Travel to Yellowstone

[JAnderson]

I and my wife are getting ready to go to Yellowstone Park and vicinity. Could anyone please give us some ideas of places to see and things to do. It will be our maiden voyage in our new truck. Places we are already planning to see are

old faithfull, albright visitor center, buffalo bill museum, cody firearms museum. We are going to Cody after yellowstone then up to Montana through

billings to CoerdAlene Idaho and back to Central Oregon.

 

[Pat_in_Utah]

Been there twice recently! The town of West Yellowstone, Montana has some nice attractions:



- Imax theatre - HUGE movie screen showing either history of Yellowstone or a Wolf re-introduction to Yellowstone NP.



- Next door is real grizzly bears and wolves. It was fun to see a bear chase another (fast and powerful creatures!)



Both of these are by the west entrance to the park.



In Yellowstone, definetly see the Grand canyon and waterfall. You stand right over where the waterfall drops off (whew, just got vertigo thinkin' about it!)



Take lots of water/good shoes for the hikes. Take a camera - almost got a picture of a tourist (japanese) getting gored by a bison (he was trying to pet it, but the bison didn't care - damn! No wonder why people get gored. ) If you like to fish, Yellowstone lake is huge and has nice trout. West Yellowstone has evrything else you'll need (gas, groceries... )



Any other questions, let me know. Enjoy. It's a great vacation for all the family.



Pat

 

[Archive]

You will also not want to miss out on seeing Mammoth Hot Springs. Stay on the walkways. Lots of elk in this area, too.



There is a petrified tree shown on the map you will get... not much, but an amazing piece of nature.



There are assorted mud pots that you should stop and hike down to... Stay on the walkway.



If you plan on going thru Cooke City into Montana, that area is beautiful, but the road is a very steep downgrade. Use lower gears and save your brakes! (An exhaust brake would be handy here!).



Don't forget to print out your copy of Travel Companion... nice insurance to have.



And take lots of pics. You will be glad you did!

 

[Mactruck]

Personally, I would head over to Jackson Hole first and work your way up through the Teton Mt range. It is one of my favorite Mountain ranges. It's an awesome drive up and you get to see everything on your way up to yellowstone instead of backtracking all through the park. Problem is I think they charge you for Teton Mat. park then charge you again for Yellowstone.



That IMAX theatre is a nice way to see the park. It's pretty cool but it's much better to see in person!



Check out the Snake River Brewery in Jackson and have one for me will ya

 

[BIG BOB]

JAnderson,



If you have time when you get to Coeur d'Alene, give me a call. Would like to meet you and your wife.



Check your email.



Big Bob

 

[Justbeamn]

I will be there next week. I'm leaving on Sat. and not returning till the 30th. I love it back there. You will love yellowstone! Me, I'll be spending my time flyfishing..... No wife... . no kids... . Just me and my dually... . then my dad-in-law will join me after 1 week with his dually

 

[illflem]

I'm with MacTruck, much prefer Grand Tetons over Yellowstone. The Teton visitors center is excellent and shouldn't be missed

 

[Fireman Dave]

Was just there.

We were just there in June. We spent 6 nights camping in Yellowstone. I hadn't been there since I was a kid. They got 15" of snow the day before we got there (6/14)! It melted in about 3 days.



When you pay for Yellowstone ($20. for 7 days), it also gets you into Grand Teton Nat'l Park for no additional charge. The road between Madison and Norris is closed from 9:00pm-9:00am with delays at other times - big construction project going on.



We were disappointed with Mammouth Hot Springs. It appears to be somewhat dormant right now. It's still neat, but not as spectacular as it had been in the past. The thermal features in Yellowstone are constantly changing/evolving.



The fire scars from '88 were very interesting to see (36% of the park burned that summer), but it's very beautiful. A lot of new growth. Some of the campgrounds are limited on the size of campers they can accomodate - if you're planning to camp.



Another thing - allow a lot of time to move around between sights. Not real fast - especially in wildlife traffic jams! We were fortunate to see grizzlies, black bears, big horn sheep, prong horn antelope, wolves, a moose, coyotes, and of course, plenty of elk and buffalo.



I could go on and on. Feel free to email me if you want more info or have questions. It's a wonderful place. Have a great time!

 

[weber1048]

Great area, I will be camping at Warm River which is about 15 miles from the SW corner of Yellowstone starting on the 26th. If you are comming to West Yellowstone from the Idado Falls rather than Tetons take a right at Ashton and bring a loaf of bread and feed the trout at the Warm River bridge and than go up the hill and stop at the Upper and Lower Mesa Falls 114 & 65 feet. This road was under construction last year but should be finished now. The road joins back in to 20 below Harriman State park and Last Chance. Blue Ribbon trout fishing, stop at one of the fly shops and see what the are hitting on several good camp grounds in Island park area. Go to Big Springs, the start of the henry's fork of the Snake River. You can go a go to the Quake Lake visitors center about 30 miles NW of West Yellowstone, earthquake in 1959 caused land slide and formed lake and killed campers. Great fishing in the Madison river also. Have a great trip and stop in Warm river warm river camp ground, we will be there friom the 25th till the 30th.

 

[JAnderson]

Thanks for all the good insight. We are leaving tomorrow at noon. Very excited I will print out the travel companion names today for a little insurance. When I return I will post some pics. Hope to meet Big Bob on our way through but will have to see how time goes.

 

[wyosteve]

JAnderson, just for info, you might want to avoid going into Jackson Hole from the south. They're having a major fire there right now. Over 1000 firefighters, retardant drops, they evacuated several hundred owners of $500,000 plus homes yesterday. Traffic is likely to be a nightmare. Should be ok if you come in from the west on Hwy. 22 or the north on 26.

 

[Archive]

Originally posted by weber1048

You can go a go to the Quake Lake visitors center about 30 miles NW of West Yellowstone, earthquake in 1959 caused land slide and formed lake and killed campers.

I was there! At four years old, I still remember that one.



Jeff... have a wonderful and safe trip!

 

[JAnderson]

wyosteve,



Thanks for the info. I just looked up on the internet and it looks like a bad fire. We were and still are concerned about the fire dangers so we will be on the lookout. I am going in from the west side so I should miss that one. Thanks again.

 

[BPINE]

I am leaving for Yellowstone next Saturday how long are you going to be there JAnderson maybe we can hook up.

 

[JAnderson]

Sorry I will be back by then (That is if you are talking about Aug 4) If you mean July 28, we will be there and camping at madison campground Saturday under the name Jeff Anderson. . If I can I will add a post before That saturday to give you any last minute insight of the goings on there. Hope you have a good trip!

 

[Big K]

Could someone clue me in on the Travel Companions?

Thanks

 

[JAnderson]

There was another post on this topic. Try searching for it. In a nutshell it is a place to put in your personal contact info so if someone needs roadside assistance you could help. This is a voluntary thing but is real valuable. some people offer trailer towing support, a place to stay, horse boarding, tools, etc.



If you go into TDR member Exclusive on the top of your screen and enter the special password given in the tdr admin post. You can view all states. And if you are willing, post your info to help others.

 

[BPINE]

Actually I won't be in Yellowstone untill the 8th I'm not sure the name of the campground but I think there is only 1 that will take big RV's.

 

[JAnderson]

Well have a good trip anyway. Like I said before, if I can get on the computer before Sat. I will give you update info like road and weather conditions.

 

[Fireman Dave]

Fishing Bridge

The name of the RV campground in Yellowstone is Fishing Bridge. It's wall to wall rigs - basically a big parking lot. We were going to camp there to get hook-ups until we found out they weren't really private sites - no campfire ring, etc... So we camped at Canyon and had a nice site, but no hook-ups. Got 5 nights out of the #1 battery, then switched over to #2 for the last night. Have a great time, guys!