in the morning. On the few times that I have left on a late Friday it has taken me 5 to 6 hours, and once much longer when they closed all lanes down to airlift someone after a terrible accident.
So probably will stick with the plan to leave on Saturday morning and get to Salt Lake City in one long day.
I would love to get some recommendations on what to see/where to stay when we leave SLC on the way to Glacier. We would be leaving SLC Sunday morning and need to be in the Glacier area by Monday late afternoon.
Again, thank you so much for all your assistance and your feedback. Much appreciated!!
Sandy

I think you would be pushing it just a bit too much trying to make SLC in one day - it's 655 miles from Redlands. Fortunately, you have some decent choices for an overnight before you get to SLC - there's a Best Western, a Super 8, and a Motel 6 in Nephi, which is 570 miles, and there's a bunch of hotels in Spanish Fork, Springville, Provo, and the rest of the way into SLC.

Considering you can just about make it from even Nephi to Holland Lake in one day, you have a lot more flexibility if you have the better part of 2 days.

Now - can I suggest an alternative to going through SLC? Head out of LA in the morning and head for Ely, NV. Just north of LV, take US-93. You have 3 choices:

1. Stay on US-93 all the way. Not the shortest or fastest, but it has the only gas stations between Alamo/Ash Springs and Ely. 490 miles.

2. At Ash Springs, take NV-318 to US-6 into Ely. Shortest, fastest, but no gas or any kind of services. 475 miles.

3. At Ash Springs, take NV-375 (The E.T. Highway) through Rachel to Warm Springs, then US-6 to Ely. Longest, no gas on 371 or 6. Rachel has the Little A'Le'Inn, which is basically a lunch counter with outhouses and a couple travel trailers they rent out for motel rooms. 560 miles.

If your vehicle can't drive at least 300 miles on a tank of gas, option (1) is the only one I'd take. Via option (2) it's 240 miles from LV to Ely. Via option (3) it's 300 miles with no gas except in Alamo/Ash Springs *if they are open*.

Ely is a neat little town, they have the old Hotel Nevada downtown, a few chain hotels, and a former Best Western called the Main Motel where I've stayed, it's an old 50's style roadside motel close to downtown. Across the street from the Hotel Nevada behind the Jail House Motel and Casino there's a decent steakhouse called the Cellblock, where you actually eat in an old jail cell.

From Ely, get an early start and take US-93/US-26/US-20 to Craters of the Moon, it's about a 7 hour drive. From there, it's about an hour and a half to Idaho Falls via US-20 which has a wide selection of hotels. From there to Holland Lake, it's about 7 hours.

If you decide to go via SLC, you could head north on I-15 to Dillon MT and spend a night. There's a neat restaurant called Sparky's Garage. It's a total car motif and the food is good. Next day, you can take MT-378 to the Big Hole Battlefield. Continuing on, at Wisdom you can take MT-43 to US-93 and take that on into Missoula. In fact, if you go to Craters of the Moon and stay in Idaho Falls, you might have time to go to Big Hole the next day on your way to Missoula.

GLC thanks for all the info! You have given me a lot to think about. I like the idea of seeing Craters of the Moon and Big Hole Battlefield, although I will have to read up on those places.
Planning the drive there and back is turning out to be the hardest part. I would like to take advantage of what we can see and do as we drive into Holland lake and when we leave Yellowstone, but I am still getting a little overwhelmed by the options. I like what you have laid out so am going to investigate further. We will be driving a 2012 Honda Odyssey mini van - so our gas mileage should be good.
Thanks again for the tips and if you have any more, please feel free to share!
Sandy

I show an Odyssey has a 21 gallon tank, so I'd say you have at least a 400 mile range on the highway with a decent reserve - maybe even 500 miles. EPA says 27 or 28 highway depending on transmission so I'd expect a real world 25. If you chose to do so I think you could make it from LV to Ely on one tank easily no matter which of the 3 suggested ways you go. I'd still top it off in Alamo/Ash Springs just to be safe.