Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks; plan the ultimate adventure
When visiting Yellowstone National Park and neighboring Grand Teton National Park, the operative word is “splendor”; the wonders of these two side-by-side parks seem to go on forever! From huge mountain peaks, to bubbling mud pots and constant geysers, deep canyons to huge alpine lakes and abundant wildlife, these lands are like no other!
While Yellowstone and the Tetons can be jammed during the summer/early fall months, there remain many hidden, quieter gems. Attractions like Old Faithful Geyser and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone may sometimes be overrun with crowds, but other locations throughout the park and the Lamar Valley (where buffalo, wolves and other wildlife can be spotted) are much less visited. And, if you have the option to travel either before Memorial Day or after Labor Day, you will find parks much less crowded.
Benefit by early planning, be it camping or hotel/moteling it. For planning lodging in the two parks’ lodges and inns, you may find them booked many months in advance. In the height of the summer tourist season, many of the motels in surrounding towns may also be booked, requiring scanning towns more distant from the parks. Same for campgrounds (though my brother plans early AM arrivals, where he hopes to get one of the first-come, first-served sites some of the campgrounds offer). Other camping options include US Forest Service campgrounds, or dispersed camping, in forests surrounding the parks themselves.
Happily, the two parks’ borders are just miles apart; visiting one makes it easy to visit the other.
Yellowstone, the original national park, was established March 1, 1872, paving the way for similar national parks throughout the US and the world. My first exposure was a family trip in summer, 1962, well before I was old enough to drive. A few years later, I got the opportunity for a summer job in the park, and my future spouse and I both worked three summers in the park in the late 1960s. Forever hooked!
Must-sees include the Old Faithful area and the Upper and Lower Geyser Basin, Lake Yellowstone and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The Parks Grand Loop Road takes you to all these destinations and more. If you have time, stop at varied observation points in the Lamar Valley, where binoculars and good fortune will offer you frequent sightings of wolf packs. Take the time to visit the Old Faithful Inn and take a relaxing break in the five-story tall, knotty-pine lobby or adjacent dining room, in a hotel that defined “national parks architecture”.
Favorite Yellowstone entrances include West Yellowstone, a summer and fall mecca for tourists and outdoors types, with scores of motels (a favorite, the Stagecoach Inn) and restaurants and a bustling feel. From West Yellowstone, Hebgen Lake and the Quake Lake area are just a short drive northwest (Quake Lake formed as result of huge earthquake in 1959, bringing down a mountain-side, and burying a campground with loss of 29 lives).
The north entrance is adjacent to the town of Gardiner, MT, and our favorite lodging near the park, the Park Yellowstone Hotel, the former rambling home of a US cavalry officer assigned to the park in the early 1900s. Just inside this entrance, Mammoth Hot Springs reigns supreme, and it’s favorite place for elk, big horn sheep and bison.
Inside the park, accommodations include Old Faithful Inn and Old Faithful Lodge, Canyon Village, and the stately Lake Hotel - but book well in advance if you expect to stay in one of these hostelries. By late September, in-park lodging begins to shut down, mirroring the decline in tourist numbers. During winter only two park hotels remain open, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, and the Old Faithful Snow Lodge (from about November to April each year access to the park’s interior is only by snowmobile or snowcoach; though the road into Mammoth is open year-round).
If you are hoping to include both Yellowstone and Grand Teton in your trip, the south entrance and Flagg Ranch offer a good starting point, or, book a few days in Jackson, WY, just south of the two parks. Jackson is the quintessential Western tourist town with outfitters, restaurants, cowboy bars and two ski areas offering summer/fall ski-lift rides for incredible views. Pay the price for a 15 minute ride on the Jackson Hole aerial tram, which whisks 65 passengers up 4100 vertical feet to the top of the lofty ski area for the most spectacular views (after your tram ride, make a stop at Jackson Hole’s Mangy Moose Saloon for libations to share your adventure!).
Grand Teton National Park Offers simply incredible mountain views, as well as offering simply incredible mountain views, as well as the adjacent National Elk Refuge and scores of hiking options into destinations like Jenny Lake or Taggart Lake for most marvelous, up-close views of the jagged Tetons, with Grand Teton jutting 13,776 feet into the sky. The Tetons offer arguably the most iconic mountain views in the United States as the mountains rise dramatically from the 6,200 foot valley floor to their lofty, jagged peaks. In-park lodging includes the Jackson Lake lodge, or Flagg Ranch on its northern border. Be mindful; get planning now for a future trip to these hallowed parks!
For more information, Gardiner, MT, visitgardinermt.com; Grand Teton National Park, nps.gov/GRTE; Jackson, WY, visitjacksonhole.com; West Yellowstone, MT, destinationyellowstone.com; Yellowstone National Park,nps.gov/YELL. Camping reservations, recreation.gov for federal campgrounds.
Contact Tim, tviall@msn.com. Happy travels in the west!
This article originally appeared on The Record: Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks; plan the ultimate adventure
