This 7 day Yellowstone and Grand Teton itinerary is a mash up of our 4 day Yellowstone itinerary, and our 3 day Grand Teton itinerary. The absolute minimum amount of time wed recommend for this trip is five days. Make sure to bring a camera and journal! Youre going to need them to keep track of all the magnificence youll see on this week-long ride. Washburn, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Day 3: Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic, and Firehole Lake Drive, Day 4: West Thumb Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Lake, and Elephant Back Mountain, Day 5: Rockefeller Highway to Grand Teton, Mormon Row, and Oxbow Bend, Driving from Yellowstone to Grand Teton via Rockefeller Highway, Day 6: Sunrise Wildlife Drive, Hike Cascade Canyon, and Sunset Wildlife Loop, Sunrise Wildlife Drive on Moose Wilson Road, Day 7: Phelps Lake, Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, and Catch Flight Home, What to Do with More Time: 8-10 day Yellowstone and Grand Teton Road Trip, What to Do with Less Time: 5 day Yellowstone and Grand Teton Itinerary, Elevation Acclimation and Altitude Sickness, Exactly How to Plan an Amazing Oregon Coast Road Trip, How To Plan an Unforgettable Northern California Road Trip, 5 Amazing Hikes on Orcas Island: A Complete Hiking Guide, 13 of the Coolest Hotels in Seattle, WA to Book Now, Best Weekend Getaways From Portland (Complete Guide), Where to Stay in Portland: A Complete Guide. Also worth mentioning here is that big mammal wildlife are not the only wildlife to prioritize in the parks! If you have extra time, we wouldnt necessarily recommend doing or driving more than the amount on this list. Grand Teton is a sweet, smaller park just south of Yellowstone, unique for dramatic views of the Teton Mountain Range, strenuous hikes to high-elevation glacial lakes, and prolific wildlife. Mammoth Hot Springs makes us feel like kids again, in a constant state of curiosity and discovery. Covering 3,500 square miles, it has the largest glacial lake in North America and is also home to a spread of ecosystems, geothermal features, and wildlife not found anywhere else in the world. Has many facilities located nearby. Required fields are marked *. Contrary to popular belief, Yellowstone isnt the largest national park in the US. You will need to pay for entry into these parks. West Yellowstone, MT is a good base for Old Faithful and surrounding areas. Where to Start & End Your Trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park Overview, A Complete Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park Itinerary, When to Visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton, Day 1: Mammoth Hot Springs, Bunsen Peak, Norris Geyser Basin at Sunset, Day 2: Wildlife, Mt. We spotted five moose here on our last excursion to the park. Yellowstone and Grand Teton are two of the most impressive national parks in the US. Yellowstone and Grand Teton are both surrounded by vast amounts of open space. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Area-wise, we think you should plan to split your time between the Canyon area and either Old Faithful or the West Thumb. This otherworldly chalky-limestone landscape is a Yellowstone must-see and you can view all of the features easily by accessing two short boardwalks from the parking lot. yellowstone hiking tetons grand tours teton walking However, its massive. The two closest major cities with travel hubs and amenities are Salt Lake City and Denver. To get to the Observation Point, park at Old Faithful Village. String Lake is a moderately-short, easy hiking loop that we would recommend to any level of hiker. From Jackson airport there is no commute its the only commercial airport located within a national park. The Woodland trail, which heads counter-clockwise around Phelps Lake, is the most direct trail to the lake loop, and is also the most scenic. This cone-geyser is aptly named due to its predictable pattern of eruptions which occur every 45 minutes to two hours. Beware that the road is unpaved and somewhat unmaintained. Well reiterate here and recommend that you stay at the same campsite or lodge for your entire stay in Grand Teton. yellowstone tour wildlife multi grand summer park teton national tours Washburn is one of three fire lookout stations in Yellowstone, so amongst wildlife sightings, you might even see some firefighters stationed on this peak for the summer. Hayden Valley is home to so many waterfowl species like herons, ducks, Canadian geese, and pelicans. Recently, the park financed new pull-outs and sidewalks by the arch, so make sure to stop and take a picture the first of many on this grand adventure! Youll get in one last hike in Grand Teton, have the chance to explore the exhibitions at Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, and then youll be on your way! For more information on which beaches have tourist access, see the NPS site. Instead, we would recommend advance booking a stay or site at Jenny Lake, Signal Mountain, or Colter Bay. Were big hikers, which means we were a little disappointed to find that there really arent too many good hikes on San Juan Island, which is the most visited island in the archipelago. Grab a coffee and get on the road! The point is, we think doing it one-way is the way to go, and there are multiple ways to do it. We recommend it to most or all hikers, as its shorter and has less elevation gain than some of the other hikes on this list. Day 4 is going to feel like a good rest day after all the activity in Day 3. This is a good spot for late afternoon when it starts to cool down during the summer. We have compiled some great guides for sunrise drives on this itinerary to get you in the park as early as possible they will not only let you avoid mass crowds and the heat of the day, but will present you with the best opportunities to see wildlife like wolves, moose, and bears. We just came back from the west and went to Grand Teton for a day trip. Because its a less-traveled route, we think wildlife are more apt to hang out around it. Otherwise, flying in is the way to go. Youll find that dawn and dusk are the best times to spot wildlife in the parks as these are the parts of the day when wildlife, especially large mammal wildlife, are most active. The Moose Wilson road that leads to Phelps Lake was a disaster. yellowstone Rockefeller Highway is a scenic highway that connects Yellowstone and Grand Teton. And, it isnt too far to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, so if you really need to see the falls and the canyon, that could warrant a short visit in place of an activity on the 3rd day of this itinerary. One other option that we dont necessarily recommend would be to fly into Salt Lake City International Airport and drive to the parks from there, though that adds an additional five hours each way onto this already exhaustive adventure. Here are a few things to keep in mind for your Grand Teton and Yellowstone itinerary. We have a whole guide on where to stay in Yellowstone to help you make the right choice. ), Snake River Overlook, Oxbow Bend, and Willow Flats Overlook. Our favorite is Jackson Lake overlook, on the last leg of the highway before you reach Jenny Lake and String Lake. Grand Teton is a much smaller park than Yellowstone. canyon bryce yellowstone vegas las grand tour bus antelope teton national overnight park
To get to these two national parks, you have a couple of options. Jenny Lake Campground: Small camp a few hundred yards off the east shore of Jenny Lake. yellowstone francisco san rushmore teton yosemite mt grand tour taketours And the route to the peak is just as awe-inspiring as the panoramic views up top: carpeted meadows of wildflowers in July, sweet-smelling pine forests, and ample wildlife on view ranging from marmots to bears. If you havent gotten your fill of geothermal springs in for the day, you can always detour to Firehole Lake Drive on your way to a campsite or lodge. Youll hike 1.5 miles round trip and gain 260 feet of elevation gain to see the geyser from above, with views of the historic Old Faithful Inn in the background. yellowstone salt lake taketours The trailhead takes you up past Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, and then on towards the Cathedral Group of Teton Mountains (the Grand Teton, Mt. We spent over a week in Grand Teton and Yellowstone, but thought it would be more useful for you and your trip planning to work with Scout Invie, a local writer who was born in Jackson, Wyoming, to help you plan an amazing itinerary. Before we get into the exact 7 day itinerary below, lets take a second to talk about the two national parks themselves. Huge groves of towering sitka spruce trees, a coastline of beaches that oscillate between wide and sandy and rocky and full of sea stacks, and plenty of great, Read More Exactly How to Plan an Amazing Oregon Coast Road TripContinue, We have been lucky to call Northern California home for over a decade at this point. We really recommend seeing Mammoth Hot Springs as the first thing you do once entering Yellowstone. For the sake of seeing the most attractions in just a few days, youll probably want to stay in a couple of different parts of the park to minimize driving. There is such an incredible amount of things to do, see, and, Read More How To Plan an Unforgettable Northern California Road TripContinue, Orcas Island is our favorite of the San Juan Islands, and it makes a perfect weekend getaway from Seattle. We watched from the Yellowstone Observation Point during the early morning with our cowboy coffee, and we thought it was the perfect deck to watch the eruption from. There are always bison herds to be seen in Hayden Valley at most times of the day. Route: The fastest route takes you up the western border of Wyoming, through Evanston, Afton, and Alpine on I-80 and route 89. tetons rushmore mayflower wyoming teton If this is a one-off trip or youre flying into the parks, we recommend renting bear spray. Emerald green, milky-blue, rusty orangethese are just a few of the colors youll be able to see not only in the hot pots, but also in the heavens. Today, bookend one of the best hikes in Grand Teton National Park with a sunrise and sunset wildlife drive. It took us forever because of how many deep potholes there were, and we had a truck. This overlook presents you with an amazing view of Grand Prismatic Spring, a very large rainbow-colored spring which is also iconically Yellowstone. What better way to spend an extra day than renting water sport equipment or booking a tour and getting out on Jackson or Yellowstone lake? Signal Mountain Campsite: 81-site campground located by Signal Mountain Lodge. We recommend stopping in before you leave the park, as its a great educational way to wrap up a week-long trip seeing all this natural wildlife and foliage. First things first, where should you start and end your trip to these two parks? Jenny Lake Lodge: Luxury lodge located on shores of Jenny Lake, with great access to Cascade Canyon or other hikes with ferry access. Lastly, its always important to practice Leave No Trace principles. Early fall and late spring are definitely our favorite times to visit these parks, with trees in full fall glory or budding spring bloom, and active wildlife taking advantage of the last or first of the summer season. Im glad that you somehow ended up here. We wouldnt necessarily recommend going for one of those spots because of how much competition there is, and because they are out of the way. This is also another great site to bring binoculars and look for herds of bison in the distant plains beyond Mormon Row. Its as faithful as can be, and we wouldnt tell you to visit unless it was a transformative stop. Youll walk on a mixture of dirt trails and boardwalks, and have the chance to see not only the geothermal features, but plenty of birds nesting in the lodgepole pines in this basin.
hiking walking yellowstone tours tetons However, it is also the hike that presents you with the longest panoramic views across Yellowstone, and we definitely recommend seeing it. And though the water is bitter-cold and glacial in some parts, in others it is very warm and even boiling. Geothermal pools, bison, plummeting waterfalls, grizzly bears, geysers, and granite peaks what other place on earth holds all these natural beauties? Washburn by mid-morning, seeing the Grand Canyon and falls of Yellowstone during the golden afternoon, and looking over herds of bison and the deepening vista of Hayden Valley at dusk. We recommend driving on the Moose road towards Phelps Lake for your early-morning safari. Gentle lake loops or spots of interest that dont require much activity or additional elevation gain, like the ones on this itinerary, would be perfect! Make sure to check the roads report. Im a designer living in San Francisco Bay Area and Seventy Five Miles is a side project that I started as an outlet to share my travel experience through photographs. yellowstone map bozeman adventure tetons winter snow grand montana tour trips teton jackson yellowstone tetons backroads adventure multi tour There were a couple of contenders on which destination I wanted to go next but because I was still on National Park high post Arches, I chose Yellowstone and Grand Teton as my next destination. They are also very active at dusk. A classic Yellowstone adventure wouldnt be complete without a trip to see Old Faithful, arguably the most famous feature of the park. teton salt ), the Space Needle,, Read More 13 of the Coolest Hotels in Seattle, WA to Book NowContinue, Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I have been super lucky to grow up exploring Seattle and Portland. Youll see the best of both parks from hikes, to wildlife drives, to scenic vistas but your days are going to be full. Route: The fastest route takes you through Fort Collins, CO, and into Wyoming through the western towns of Laramie, Lander, and Dubois. West Yellowstone, located at the west entrance of the park, has a smaller airport that you could also check in to for flights. Symptoms of altitude sickness include nausea, headaches, and shortness of breath. While we recommend picking multiple camp or lodge spots while traveling through Yellowstone, for Grand Teton it would probably be best to pick one site to stay in for the entirety of your trip. On the thirty miles of highway between the parks, youll have views of the approaching Tetons and will probably be able to spot more wildlife antelope, deer, and other mammals that roam the plains. An America the Beautiful Annual Pass (which gets you into any national park and also covers parking fees at most national monuments or national forest trailheads) is $80, and a single day pass into any national park, per vehicle, is $30. On Day 5 of your journey, say goodbye to the geothermal activity of Yellowstone. Colter Bay Campground: A large 324-site camp near Jackson Lake, with spectacular views of Mt. Yellowstone and Grand Teton have some of the best fly-fishing culture in the world, and the rivers are plentiful with trout. A general good rule is to take it easy and do some less strenuous hikes in the area before trying to ascend or summit anything. Located on the northeastern shore of Phelps Lake is an iconic and popular jumping rock with super views of Death Canyon. For a list of authorized fishing guides available for hire in Yellowstone, visit the Yellowstone NPS fishing site here. Visit our guide on the 9 Best Hikes in Grand Teton National Park to plan out another day hike or two if you have extra time to spare. tetons teton backroads trips mytq Please respect wildlife and do not approach moose, elk, bears, wolves, or bison at all. Accepts tents and smaller RVs. Always make sure to check road conditions for closures or hazards (here). Just be prepared for some extra driving in the morning. If you thought you were joyously overwhelmed visiting Old Faithful and the other geysers and pools of the Upper Basin, Grand Prismatic Overlook will impress you beyond belief. Bunsen Peak is a moderately-long hike that we think would be perfect right after a morning spent driving to the park and viewing Mammoth Hot Springs. yellowstone tetons backroads tour itinerary guests dates included straight activity overview talk level prices If youre wondering how to spot wildlife in Lamar Valley and beyond, here are some of our tips. On one of the first pullouts (this one), we saw multiple moose, a baby moose, and a bear and three cubs. Feel free to stop for a breakfast picnic on any of the pull outs along the way. national park rushmore mt teton arches yellowstone grand tour bus taketours You can even bring a blanket and make a sunset picnic spot on any of these stops, waiting for the stars to emerge on your final night in this magnificent park. Doing it one-way is going to save you time by making it so you dont have to double back, but you should also think about costs. fall grand yellowstone teton workshop tour multi This hike travels through some meadows with wildflowers, though the majority of the way youll be hiking through pine forests. We believe that travel is about learning, discovery, and connection.
You definitely need to visit Yellowstone! Youll get to experience trail systems from a completely different perspective. Its definitely a favorite hike of ours, mellow the whole way and winding through multiple meadows with plenty of wildlife sightings. Wildlife are a lot less likely to spook, charge, or maul if they are aware of nearby hikers. In addition, making noise or carrying a bear bell, especially while traveling through huckleberry patches, is a great way to alert nearby wildlife that you are passing through. If you live close by Salt Lake City, Denver, or Idaho, for example you can drive to the starting point in Bozeman. Alysha has spent her whole life here, minus four years in college, and Matts a relative newcomer with just under 10 years at the time of writing.