Advice Needed Bozeman, MT -> Yellowstone National Park -> Grand Teton National Park

[chrischeng40]

Greetings!

I am going on a road trip with my family with my parents who are around 60 years old.
We are flying into Bozeman, MT in September and do a road trip to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton for 7 days.

Prior to planning the trip, my family already booked the hotels but while I am planning the trip, I was wondering if the West Yellowstone is worth visiting at all. right now the route would look like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Boze...45.7773831!3e0

The bad news is we can't cancel the reservation at Hibernation Station since it is non-refundable.

While staying near Mammoth Hot Spring, we will have 3 full days exploring Yellowstone. Then 2 full days to explore Grand Teton.
I am most worried about what to do near Hibernation Station. If I am not mistaken, it is the west part of yellowstone and as far as I know, there is not much going on around there. We will spend two nights there then fly out in the morning after that, which leave me with a full day without a concrete plan.

Any advice on what to do near West Yellowstone is appreciated!
Also, any suggestions on the hiking trails in Grand Teton? Thinking about doing a full day and another half day hike.


Thank you!

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

I would say that while staying in West Yellowstone it would be an ideal time to visit some southern areas of the park, Old Faithfull, Artists Paintpots and West thumb for example. The town itself is quite lively with a good selection of bars, diners and typical tourist stores. Then while in Mammoth you can concentrate on the loop including Mammoth Hot springs itself, Norris Geyser basin, Grand canyon of the Yellowstone and Tower Falls etc. You may also like to drive the Beartooth Highway through the Lamar valley and through Cooke city/Silver Gate.

For various hikes you can visit the Teton's NP webpages and/or speak to the Rangers while there and also go to the visitor centre. You could also take a boat trip on Jenny lake or drive up Signal mountain road. If time permits then a visit to Mormon Row is pleasant enough with those famous images of the old barn and the Teton's as a back drop.

[Midwest Michael]

I am most worried about what to do near Hibernation Station. If I am not mistaken, it is the west part of yellowstone and as far as I know, there is not much going on around there.

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Saying there isn't much going on around the west part of Yellowstone couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality, the west side of the park is probably the busiest section of the park!

West Yellowstone is one of the closest places you can stay to Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, and the entire Upper/Middle/Lower Geyser Basins, not to mention the Norris Geyser Basin.

I wouldn't get caught up too much in the map you've created. Yellowstone is layed out in a figure 8, and right now, the map only has you going to half of the park (with winter road closures, google may not "let" you route yourself on some of those roads right now).

I'd use Mammoth to explore places in the North Half of the park, including Mammoth, Lamar Valley, and the Grand Canyon. Visit places near Yellowstone Lake as you drive down to Teton, and then come back up through the parks again, driving past Old Faithful on your way back to West Yellowstone.

As far as the Tetons, taking the boat trip across Jenny Lake and then hiking up to Inspiration Point is one of my all time favorites. Just going to the point can be an easy half day trip, but you can continue farther up the mountain if you'd like. Either way, I'd recommend going early. We got to Jenny Lake around 8am and we basically had the place to ourselves. By the time we got back in the early afternoon, the place was packed and the parking lots were filled.

[Mark Sedenquist]

I am going on a road trip with my family with my parents who are around 60 years old.

The founders of this RTA site are in their 60's and we are reasonably active -- so you can assume that your parents will be up for just about anything.

And I concur with everyone above -- I drove into Yellowstone from Bozeman last summer -- there is way too much to do for the time allotted to that area.

Mark

[DonnaR57]

To concur with everyone else that has responded to you -- our "base" while visiting Yellowstone National Park, 2 summers ago, was West Yellowstone. It was a good place to base since we were literally a few blocks from the park entrance, and (as has been pointed out), there were plenty of restaurants, tourist shops, grocery stores (2) and bars with which to find food and shopping.





Donna

[Lifemagician]

... which leave me with a full day without a concrete plan.

Any advice on what to do near West Yellowstone is appreciated!

You might look into the 1959 Earthquake Area on US-287, just off US-191, a few miles north of West Yellowstone. There is a self guided car tour - leaflets are available at the West Yellowstone Visitor Centre.

Even though it is only about 20 miles, if you take the walks to the actual spots where the boards are, it will take some time. All are easy to find. When you get to Earthquake Lake, there is a visitor Centre on top of the slide which came down from the mountain, and formed the lake. A movie of the event is shown at the centre.

A most interesting area.

Lifey