Swamp Travel: Yellowstone

[Gunpowder]

If we're say 6 hours from Yellowstone in May, is it worth going? I'm not a huge nature person but I imagine Yellowstone is popular for a reason.

[sancarlos]

If we're say 6 hours from Yellowstone in May, is it worth going? I'm not a huge nature person but I imagine Yellowstone is popular for a reason.

Yellowstone is awesome. Finding a decent available place in the area to stay is not awesome. We strongly considered it for our family vacation this year, but passed because we didn't get on the lodging stuff early enough.

The summer after my freshman year of college, my best friend and I went on an epic camping travel trip that included Yellowstone, Glacier, and Banff National Parks. Each one of them was great. In particular, Yellowstone has wonderful scenery, geysers, animals...

[Nonlinear FC]

Are you going for a day trip? Coming from 6 hours away?

[Gunpowder]

We'll be in the area for 10 days (convention in Couer d'Alene ends Friday, leave not Monday following but the one after). Going to go to Lake Louise (near Calgary) then down through Montana, but we couldn't get lodging at Glacier Nat'l Park because it's pretty much closed until June.

So either we find new places to go in that area or change course and go out to Vancouver/Seattle after Calgary.

[Mr. C]

I been to Yellowstone a couple times, and the upper section of Grand Loop Road has the most wildlife I've seen in the park. However, it has less geothermal activity iirc.

I like this website for helping in this type of decision: http://www.freemaptools.com/how-far-can-i-travel.htm

[sancarlos]

We'll be in the area for 10 days (convention in Couer d'Alene ends Friday, leave not Monday following but the one after). Going to go to Lake Louise (near Calgary) then down through Montana, but we couldn't get lodging at Glacier Nat'l Park because it's pretty much closed until June.

So either we find new places to go in that area or change course and go out to Vancouver/Seattle after Calgary.

There's a good hike in Banff that starts at the far side of Lake Louise and goes up to what they call "the little teahouse". It's not too difficult, but enough so as to be interesting. They pack in sandwiches and drinks to the teahouse each day, and its a good place to relax after hiking up the incline. We saw mountain goats on that hike.

[Nonlinear FC]

Ok, well, what most people don't realize is how MASSIVE the place is... If you want to see the major attractions, you need at least 3 days, just from a logistical standpoint. Now, you can just forgo one of the areas. So, say you want to hit Old Faithful and the major hot springs and some waterfall hikes and get out and find some bears and wolves and shit... You can probably skip going to the northwest section of the park.

There are 5 different "gates" and of those, 3 have some type of lodging outside of the park. Jackson Hole and Cody are the cites/towns at the other gates, but they are at least an hour away, so not very good for getting into the park on a day-to-day basis. I can't speak for Cody, but Jackson Hole would be a nice place to stay for a couple of days and just hang out. Beautiful and kind of like Aspen in terms of restaurants and shops and rich people action.

We stayed at a friend's place on a lake in Idaho, about 10 miles from the West Yellowstone gateway. It was freaking awesome, as our view was over a little pond/lake with the Grand Tetons off in the distance. And we were close enough to the park to get in and do our thing and be home in the late afternoon/evening.

All of that is to say, check out VRBO for places within spitting distance of one of the gates. I bet there are some cool options.