Road trip to Yellowstone

[Laura82]

Hi, I am planning a road trip from Harrisburg PA to West Yellowstone next June. I will be traveling with my two small dogs. Each day driving will depend on how tired I might be and also how much I stop to see things. Do you think 5 days going out would be good? I have no idea what I will see as I travel out there. Going out and up across route 94.

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

You are talking about a 2100 mile trip on mostly interstates, but going through some cities. I'm sure there will be others chiming in with some alternatives around those cities (I'm in the middle of a move and my maps are all at the new house). But at 400-450 miles per day, going 5 days would be great. Add more days if you want to see something besides the stripes of the pavement.

If you took 90 instead of 94 for awhile, you could stop in the Black Hills of South Dakota: Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave NP, Jewel Cave NP, and Custer SP to name 4, plus Badlands NP east of the Black Hills area. Then Devil's Tower and Little Bighorn (site of Custer's last stand) would also make nice stops.

If you went out 90 then you could go back on 94 and catch a few other things on the northern route.


Donna

[travelingman]

Five long consecutive drives will wear you down. I think I’d squeeze an extra day in there to wind down. You could take day four off, or take two half days. If you head past the badlands, be sure to stop at the nearby famous tourist trap attraction of Wall Drug.

[landmariner]

Before getting very far along on your trip plan you should read up about the pet restrictions in Yellowstone National Park:
https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/pets.htm

Yellowstone is not very pet friendly. I love dogs but would not consider taking a dog to an area like Yellowstone NP.

[Midwest Michael]

As others have mentioned, you can certainly get to Yellowstone in 5 days, but without knowing any other details about your plans, it's hard to say if that's "good."

At the very least, how much time do you have for your entire trip? How much time are you thinking of spending in Yellowstone itself? Are you thinking of going anywhere else after Yellowstone?