Trip up to the Yellowstone Area late August

[150class]

So the gf wants to do a trip up north on the weekend of the 20th to the Yellowstone area. I've always wanted to go so I'm pumped to say the least.

After looking at 4-5 threads on here it looks like August is the busiest time of year so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that since its the third weekend of the month that the traffic will die down some. Also I'm trying to get a plan together to see as much as possible/avoid traffic the best we can because I absolutely hate going to parks when they are overcrowded with people.

So I figured I would see if I gave a overview of budget/days we'll be up in the area if you guys can help me out in planning this thing.

Rough Draft of our trip is leave Wednesday late night and fly into maybe Billings, Mt or somewhere in that ballpark where WY, MT, and SD connect. Leave Thursday morning with a rental and try and hit National forest and parks around Yellowstone that wont be as packed. Bighorn National Forest has really caught my eye and is on that side of the state and figured that could be our goal for Thursday/Friday for some driving around and hiking. Area looks beautiful and seems to not be near as crowed as Yellowstone.

Then Sat, Sun, Monday can be for Yellowstone as I would imagine Sunday the traffic should start dying down. Then fly back out of Boise or Salt Lake City on Monday evening.

Thinking of staying in a hotel the 1st and last night we are up there and primitive camping the 2 nights in between.

Trying to keep hotels/flights/rental under 1.5-2k (please let me know if that's unreasonable. Also we don't need to stay in anything fancy and will be using airline points for the trip back).

Any advice would be fantastic guys. Recommendations on parks around yellow stone and things to do in each along with travel recommendations will be much appreciated. I've seen numerous times that it takes a solid 4-5 days to see the whole park so by no means is that our goal but rather see 2-3 of the big features.

A consolation trip would be to stay in/around Denver and go to Rocky Mountain National Forest also and that is being heavily considered.


Sorry for any spelling/grammar errors***

[150class]

bump

[BTLowry]

RMNP is nice

But I would love to see Yellowstone

Never been so can't help you on that

[DoubleGArchery]

You will have a great time, we stayed up there 2 weeks.

[kevin01]

Following because we would like to go in the next couple of years.

[Keith]

I went with the family in 2009 and again by myself in 2013. When I was in Yellowstone the last few days of August in 2013, I was able to get a cabin without a reservation. I think it was about $130 a night. In 2009 we stayed in Gardner, Montana one night, then West Yellowstone, Montana for two nights, and Jackson Wyoming for a night.

My sister and brother-in-law just got back this last weekend from Yellowstone. They flew and rented a car, and it also booked their lodging a year in advance.

Be sure to visit Grand Tetons National Park which is South of Yellowstone, towards Jackson Wyoming. Be sure to stop at Lake Jackson, I recommend Leek's Marina area, you can easily see rocks and logs on the bottom of the lake at least 20 ft down. Jackson is an expensive place for everything from eats, lodging fuel xcetera. The National Elk Refuge is north east of Jackson. Also be sure to check out all the elk sheds at the Jackson Town Square.

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[Sika]

If you are planning on staying in hotels you absolutely cannot book at the last minute. Every hotel and motel in the area will be completely booked or only have one or two rooms available at twice the normal rate. Imo, the best way to travel out West during the peak season is in an RV. You have more freedom to travel around and pull over and sleep wherever you can find a spot. We drove from Texas through Colorado, Wyoming, and across Montana in to Yellowstone and finding hotels on the fly was a big pita. A small motorhome would have been perfect. You can rent one but have to make your reservation early.

[Muygrande]

Traffic dies down the closer you get to Labor Day. This is the anniversary year for the national parks so they are even more busy than usual. The park will be crowded but the National Forests are not, even the ones right outside the park. If you want hotels seriously book now. Pretty much everything in Jackson has been booked solid for weeks and at really high rates. Cheapest flights are usually into Salt Lake City. Look at Cody, Cooke City and the Gardiner area for good areas to stay. Ennis and Red Lodge are two of the coolest towns I have ever visited. I'll be fishing up there a few days before you go. Absolutely gorgeous time to be there.

[Rchr]

X2 on what Sika said.
We did it last year and that was the mistake I made. Trying to find a hotel room at that time of the year is like trying to find a hotel room in South Padre Island during spring break. What we ended up doing was buying a tent and camping out. In made the experience that much better. I would absolutely love to do it again

[tex4k]

I coulda spent another day in the Buffalo Bill museum in Cody, Wy. Before getting into Yellowstone.

[ctburt0n]

Leave Billings drive down to Red Lodge ,MT. Eat pizza on the Main Street then have some Huckleberry IceCream. It is the best. From Red Lodge you can take the Beartooth Hwy. it's on the top 10 most beautiful drives in the USA. It will lead straight into the park on hwy 212. There is so much to see Plan well.


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[Kelmat]

We took our second trip last summer. As everyone has said, you can go and not even set foot in the park and be blown away. Don't even try to do it all in one trip. Plan on going back and take some quality time. Highly recommend a white water trip. The Snake will be pretty calm by then but it is still fun. Enjoy!

[Sika]

Leave Billings drive down to Red Lodge ,MT. Eat pizza on the Main Street then have some Huckleberry IceCream. It is the best. From Red Lodge you can take the Beartooth Hwy. it's on the top 10 most beautiful drives in the USA. It will lead straight into the park on hwy 212. There is so much to see Plan well.


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This is what we did. Wilcoxson's ice cream kicks bluebell's butt.

[150class]

Spoke with the girlfriend to iron a lot of the big things out.

Decided we are going to fly into Denver late wedensday night and have a rental car there upon arrival (10:30 PM) and drive for about 5 hrs and snag a hotel or motel within 1-1.5 hrs of Bighorn National Forest. Spend Thursday/Friday driving/hiking through some of the park.

Friday night and Saturday night we'll primitive camping wherever we are at the time.

Then Saturday and Sunday we'll spend doing Yellowstone or Grand Tenton's while leaving Sunday evening back to the Colorado/Wyoming border to snag a hotel within 1 hr of Rocky Mountain National Park which we we'll spend Monday morning to noonish at.

We'll wrap up the day with a easy 1hr and 15 min drive to a Rockies vs Cubs game at Coors field with a first Pitch time of 2:30 and fly back out of Denver at 7:45 pm that night.

Hopefully that works out and looks like we'll be spending a estimated 1500-1700$ for the whole trip depending on how many airline points I use.

Tons of driving but I imagine the views will make up for being in the car a good portion of the trip.

If yall have any recommendations of must do's or dont's for any of the places I mentioned above please let me know! Or if I should toss in another park/forest in the mix

[Patton]

With that little bit of time, I personally wouldn't go see Ol' Faithful. Lots and lots of people. You may also want to try and hash out your primitive camping plans a little bit more. Lots of parks start taking reservations way out in advance, and there isn't a guarantee for a spot to be open. We camped in the Gross Ventre, Madison, and I forget the other place we camped. You will have a great time!! Madison was incredible, right along the Gibbon and Firehole River. fly fishing within walking distance from camp.