Must sees to and from Yellowstone and Grand Tetons NP

We will begin our trip in Sioux City. We plan to drive through Rapid City on our way to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. Our return route is through Montana and North Dakota.

We have 10 days for the trip. How many days should we alot for each national park and what wayside stops are must sees in South Dakota and Montana(Rushmore, etc.)?

Where should we overnight between Rapid City and the NPs? Between Yellowstone and Fargo? We will tent camp in the national parks, but are not opposed to lodging a few nights of the trip.

Must sees to and from Yellowstone and Grand Tetons NP

I can%26#39;t help you outside the parks but maybe some help inside them. I%26#39;d keep a day and a half (or 2) for the Tetons and the rest for Yellowstone.

We put our trip reports and several pictures on our website. The travel tips for YNP have a list of what we thought were must sees. I doubt its inclusive though. Some of the information there might be useful in planning the trip.

www.alandsuejohnson.com/yellowstone_home.htm

Lodging in the parks will probably be a problem so camping is good.

Must sees to and from Yellowstone and Grand Tetons NP

You can make Cody from Rapid City to start your YNP tour.

From Rapid City head to Cody WY. Spend the night there. A few rv parks and a state park to the west have camping. Visit the museums too.

1 Stop in Rapid City. See Mt Rushmore

2 To Cody

3 To YS - Canyon or Bridge Bay CG

4 YS - Canyon CG

5 YS - Drive to Tetons. Stay in Colter Bay, Signal Mtn or Gros Ventre

6 Tetons again

7 Back to YS, camp in Madison

8 YS camp in Madison or head out the NE entrance

9 YS area to Medora ND, Theodore Roosevelt Nat Park South

10 To Fargo.

I would consider stopping at Jewel Cave in Custer, SD and also Devil%26#39;s Tower in WY on the way to Cody.

I%26#39;m not sure how much you care to drive in one day, but another option is to drive from Rapid City to Jackson on your second day. That%26#39;s about 9 hours according to Google maps. The advantage with this is that you avoid some backtracking. (Though there%26#39;s no more pleasant place to backtrack than Yellowstone and the Tetons:-)

My personal favorite for camping in Yellowstone is Canyon Campground. It is a central location and about as different from North Dakota as you can get.

If you don%26#39;t mind moving your camp, you could spend your last night in the park at Slough Creek or Pebble Creek Campground along the northeast entrance road, do some wildlife watching in the early AM, then take the Bear Tooth Highway. You might be able to drive as far as Medora to spend the night.

One note, neither Slough Creek or Pebble Creek take reservations.