confused! please help with itinery

hello, I%26#39;m trying to plan a trip to glacier, yellowstone and tetons national parks for 5 adults from 23/06/08 to 14/07/08. We would most likely be flying into calgary from uk. i realise that we%26#39;d only get lodging outside the parks but i don%26#39;t want to postpone our trip as these parks look so beautiful I can%26#39;t wait for a couple more years before visiting them! what is the best way to plan the trip also bearing in mind that glacier is probably done best last due to snow? Any help is much appreciated. We enjoy moderate day hikes, wildlife, scenery.

Thanks

confused! please help with itinery

First check to see if you can rent a car in Canada and drive to US. While in Calgary area, see Banff and Jasper and the Columbia Ice Field.

Visit www.nps.gov for each park to get ideas on hikes, activities etc.

confused! please help with itinery

Have you considered flying into Seattle,Washington; Boise, Idaho; or Jackson, Wyoming instead? They are less expensive than Calgary, although only Seattle is a direct flight. With the amount of time you have alloted yourselves for the trip, you could enjoy Banff and Jasper as well. I would start with the southern-most part of the trip first because of the possibilities of snow/muddy ground the further north you go. You could do something like this...

June 23 - fly into Jackson, Wyoming

24 - Grand Tetons

25 - Grand Tetons

26 - Yellowstone National Park

27 - Yellowstone National Park

28 - Yellowstone National Park

29 - drive Beartooth Scenic Byway if open to Red Lodge; overnight there; if not open drive over to Cody, Wyoming for museums and ';The Old West'; flavor

30 - Drive toward Glacier; overnight in Helena or Great Falls

July 1 - Glacier National Park

2 - Glacier NP

3 - Glacier NP

4 - drive into Canada to Waterton and Lake Louise

5 - Lake Louise

6 - Icefields Parkway to Jasper

7 - Jasper

8 - return to Banff

9 - Banff to Whitefish

10 - Flathead Lake area; overnight Missoula

11 - Stanley %26amp; Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho

12 - Craters of the Moon; return to Jackson

13 - Jackson

14 - fly out of Jackson

You don%26#39;t have to give up completely on lodging inside the parks. They often have cancellations that don%26#39;t show up on the online reservation page. You can only find these by calling the park concessioners directly to see if there is anything available. The phone numbers are on their web pages. For Yellowstone its Xanterra and the numbers are 866-439-7375 or 307-344-7311. Don%26#39;t know about the other parks.

This year has definitely been a snowy one! Especially here in the Yellowstone area. Don%26#39;t postpone your trip! Just start planning now.

I would still book your lodging as soon as possible.

(It has been much harder to book lodging within Glacier than Yellowstone during the past few years.)

Check the cancellation policies carefully so if you do want to switch you can do so without a penalty. The last week of June is normally not completely booked, but the first two weeks of July are very busy. Even the communities around the park can fill during these two weeks.

We like to stay at Signal Mountain or Jenny Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park. There are other options as well like Colter Bay. There is a ferry that will transport you across Jenny Lake to hiking trails on the other side of the lake.