Yellowstone ideas? (N/A)

[Matthew]

Will be near Cheyenne, WY late Aug, in the car, no plane .

We (2 of us) are considering a side trip to Yellowstone, east entrance. Never been there.

I don't know how many days we can budget. Maybe 2-4.

For 2-4 days, any ideas for a decent itinerary?

We aren't the camping type, so any lodging ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Everskyward]

Yellowstone is a long way from Cheyenne...

To get to the east entrance you would go through Cody. There are lots of motels in Cody (also the Buffalo Bill Museum which is much more interesting than it sounds). I don't think there are a whole lot of accommodations, or even towns between Cody and the east entrance. Alternatively you could go NW out of Cheyenne, through Rawlins and Lander and into Grand Teton National Park. Then you could head north to Yellowstone. In any case, the drive diagonally across WY would probably take a good part of a day as in close to 8 hours.

 

[Matthew]

8 hrs is what I figured (that's not far in my book). We'll be trying to fit this in the middle of an already 5 day trip.

 

[N801BH]

Yellowstone is a long way from Cheyenne...

To get to the east entrance you would go through Cody. There are lots of motels in Cody (also the Buffalo Bill Museum which is much more interesting than it sounds). I don't think there are a whole lot of accommodations, or even towns between Cody and the east entrance. Alternatively you could go NW out of Cheyenne, through Rawlins and Lander and into Grand Teton National Park. Then you could head north to Yellowstone. In any case, the drive diagonally across WY would probably take a good part of a day as in close to 8 hours.

Mari is correct on the amount of time needed to drive across Wyoming...

 

[Everskyward]

8 hrs is what I figured (that's not far in my book). We'll be trying to fit this in the middle of an already 5 day trip.

Oh OK. When you said 2-4 days in your first post I was thinking that in 2 days you could drive there and back but not see much, except miles and miles of Wyoming.

4 days would be much more reasonable.

 

[timwinters]

Cody is indeed a cool town. Yellowstone is a plethora of nature. Just go explore, no itinerary needed. Around every corner is a new adventure.

BTW...cell access, verizon, is amazingly available in much of Yellowstone. The big black hole of cell service, at least when we were there, was near the south entrance.

 

[Matthew]

Oh OK. When you said 2-4 days in your first post I was thinking that in 2 days you could drive there and back but not see much, except miles and miles of Wyoming.

4 days would be much more reasonable.

Ok. No, I figured the 2-4 days would be at the park. I wasn't counting the drive.

 

[N801BH]

Ok. No, I figured the 2-4 days would be at the park. I wasn't counting the drive.

At a decent pace, Jellystone can be seen in 2 days.. three if you are really slow.... IMHO...

 

[timwinters]

At a decent pace, Jellystone can be seen in 2 days.. three if you are really slow.... IMHO...

We spent a week there last September and didn't come close...

...but we hike and don't just drive. If you don't get off the roads and out of the easy access roadside traps then you haven't seen it.

We also explored Jackson, West Yellowstone, etc.

 

[N801BH]

We spent a week there last September and didn't come close...

...but we hike and don't just drive. If you don't get off the roads and out of the easy access roadside traps then you haven't seen it.

We also explored Jackson, West Yellowstone, etc.

Agreed............... Hiking will add ALOT of extra time to any trip...

Ps... You can see ALOT from the air.. A 1 hour flight over the park before the drive can expose the neat places you might want to visit from the ground...

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44331&highlight=yellowstone+trip

 

[Matthew]

Might have to bring my flight bag.

 

[Meliss]

What is the closest airport to fly into if one is thinking of camping in Yellowstone?

 

[N801BH]

What is the closest airport to fly into if one is thinking of camping in Yellowstone?

West Yellowstone Mt.



http://www.airnav.com/airport/KWYS
Nice airport, camping right on the field,, Lots of nice perks for the pilots and pax...

 

[weilke]

I have stayed at the Super8 in Cooke City, MT which is right outside the northeast entrance. To get there, you go through the Bear Tooth pass which is a very scenic tour. If you come from Cody, there is a state highway that goes up to the Bear Tooth pass, very wild and scenic and some interesting history in that area.

The way into the main park from Cooke City is through the Lamar Valley. That is the part that has most of the brown bears and lots of Buffalo (my wife was about 8wks pregnant at the time, her comment was '1 more buffalo on the road and I go postal' ). What I found out during that stay is that you dont want to drive the Lamar valley late in the evening because that is when the wildlife likes to camp out in the road.

I dont recall much lodging between Cody and the park. It is about 100miles from Cody to the center of the park and the drive up the North Fork hwy can be a drag if you are stuck behind a RV, and you are allways stuck behind a RV .

Inside of the park, all lodging is operated by Xanterra, a NPS contractor. I have never stayed at any of their properties but the prices are a bit steep. Otoh, if you stay there, you can get up at 5am and have the geysers all to yourself rather than fighting the traffic on one of the access roads.

 

[timwinters]

Might have to bring my flight bag.

When we were there some idiot in a 182 circled geyser basin for at least 45 minutes at no more than 500' AGL. Lots of people wanted to shoot him down, including me.

Some places were meant to be without airplanes.

 

[Matthew]

Some places were meant to be without airplanes.

Yes..

 

[Immelman]

Wyoming has quite a bit of absolutely stunning country, and some, not so much. I am very partial to the Wind River range. If I were you and had to drive it... OR fly it - I'd head to Riverton and then up through Dubois towards Jackson's Hole and into the park from there. That whole area bounded by Jackson, Riverton, Worland, Sheridan, and the associated mountains are fantastic.... consider making it a looping driving trip rather than just an out and back from CYS.

I would not be afraid to make some side trips out of that... get some elevation to appreciate the country around you, and I bet you will find some of that even more interesting than Yellowstone park itself.

If you do fly in WYS has a fantastic pilot's campground and rental cars there at the field.

 

[flyingron]

We spent a week in Cody (Navion convention). It was a blast. They run the Rodeo every day (and they were way impressed with an impromptu flyby of 4 Navions in formation, they asked if we could do that every day). The Buffalo Bill museum and that dam (forgot it's name) round out a lot of neat stuff in town as well as being the gateway to the park.

 

[Matthew]

We'll have been in the car for at least three days already by the time we get to the park, and it's another 2 days in the car for the return trip. I'm hoping for less driving and more walking during our visit.

 

[timwinters]

Jackson and West Yellowstone are far more convenient to the park than Cody is (but Cody is a really cool town). West Yellowstone is more convenient than Jackson. Also, there's a lodge at the Grand Teton's between Jackson and Yellowstone that's cool. It's probably not over 10 miles from the south entrance. There's another lodge right at the south entrance but it's not as cool. There's also the hotel at geyser basin right in the middle of everything.

We were there in late September and stayed for a few days at Geyser basin and a few days at the south entrance. It took us 30 minutes or more to get to geyser basin from the south entrance..in late September! In the middle of the summer you can probably plan on an hour or more. It's big country with LOTS of traffic and people who just stop in the middle of the road to take photos with little regard for how much they're inconveniencing everyone else.

 

[Matthew]

Bringing the thread back to life.

Sitting in Cody right now. Spent one night in Cody, 2 nights (3 days) in the park at Lake, and just got back into Cody. It's a neat little town, and the downtown is a nice place to walk around. Too bad we got in late both times and couldn't see or do much.

Yellowstone is a 10. Spent day one on the north loop and saw the grizzlies feeding on a bison in Hayden Valley. Spent day two on the south loop (a long day of hiking, too), then drove through Hayden Valley again and the bears were still working the carcass. Day 3 was an easier day, driving towards the south entrance for a lunch break before heading all the way back to Cody.

We got to Old Faithful about 10 am and the parking lots were nearly empty. We left early afternoon, maybe 2pm, and somebody said they had to circle the lots for an hour just to find a spot.

Tip: the cabins at Lake hotel are reasonably priced and really pretty nice and pretty much dead center of the park.

 

[N801BH]

Glad you had a great time.....

In a month or so, the snow will start...............

 

[Matthew]

Glad you had a great time.....

In a month or so, the snow will start...............

We talked to our bartender for a while last night. She said she's one of about 10% of the employees that work through the winter. That place is a different world in winter.

 

[Matthew]

Oh, yeah - one of the highlights: Overheard a guy tell his wife, "That's the one they call 'Prostate geyser'. It goes every thirty minutes but not much water comes out."

 

[Matthew]

Finally made it back. 2659 miles, 7 states, and about 8 lbs of bug DNA on the front of the car. It was epic.

Now I have to figure out how and when to get to the Tetons.

 

[sourdough44]

The Tetons are just South of Yellowstone. You are supposed to see them on the same trip, one then the other.

 

[Matthew]

The Tetons are just South of Yellowstone. You are supposed to see them on the same trip, one then the other.

Yeah, I know. If we had one more day we would have done that. Now we have an excuse to go back. Our daughter has one more year of grad school out that way, maybe next summer when we go back to drop her off again.

 

[Henning]

We talked to our bartender for a while last night. She said she's one of about 10% of the employees that work through the winter. That place is a different world in winter.

It's stunningly beautiful in the winter.

 

[N801BH]

Finally made it back. 2659 miles, 7 states, and about 8 lbs of bug DNA on the front of the car. It was epic.

Now I have to figure out how and when to get to the Tetons.

It is snowin pretty good on the Tetons tonight.......


Should have a nice dusting by mornin...

 

[Clark1961]

It is snowin pretty good on the Tetons tonight.......


Should have a nice dusting by mornin...

guess I'll add a jacket to the gear bag for tomorrow...

 

[weilke]

Finally made it back. 2659 miles, 7 states, and about 8 lbs of bug DNA on the front of the car. It was epic.

On my return from Yellowstone in august a couple of years ago, my car started overheating. I had gone through a swarm of yellow butterflies and the combined effect of smashed butterflies and bugs had clogged up the radiator

 

[Geico266]

Finally made it back. 2659 miles, 7 states, and about 8 lbs of bug DNA on the front of the car. It was epic.

Now I have to figure out how and when to get to the Tetons.

How was Yellow stone? Pics?

 

[Matthew]

How was Yellow stone? Pics?

Just got them off the camera a couple minutes ago, maybe this afternoon I can get some up.

It was great. Overnight lows in the low 40s and highs on the low-mid 70s. Threaeneng rain that never did hit us, but did give us a good lightning show.

We came up through Cheyenne to Casper to Cody, and that's a pretty drive itself (long, though). Wind River Canyon is a nice treat along the way.

Traffic in the park didn't seem too bad, I think most schools have started, so not many American families and I think that kept the crowd sizes down. A lot of Asian and European families, though.

 

[flyingron]

We stayed in Cody (we were there for the Navion fly in) and launched a bus tour into Yellowstone and also hit some of the other local sites: the dam, the Buffalo Bill museum, the Cody rodeo, etc... Nice little town. Airport was nice as well.

 

[Matthew]

We stayed in Cody (we were there for the Navion fly in) and launched a bus tour into Yellowstone and also hit some of the other local sites: the dam, the Buffalo Bill museum, the Cody rodeo, etc... Nice little town. Airport was nice as well.

The airport is supposed to have a new Mexican restaurant. We didn't make it in, though, we got into town late both nights we stayed there.

We stayed in Cody, drove into the park, stayed 2 nights/3 days, then stayed back in Cody and headed home from there.

Finally got a couple pictures resized:
1 - Wind River Canyon, on the way to Cody
2 - The Yellowstone River in the Hayden Valley. This is where we saw the majority of the bison, and the grizzlies.
3 - Another Hayden Valley sight.
4 - Morning Glory Pool. Kind of a famous spot, smaller than I expected.
5 - These little guys were everywhere.
6 - Coming down Sylvan Pass on the way out of the park, headed back to Cody. Somewhere around 8500ft, higher than I fly.
7 - The trip back. We skipped the Chugwater Chili, we still had 14+hrs in the car and didn't need any more excitement than we already had.

I should have put in some pictures of the falls and the grand canyon, but they'll have to wait until later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[KennyC]

Nice pics! Brings back some recent memories. My wife and I just spent a week in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons last month, it's wonderful out there. I'm still slowly working through my own pictures...

 

[Matthew]

Nice pics! Brings back some recent memories. My wife and I just spent a week in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons last month, it's wonderful out there. I'm still slowly working through my own pictures...

Thanks. Yeah, we have hundreds to sort through. Those were just a few that popped to the top.