USVI-On-Line

Okay, we are now more looking at Yellowstone than the Grand Canyon but have no clue as to where to stay.

Does anyone have any specific places they recommend?

We have no clue where to start looking. All of the places in the park are already all booked up.

We do intend to see the Tetons as well.

nothintolose

p.s. where does everyone fly into to get there?

The figure 8 loop that goes thru Yellowstone is huge and you cant and don’t want to drive quickly thru the park. Keep checking for cancelations in the national park hotels, but look to base yourself for a few nights on both the north and south sides of the park in places like West Yellowstone or Gardiner and on the south end in Jackson Hole which is a great town. Its been too long since we've been so specific recommendations from me would be invalid.

So break out a good map and get the AAA book for the area, cross reference with Frommers and Fodors, plus tripadvisor, which seems to have pretty decent forums going on Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Spend some time looking at that then ask some questions there.

In terms of getting there, Salt Lake City is a 5+ hr drive, or there are probably turbo prop connections into Jackson Hole thru Denver or Chicago.

Denver is a hub so you should be able to get some good deals on flghts into there and it is a nice up from there.

There are good deals for New Orleans to Denver but isn't it an 8 hour drive to Yellowstone from there?

Thanks for all of the tips - keep 'em coming.

I'd say close to 8 but I don't think there are any big airports closer It is a nice drive you get to se the change from grass lands to foot hill to the rockys

I'm not sure what the flights are like into Bozeman as far as frequency, cost, and plane types, but it might be worth checking out along with Jackson, SLC and Denver.

Hi

Our experience with Yellowstone is a little more recent (‘05). Our daughter and her two kids had spent the summer in the Rockies (hauling our venerable tent camper). He husband (a wage slave like some of the rest of us) didn’t have that option. (He couldn’t even paste three consecutive weeks together.) He flew out and they climbed some 14'ers in the Collegiate Range (in CO) before he went home. On his second trip, he flew into Jackson Hole to meet his family. (We rented a small camper in Denver and met them in the Tetons.) After his seeing GTNP for the first time (our daughter had been there four times before - the first at the age of 4), we drove through the south entrance of Jellystone. Of course, we camped and didn’t used lodging (largely at Norris Basin and, briefly at Mammoth Hot Springs).

If you want to do YNP justice, I would suggest giving it at least 4 days - one for each of the parts of the big figure 8. Norris is a perfect place to start, but of course we’re talking about camping. There is always the lodge at Old Faithful - LOL! There are few options to the south (excepting GTNP of course). There is Cody to the east, West Yellowstone to the west, and Bozeman to the north. Cody and Bozeman are the best bets. Hey, if you take kids, remember that they have rodeo EVERY NIGHT in Cody. Bozeman is a lovely college town (Montana State). We’re not big fans of West Yellowstone, but there are accommodations galore.

It’s hard to pin down things not to miss (too many of them). Certainly Old faithful and Norris Basin, the two falls on the Yellowstone River, and Mammoth Hot Springs. The cussed earthquakes on the fault keep screwing up the plumbing at Mammoth and at Norris. For example, the Paint Pot Trail was active again (last I knew) after a long period of inactivity.

The biggest disappointment for us was that the Bear Tooth Highway (Cooke City to Red Lodge, MT), which is easy to get to from the NE entrance, was closed due to construction. It’s bound to be fixed now and is an unbelievably spectacular drive - right in there with the Going-to-the-Sun Highway in Glacier and (in MHO) more interesting than Trail Ridge in Rocky Mountain NP.

Peace
Dugg and Chris
http://picasaweb.google.com/papadugg/
Note : Finally got the ‘96, ‘97, ‘98, ‘02 and ‘04 pics posted.