Yellowstone/Grand Teton/Jackson, worth an only 3 day trip? (Sheridan: house, closing)

[adelashk]

Sunsprit,
Alright. Also noticed that it is a lot cheaper as well!

My wife does that to me all the time ... "ooh, take a left here". "What's there?" "Don't know, but we're going to see."

That is something I want to do! I hate to be bound to a specific schedule/destination it feels like I am on a business trip.

I was planning to do that, get a cooler and get random food. I am not that interested and will not put a lot of energy in to lodging or dining options. I do not even mind sleeping in my car but that might be unsafe (or illegal?).

I just read the post on the travel forum you refered to. Very interesting and similar to what you were telling me, oh btw I was at Custer state park a week ago. Beautiful, lots of wildlife.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by adelashk

Sunsprit,
Alright. Also noticed that it is a lot cheaper as well!

That is something I want to do! I hate to be bound to a specific schedule/destination it feels like I am on a business trip.

I was planning to do that, get a cooler and get random food. I am not that interested and will not put a lot of energy in to lodging or dining options. I do not even mind sleeping in my car but that might be unsafe (or illegal?).

I just read the post on the travel forum you refered to. Very interesting and similar to what you were telling me, oh btw I was at Custer state park a week ago. Beautiful, lots of wildlife.

Wow, I'd almost forgotten about Custer ... it's been a few years since we stopped in there. Parked the bird in the hangar and pitched the tent under the wing for the night ... we'd gotten weathered in coming back from a business trip to Bismarck ND. It got pretty blustery and raining hard, so we appreciated the extra shelter that the hangar gave us. On our mountain bikes, we were able to scout around the area the next morning for a couple of hours, wished I had time to do some fishing. It's only 1 1/4 hours from home ... might have to head up that way again soon ... I've got a new neighbor who is just now learning to fly and is getting into camping out & fishing with the plane. If I can find more local destinations like that, he may just well be able to convince his wife they can't live without a bird in their household ... and his wife's family are all flying farmers, so it might not be a hard sell.

Have a great trip to YNP. You can "camp out" there, and if your car is OK by you to sleep in ... go for it. Remember to not keep food in there overnight while you're in the car; put your cooler and food outside.

[Happy in Wyoming]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

Remember to not keep food in there overnight while you're in the car; put your cooler and food outside.

do not leave food outside of your vehicle unless you know how to absolutely prevent a bear from getting it. Do not put it outside in a safe place if you are in or around a campground. The government is now killing bears who loiter around these areas. No more second chances. No more relocation.

Neither the current president nor the current Secretary of the Interior are of the same culture that previous rulers were. They have no understanding of respect or protection for wildlife. Feed a bear; hand the bear a death sentence.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming

do not leave food outside of your vehicle unless you know how to absolutely prevent a bear from getting it. Do not put it outside in a safe place if you are in or around a campground. The government is now killing bears who loiter around these areas. No more second chances. No more relocation.

Neither the current president nor the current Secretary of the Interior are of the same culture that previous rulers were. They have no understanding of respect or protection for wildlife. Feed a bear; hand the bear a death sentence.

Keeping food in your car is where a bear will go to get at it.

If you are in there at the same time, it's a pretty confined space to share with the wildlife. Not advisable for your own survival.

Take a look at "bear proofing" sites, such as www.3bears.net/yosemite/beare/. They advocate a "bear proof" container, which is now required in Yosemite as well as a number of other parks, or securing your food by hanging it in a tree out of a bear's reach and/or locating your food supply some distance away from your sleeping area.

I've seen what cars and aircraft look like after a bear attack ... and the vehicles were totalled. They look like somebody had "jaws of life" and a sledgehammer and pry bars going into them.

[Giesela]

I don't know how people can camp and have food without attacting bears. Campgrounds are full of sites and people. You can hang it in a tree so the bear can't get it but they'll still smell it and come. Not sure how smell proof bearproof containers are.

[Ravekid]

We did Yellowstone in two days. It was in Sept., when K-12 and most colleges were back to school, so it may not have been as busy. We actually had three days in W. Yellowstone, but used the last day as a lounge around day. This was a mistake because we could have went down to Grand Teton..oh well.

Anyways, we stayed in W. Yellowstone, which is right next to west park entry. Our hotel offered one of those continental breakfast deals, a/k/a sugar breakfast. It was good enough for something light. We left early and our days went like this:

Day 1, North loop: Enter through west entry, like around 8AM. Drove to Norris, it was about 10:15AM. Looked around, took our pictures. After Norris, drove to Mammoth Hot Springs. According to my photos, we arrived in the Mammoth area around 11:36AM. We looked around, and ate lunch here. When we arrived, parking was still OK, but traffic had definitely picked up. After lunch we drove to the Tower-Roosevelt area. At 1:30PM, I was taking photos of the petrified tree in that area. We also drove out towards the Lamar Valley, but I have no idea how far we went. Drove back towards T-R, then south to Canyon Village, then back to W. Yellowstone, MT. We likely exited the park around 4:30PM.

Day 2, South loop: Entered the park again through west entry, likely entered around 8:15? We drove towards the Old Faithful area, and I believe we stopped along the way and visited a shop and saw some other thermal features. At 9:15, we were at Old Faithful. My last photo in the area was at 10:22. We then drove towards Grant Village and then up to Fishing Bridge. We stopped at one of those places around 12:41 because I have photos of the lake and inside of one of the visitor's center/info buildings at that time. We ended up eating a late lunch that day, stopping at Canyon Villiage. My guess it was around 1:30? At 2:40, we were at one of the waterfalls, not sure if it was the upper or lower falls. After this, we headed back towards W. Yellowstone going through Norris and Madison. Just before we exited the park, I got a shot of a bald eagle right at 4PM.

This trip was part of a see the west trip. We didn't do any special programs or anything. We got in the mini-van, hit the major sights, took photos, relaxed a little, walked around and did some souvenir shopping. It would literally take a good five days to really be able to take your time and see what all the major areas have to offer. There is a hike down to one of the falls, and it takes a while. Some of the ranger led programs take a while. Also, we went in mid-Sept. 2007. Animals were on the move, but we had zero traffic issues. We saw plenty of wildlife, and took five or ten minutes to watch wildlife from cut-outs, pull offs, etc., if we wanted.

I never really felt rushed, the food in the park was good and reasonably priced. I think two days, driving one loop each day, is more than enough to get a feel for the place. You will definitely know if you want to go back in the future for an extended trip.

Our third day we visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery center in W. Yellowstone. A neat place, but only takes about an hour to two hours, there really isn't that much too it. We should have gotten in the van and driven down into Grand Teton. While the speed limits aren't that fast, if you don't run into any traffic, the drives aren't that bad at all. Get a map and look at my times for the different areas. It will give you an idea on how long various drives are. While we likely did speed somewhat in the park, I never did anything over five to ten MPH fast than the posted limit.

[adelashk]

Ah I wish I had a plane! Would make things a lot more spontaneous and flexible. Unless the weather is bad..

Anyhow, about the food.. I will definitely make sure it is not in my car while I sleep. I am thinking of going to random hotels or basically head back to Jackson and sleep there after sunset.

Ravekid,
Thanks for sharing your experience. It is definitely helpful, I am just worried about the weather after Labor day weekend and the changing leaves.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by adelashk

...I am just worried about the weather after Labor day weekend and the changing leaves.

Don't worry, nothing you can change. Weather is most probably OK, tho subject to change. There is probably less than 10% chance you will hit disabling weather in Sept. The low temps are already pushing freezing, so SOME trees will be changing, but will most certainly not be brown (except for beetle kill and many other tree-health related issues). Most of the trees and a good part of the undergrowth are evergreen varieties anyway.

ID is a great place to travel back-country via plane. My neighbor has his plane all set up to do ID, and takes his own WA runway in stride. ~1200' grass w/ 300' drop canyon on one end and 300' tall fir trees on the other. Interesting air currents.

[adelashk]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Don't worry, nothing you can change. Weather is most probably OK, tho subject to change. There is probably less than 10% chance you will hit disabling weather in Sept. The low temps are already pushing freezing, so SOME trees will be changing, but will most certainly not be brown (except for beetle kill and many other tree-health related issues). Most of the trees and a good part of the undergrowth are evergreen varieties anyway.

Thanks for the reassurance, I will be booking the air ticket this week. Still looking in to lodging. I just want to use Jackson as my base but then I would have to drive back and forth every day.

[StealthRabbit]

It is quite a long ways from Jackson to the center of Yellowstone. I would be real cautious to verify which roads are under construction, you want to avoid multiple trips over those.
Yellowstone National Park - Road Construction Delays and Closures (U.S. National Park Service)

Jackson is fine to use as a base for Tetons and a small portion of south Yellowstone. (Tho I personally would prefer Jenny Lake Lodge, for a true NP experience, quiet / restful / pretty ambiance). Jackson would not fit the profile of 'quiet / restful / pretty'. It is full blown 'tourist', with the 'good and bad' associated with such.

I would suggest West Yellowstone or Gardiner, MT would be a better choice for a base (If you can't get space in a Park Lodge.) Mammoth seems to have pretty big lodging facility. I will venture to guess there will be space available in the Parks. (Looks like Canyon and Lake village / Fishing Bridge will be best central base, IF Gibbon Canyon is still under construction, NW loop connection)