Itinerary Help

Any suggestions or recommended changes would be very helpful. We are flying in and out of Denver at the end of July due to the cost of airfare for flying into other airports.

Arrive in Denver - drive to Custer,SD

Spend 4 nights in Custer, Mt Rushmore, Spearfish, SD and surrounding area

Drive to Devils Tower (tour around) and head thru the Big Horn Mts. to layover in Dayton WY for 2 nights

Drive to Red Lodge and Cooke City and stay in West Yellowstone area for 4 nights

Stay 2 nights inside the park

Head to Jackson Hole are for 3 nights and touring the Grand Tetons area.

Drive to Denver to fly home.

First of all does this sound like a good plan and if not what should we change.

This board has been a big help in planning especially with the airfare issues so I figure you can suggest others choices for us.

Thanks

Itinerary Help

Dear Nubbsy,

I think you are missing one of the great towns in the area you will be visiting. Cody, Wyoming is loaded with things to do. Four days in West Yellowstone might get boring - Cody has much more going on. Are you staying at a ranch or something in Dayton? If not, there isn%26#39;t much there either.

Just my 2 cents - hope you have a great vacation.

Itinerary Help

Since we did Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, western part of Yellowstone (Mammoth and Old Faithful) and Grand Tetons last year this is our itinerary for this year. We are also flying into Denver and renting a car. Got a great deal for airfare and car.

Day 1- Fly to Denver and drive to Lusk, Wyoming.

Day 2 and 3- Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Badlands, and Deadwood.Staying in Keystone, SD.

Day 4- Drive to Sheridan, Wyoming

Day5- Drive to Little Big Horn Battlefield, then to Cooke City, Mt.

Day 6- Tour Yellowstone making a loop through eastern part of park. Drive to Cody, Wyoming.

Day 7- Cody, Wyoming- tour museums and go to Cody Rodeo.

Day 8- Drive though eastern entrance of Yellowstone through Grand Tetons to Jackson Hole.

Day 9- Jackson Hole

Day 10- Drive to either Laramie or Cheyenne.

Day 11- Fly home from Denver.

It would be helpful to know when your flight arrives %26amp; leaves Denver.

I%26#39;m concerned you underestimating the drives to and from the airport. When I put those drives into Google Maps DIA to Custer, it says 5 hrs 45 min. It will take longer -- how much longer really depends on how slow the traffic is once you leave the interstate.

Google maps says 8 hrs 15 min from Jackson Hole to DIA. It WILL be longer, plan on almost 8 hours to Cheyenne %26amp; then another 1 1/2 hours to the Denver Airport.

The last full week of July is the largest outdoor rodeo in the world in Cheyenne, Sat. 19th thru Sun. 27. Lodging is already pretty booked, but you may want to at least stop and visit the Indian Tepee Village (free), western parade through downtown each Saturday morning, as well Tues %26amp; Thursday morning, free pancake breakfast with entertainment on Mon. Wed %26amp; Fri mornings, free slack rodeo events in the mornings. I don%26#39;t want to go on and on, unless you are interested in more info %26amp; the dates match-up with when you would be through Cheyenne.

HI Nubbsy,

It sounds like you have a great trip planned. We are also flying in and out of Denver. We are not doing the SD tour, though, but we arranged our plan to see Red Lodge and then drive the Beartooth highway early in the day, as suggested here on this forum by several people.

The cost of airline tickets from the Boston/Manchester area has been outrageous. We finally landed a great deal on Southwest.

Here is our itimeray:

Day 1

arrive in Denver. Drive to Story, WY

Day 2

Visit Little Big Horn, Pompey%26#39;s Pillar, drive to Red Lodge, spend the night

Day 3 Early rising, drive Beartooth Highway to Cooke City , spend the night, visit Lamar Valley in the afternoon/evening

Day3

Visit Lamar Valley early morning. Drive the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody..stay in Cody overnight. Visit Buffalo Bill Museum

Days 4-8 Stay in Yellowstone NP

Days 8-10 Stay in Grand Teton NP

Day 11

Head south from Moran, WY, visit Sacagewea%26#39;s historic gravesite in the WindRiver reservation

Head to Encampment/Riverside WY spend the night

Day 12

Drive to Grand Lake, CO, head over Trail Ridge Rd to Estes Park

Day 12-19

Stay in Estes Park

exploring RMNP and doing lots of hiking!

oopsy

Day 20 -fly home from Denver

Thanks for your input and suggestions. The trip isn%26#39;t set in stone just yet but we want to make sure we are able to get reservations in areas that we need to. Just wondering when you would hit Cody in the scheme of things and where to stay in that area. We are actually planning to drive to Denver the day before we leave and lay over there before our flight out. We tried doing it other ways but the cost of the airfare was just way too much.

See my itinerary- we are staying at the Cody Cowboy Village in Cody. Have a nice trip.

Thanks you too. I am really starting to appreciate travel agents as I never know sooooo much went into planning a trip like this but I am sure it will al lbe worth it in the end.

Half the fun is planning the trip, Nubbsy. The key to planning is being flexible.

Have fun!