June 2008 itinierary

We are planning a trip to Yellowstone/GTNP the first 2 weeks of June 2008. Our lodging/itinerary is as follows:

1.OKC to Thermopolis. Spend night at Thermopolis.

2.Thermopolis to Cody, then Canyon area of Yellowstone. 2 nights at Canyon Lodge.

3. Canyon Lodge to Old Faithful Inn. 2 nights at Old Faithful Inn.

4. Old Faithful Inn to Colter Bay. 3 nights at Colter Bay.

5. Colter Bay to Rawlins/Laramie via HW 26 and I-80. Spend night at Laramie.

6. Laramie to Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days, then home.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan for this time of year? We were trying to get the most scenic routes and would like to see the Beartooth hiway, but were uncertain about road conditions for this time of year. Any suggestions, must see tips, etc. would be appreciated.

Thanks

June 2008 itinierary

That first day%26#39;s drive will be a bear. I hope you have several driver%26#39;s to share driving duty. You might want to have a back-up plan to stay in Cheyenne, in case you don%26#39;t make it to Thermopolis.

We will be in the area about the same time, so I hope you have great weather!

Have fun with your planning.

June 2008 itinierary

This sounds like a great trip. I think late May and early June is a great time to be in the area. You%26#39;ll have many chances to see the young animals.

A couple of questions/suggestions: Am I correct in assuming that you are not spending a night in Cody? If you are interested in seeing the museum there, it really is huge and deserves some time. Then, if you are going into the east entrance to YNP from Cody, is there still construction/delays through there? (If you%26#39;ve already visited the Cody museum and are just driving through, scratch this one!)

Next, on the return trip home, consider taking a loop off I-80, through Saratoga and across the Snowy Range back to Laramie. It adds only a few miles to your trip, but for us, the Snowy Range was as beautiful as many parts of YNP and the Tetons-- only with very few people! (We actually spent the night in Saratoga rather than in Laramie. There%26#39;s a great old Victorian era hotel there (the Wolf) that%26#39;s reasonable and has a great restaurant and nice old bar.)

And, finally, if you happen to change your mind and take 191 down to I-80 instead of using 26 (and for anyone else using this route), there%26#39;s a great, small museum in Pinedale-- ';The Museum of the Mountain Man'; -- It doesn%26#39;t take long to visit, but it%26#39;s really well done.

Have a wonderful trip!

W. A. Robison

I might be inclined to add a night to Canyon and reduce a night at Colter Bay but I have a preference for Yellowstone.

Do you have the reservations in Yellowstone yet? If so, my first thought doesn%26#39;t mean anything anyway. If not, you better get with it. You will probably already have trouble getting what you want in Yellowstone.

Sounds like a fun trip.

Thanks everyone for all the info. I know the first day%26#39;s driving will be awful, but my husband and I always take shifts and leave early (kids sleeping). I do think I might check into hotels in Cheyenne just in case we get slowed down. Fortunately, we have all our park reservations. We booked 4 nights in Yellowstone, 3 in GTNP simply based on what family members had told us and a variety of reviews. Hopefully our time division between the parks works out. I wish we had 1 or 2 nights to spend in Cody, but at this point our schedule just doesn%26#39;t allow it. I do think we%26#39;ll go through Saratoga and the Snowy Mountain Range as suggested. It sounds as if it has some beautiful scenery. I%26#39;ll keep the museum in Pinedale in mind in case we manage to add some extra time to our trip ( we really want to see the landscape between Dubois and GTNP). Thanks again for all the tips. These forums have been so helpful.

After reading all your advice, we made a few changes for our June trip.

1. OKC to Fort Collins for the night.(not as much driving as to Thermopolis, which was our original plan).

2. Fort Collins to Cody for 2 nights ( Buffalo Bill Museum, possibly the rodeo).

3. Cody to Canyon lodge via Red Lodge/Beartooth if weather permitting. If not then hopefully we%26#39;ll go via the east entrance. 2 nights at Canyon( upper loop/Canyon area).

4. Canyon to Old Faithful Inn. 2 nights at Old Faithful ( West Thumb, Old Faithful, Lake area if not covered on the way into Canyon, possibly the Grizzly and Wolf Center in West Yellowstone).

5. Old Faithful to Colter Bay, GTNP for 3 nights. Jenny/Jackson/String lakes, Oxbow, Bar T cookout from Jackson, possibly the Elk Refuge.

6.GTNP to Laramie via Snowy Mountains. 1 night in Laramie(we might change this to Saratoga).

7. Laramie to RMNP for 2 nights (Trail Ridge Road, Emerald Lake).

8. Home

This still doesn%26#39;t allow as much time in Yellowstone as we would like. I know we will not be able so see everything but we are hoping some of our other stops will compensate for our Yellowstone time constraints. With our itinerary in mind, does anyone have ideas/suggestions on ';must sees'; and time allottment from Canyon and Old Faithful? We don%26#39;t plan on doing any specific tours as we generally like to wander around on our own(we will have our 8 and 12 year old).Any input/ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi photomom,

that sounds like a great itinerary to me. We are doing a similar trip but coming from GTNP to Laramie via 287 through Wind River Reservation. We are staying the night in Encampment/Riverside and then heading to Grand Lake via 230/125 then over Trail Ridge rd to Estes Park where we will spend 7 nights.

However, after reading this thread I just checked out the byways page and found the Snowy Mountain scenic byway which it making my wheels turn for a detour!

byways.org/explore/byways/2054/stories/52117

thanks for the new idea :)

You have enough time in Yellowstone to have a great time. I mentioned that I%26#39;d probably add a day but none the less, 4 days gives you time to see a lot.

The main suggestion I%26#39;d make is to get out of bed and get moving. From Canyon, we were usually heading to Hayden Valley around 5:30AM. Doesn%26#39;t sound like fun but if you run into critters, it%26#39;ll be a lot more fun.

In general, we looked at/for wildlife in the morning and looked a geysers and water falls afterward.

You need to see the Upper and Lower Falls, Hayden Valley, Old Faithful, Upper Geyser Basin, Lamar VAlley, Tower Falls and Calcite Springs. You never know what you%26#39;ll see at points in between.

If you%26#39;re curious to see what our trip last June looked like, you can check:

www.AlandSueJohnson.com

The Yellowstone link is at the upper left. There%26#39;s a map there too that might help you get oriented. There%26#39;s several pictures from the Tetons but not as much information.

Thanks for the tips. I did try to add an extra night at Canyon, but they were booked. I even looked at changing one of the nights at Old Faithful to Canyon, but this wasn%26#39;t possible either. I%26#39;ll just make sure to take our travel alarm and have everyone up and ready to go early, as you suggested. We plan on packing a cooler for lunches so we don%26#39;t have to be anywhere near lunch time. When I spoke to someone in park reservations they said the sun usually sets after 9pm so it sounds like we%26#39;ll have plenty of light to see waterfalls, etc. in the afternoon/evening. Thanks again for the info on ';must sees';. We%26#39;re really looking forward to the trip.

It%26#39;s good that you have reservations. You could call back periodically and see if there are cancellations in canyon for the night(s) you want there. There seem to be a lot of room changes that occur and this means rooms open up.

If you can be up early and still out in the evening, you%26#39;re better than me. We were up at 3:15 AM to catch the flight out and up at 4:45 the next morning. That probably ended the evening sight seeing for us.

I%26#39;d like to see as much of Wyoming as you%26#39;re going to. Have fun.