yiplong

We are actually going to Yellowstone. I've lived in SLC, August is not the best time to visit, it's quite hot. I'm surprised it's considered peak time for SLC, I think of it more as a winter destination. August is generally busy for air travel and that got me concerned. I agree I shouldn't wait too long. Will watch this closely for the next month or so, hopefully it will get back into the $300 neighborhood. I'm no longer waiting for it to drop back down to $250.

StartinSanDiego

If you're actually going to Yellowstone, perhaps you could consider other destinations. Denver in particular is a large hub airport with lots of choices. I don't have time to look at some of your choices, but you could poke around and see what the fares are to other destinations.

We flew to Denver and drove to Yellowstone. Yes, it's a long drive, but we enjoyed it. We stopped at Fort Laramie and went through Grand Teton National Park. An excellent trip!

Edit addition- I couldn't resist looking: On Kayak Delta nonstop in basic economy is as low as $180 r/t in mid August to Denver. I also see many in the $280 range for NYC to SLC.

StartinSanDiego

Moderator Note: Please follow the thread as it moves to the West destination forum

TRRed

Denver to Yellowstone drive is maybe 9-10+ hours depending on stops. Neither DEN nor SLC is the best airport to reach YNP. JAC, BZN, West Yellowstone, and Billings (BIL?) are much closer. Many of the flights to those airports connect through DEN or SLC.

On LCC: also look at Frontier, though that should show up on Google Flights. Frontier offers fully refundable fares on their website only for a bit more than their base coach fare, but typically far below Y fares of mainline. Frontier is an airline that some people love and some people hate. If you go to the F9 forum, you'll clearly see that. My experience with F9 is not particularly better or worse than with mainline carriers.

End of August is really a great time to visit YNP (and GTNP). Crowds are slimmer since school has started back in many areas of the country.

Good luck.
TRRed

djp98374

ludocdoc

Time is money. I've done the round trip to YNP from Denver (ouch), and I've flwoin into JAC and home from BZN, with a far pricier one way car rental (and a one way scooter rental for mom with a busted foot). I would do the one way rental every single time. Well, if I have two full weeks, MAYBE burn 2 whole days driving. The drive is not a great one from DEN.

HGH

This question is for anyone who has ever visited Yellowstone - one trip or many:

Looking back, what is your favorite memory? Is there a spot or event that really jumps out for you? And, was the time of day an important part of that, i.e. early morning at a particular spot or sunset at another? TIA for sharing!

ludocdoc

A ways east of Tower, on the NE entrance road, in the Lamar Valley, there was a plain about 20 feet below the road where a massive herd of bison was hanging out. Saw them there twice - once in late fall, once in spring - just good luck. Bison as far as the eye could see. in spring there were babies.

krobbins

We are looking at a four day trip to Yellowstone. I have searched the more recent entries on this thread for recommendations on which of the Yellowstone properties are the nicest, most convenient, etc. I have checked the Canyon Lodge, as a poster above mentioned it is the most centrally located, but since we know we won't see everything in four days, I'd rather make sure we were at one of the nicer properties. While my husband would be fine with rustic, I am definitely only interested in glamour-rustic. Can anyone give me maybe the top three that I should be considering? We are also looking at staying in Bozeman and traveling in each day. Is that practical? Many thanks in advance!!

ludocdoc

Bozeman is too far - its a good airport to use, but not a daily commute. West yellowstone and Gardiner are the gateway cities with chain and locally owned hotels at moderately elevated prices. The in park hotels are more convenient, but more basic and more expensive. The Old Faithful geyser basin has alot to see, and the Mammoth/Tower area does too, so 2 days at OF and 2 at Gardiner/mammoth might work. The OF lodge is an incredible building - stop in even if you dont stay there.

RedSun

When you buy the visitor pass, can you change the date? This is just in case of schedule change.

azepine00

Go with annual national park pass.

sinfonia

Twice, I have tried to visit Yellowstone and had to cancel for some emergency, but third time is a charm and we are headed there end of this month, followed by Jackson and Zion. We will only be spending probably 3 days in Yellowstone National Park itself, and a couple in Grand Tetons.

We have one problem which is that we have to bring the 75 lb. dog. It's complicated, and I understand that bringing an animal to Yellowstone is really not recommended, but we don't have a lot of choice for several reasons, and this is a medical alert dog. Most of the trip, it should not be a problem, I don't think - only the Yellowstone part.

So . . . because we want to get out and walk the boardwalks and short trails here and there, and because we have read enough stories about dogs or their owners getting ran after by the wildlife, we think it's best to put him in doggy day care for a couple of days (he will stay overnight with us) or if we can find such a thing, have some sort of pet-sitting day service inside of the park (have not been able to find someone who will come into the park to watch him for us while we get out and walk boardwalks yet).

I would love some input on our general itinerary and how much is doable especially our first two days in the park (days 4 and 5 below), especially given that we will have to loop back to get him later in the day from wherever we left him in the morning. Our hotel nights are immovable, but we can shift how we do our days depending on advice from FTers here. I should say that I know we won't see everything, but seeing wildlife, Old Faithful and the canyon is probably most important to us.

Here is our itinerary:

Day 1: Drive to St. George, Utah
Day 2: Drive to Idaho Falls
Day 3: Drive to Big Sky
Day 4: West Yellowstone (where we will assume we should put dog in daycare), West entrance, Norris geyser, Mammoth Hot Springs, Lamar Valley, Grand Canyon, back to W Yellowstone to get dog, and drive to Old Faithful Inn for the night
Day 5: Old Faithful and nearby geysers, drop dog in W Yellowstone again, Grand Prismatic/Fairy Falls, (is there a reason to go to Grant village?), back to W Yellowstone to get dog, end in Jackson for the night
Day 6: Yellowstone Lake, Hayden valley, back to Jackson (or are there better uses of this day in Yellowstone?) (dog is in doggy daycare in Jackson this day)
Day 7: Grand Tetons, Jenny Lake, stay in Jackson
Day 8: Grand Tetons, stay in Jackson
Day 9: Jackson
Day 10: ????, stay in Jackson
Day 11: ?????, stay in Jackson
Day 12: Bonneville salt flats, drive to Springdale/Zion
Day 13: Zion
Day 14: Zion
Day 15: Bryce, stay in Springdale/Zion
Day 16: Grand Canyon North Rim, stay in Springdale/Zion
Day 17: Little Wild Horse Canyon/Moab/Canyonlands/Arches/Valley of the gods (Bear's Ears), stay in Springdale/Zion
Day 18: ??? stay in Zion

How long of a drive would it be to go from Grand Canyon of Yellowstone back to W Yellowstone and then to Old Faithful?

Is anyone aware of a pet-sitter/personal assistant/pet concierge service where someone will drive into the park, meet us at the parking lot, and hang out with the dog for an hour while we hike/walk, doing that a couple of places for a couple of days? I tried Rover and Wag, to no avail, and the only idea I have left is something like Taskrabbit, but I prefer to hire a company that has some responsibility over an individual.

Thanks for any advice!

azepine00

Some of your plans are nothing but painful driving, stay in Jackson is unnecessarily long and at the end you make a huge jump from moab to zion.. you should put this in Google maps to get a sense of what you are trying to do...
Book at least a night in yellowstone itself get there faster reduce Jackson (or spend more time exploring nearby), take a close look at what you want to do in utah and logistics... you probably booked some hotel awards before planning - maybe you ll need to rethink and cancel - there is little value in hotel that's not where you need to be..

sinfonia

Thank you so much for your candor and sense. Ha - you are right! 17 out of 18 nights of this trip are trying to use up rewards that expire! We are taking your advice and cutting out Big Sky, getting to the park faster, trying to add a second night in Yellowstone itself, and will tweak Utah. I gather you think it's too much in Utah, and to focus on only a few clustered parks?

Thanks again.