Yellowstone / Grand Teton area USA

[DibbleDooDah]

We will be in the USA next summer and are looking to go somewhere afterwards that isn’t perhaps a mainstream destination for U.K. visitors.

Our plan is to fly from NYC to Salt Lake City, hire a car and drive north up to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Cody areas and then drive back to Denver from where we fly back to the U.K. direct.

Anyone ever been to this area and have any ideas or recommendations? U.K. travel websites are patchy and only really visit these places on a whistle stop fly drive as opposed to really explore.

We will have about three weeks. Like seeing amazing scenery, walking (but not hiking up mountains), good food and general sightseeing. Considered the “standard” California road trip but we all felt a bit underwhelmed.

Or any other areas of places to visit? Discounted Texas and the very southern states due to the temperatures.

We’ve done New York, New England, Maine, Washington DC, most of Pennsylvania and NY state, lots of Canada and Florida. We loved Maine and Canada - went off the beaten track, stayed in some fab accommodations where we were a novelty being British. Probably after a similar vibe.

Have two teens so discounted California winelands. Oregon coast looks fab but nothing really there?????

I just feel like we have too much choice….

We're just back from the Canadian Rockies and you can go off the beaten track there or stick to the obvious places. I am currently sitting with the Canada and Alaska / USA trailfinders brochures which are great for ideas and itineraries

We did Yellowstone and the Canadian Rockies in the same trip. I preferred Canada by a long way. Easier to get around, more choice of accommodation, more dramatic scenery.

Accommodation is very hard to come by in the American parks and most of Yellowstone inside the park will be booked up by now. Yellowstone is huge and you can stay outside in West Yellowstone or Gardiner but typically you’ll be driving an hour+ each way to get to where you want to be in the park.

We stayed two nights in the Lake Yellowstone Hotel which was the most rubbish luxury hotel we’ve ever stayed in. Central London 5* prices for Travelodge esque amenities and nowhere to eat dinner as the restaurant can’t accommodate all the guests.

"Our plan is to fly from NYC to Salt Lake City, hire a car and drive north up to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Cody areas and then drive back to Denver from where we fly back to the U.K. direct".

Sounds great but will the hire car company penalise you financially for dropping the car back in another state?. This is something to check. After 3 weeks in the car too you all will be sick of the car. United also fly between Cody and Denver.

Some general google searches pulled up this as well which may be helpful to you

Stops and things to do on Salt Lake City to Jackson drive or road trip (wanderlog.com)

We went on holidays to that area a few years back. It was fantastic.

Even with your own car I would recommend an organised safari within Yellowstone. The guides are much better at finding wolf packs and bears than the rest of us are.

Rafting on the Snake River and boating on Jenny Lake were good too.

Went to the Rodeo In Jackson Hole which was very different. We went with friend who had moved there and they said some of their friends take rodeo very seriously.

We stayed in an amazing glamping place between Salt Lake City and Jackson.

Went to Jakson/Yellowstone for a week last summer, after the floods, its very busy, agree we had hotel booked months before, it was dire, there were 4 similar blocks and 1 restaurant, the soonest we could book any meal was 4 days time, shop on site was full of people trying to buy any food.
The only plus for the shop it sold cans of breathing oxygen as i had altitude sickness ---- the whole area is very high 10000 ft a little higher than Machu Picchu! I was ill from Jackson but was completely out of it in Yellowstone, saw a medic who told us to get lower asap so went to Cody, fabulous little town lots to see( dont bother with the historic tram tour- there is no history) do visit the outdoor museum were they have moved old buildings inc Buch Cassidy and Sundance cabin. Dine in the Irma inn is a must.
Started to feel better after 24 hrs in Cody still used oxygen cylinder but we cut the holiday short. We spent a total inc sleeping of 19 hrs in Yellowstone and I can only just remember being there I was overcome by the altitude and my wife was starting to feel it too.
If you go have a wonderful time Jackson to Yellowstone is beautiful, but be prepared.

Thanks all. I hadn’t really considered the altitude and that is probably a big no for me. I felt really woozy at the top of Mont Blanc and can’t imagine having to have days of my holiday feeling like that. I get all the “sicknesses” - sea, car 😂😂😂😂😂

I’ll Google routes that might help us acclimatise more.

I am aware that the accommodation can be a bit pants. I stayed in “premium” accommodation at Yosemite as a teenager and it was basically a shed. There’s still availability at most places but I know I need to get a shift on.

We didn’t stay in Yellowstone. We stayed in the SnowKing in Jackson and then in motels outside the gates of the park in West Yellowstone and somewhere in Montana.
My GP have me a prescription for altitude sickness tablets that helped.

We have done Jackson Hole and Yellowstone in the winter and it was fabulous.
how about doing some of the national parks in Utah? Zion is spectacular.
I agree - do the organised tour around Yellowstone.
we didn’t have any issues with altitude in either Salt Lake or Yellowstone/Jackson but that might have been more luck!
I’m an expat now living in Ontario Canada and about to do a road trip to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. Will take around 21 hours but looking forward to the scenery!

We've been to YNP and GTNP over 10 times and I assure you, neither park is 'over 10000ft'. The touristy places in YNP (along the Grand Loop Road) are between 7000-8000 and GTNP touristy areas are 6000-7000. IIRC correctly Jackson is around 6500. Of course if you are an avid hiker you can hike to much higher elevations and there are mountain passes that are higher elevation, too. You might possibly get altitude sickness if you fly in directly from sea level or have some type of illness that is exacerbated by altitude. Barring that, you'll be fine. If you're worried, just take it easy the first couple days. I'm asthmatic and have low blood pressure and the only place I've felt very mild altitude sickness was Rocky Mountain National Park, which does have elevations over 10,000 ft. Again, I just took it easy for a few days and hydrated with Gatorade.

I'm just going to focus on YNP, since it's one of my favourite 'happy places'.

I do agree that if you're planning summer 2024, you should have your reservations already if you want to stay 'in park'. But do check. And keep checking. With the exception of Old Faithful Snow Lodge (we've stayed twice in Winter, it was magical!) and the new lodges at Canyon, the other in park lodgings are historical in nature and best described as 'basic'. And yes, the prices are outrageous for what is offered. But it's all about location, location, location and that is what you're paying for. We RV, so we take our lodgings with us.

The thing to understand about YNP is that it is VAST. And that the speed limit is 35 mph AND traffic is frequently brought to a standstill by bear- and bison-jams. And people being 'tourons'. YNP cannot be seen in a day. It can't be seen 3 days. If you want to 'see it all' you'll need at least a week, and plan to spend 6 hours a day driving and sightseeing. If you don't have that long, research and decide what you most want to see. Thermals? Focus on Old Faithful and Norris basins. Wildlife? Hayden and Lamar Valleys. But no matter what you decide to see, I guarantee it will be a trip you never forget. That's what draws us back time after time. Our average stay is 2-3 weeks and we are still never tired or bored.

Take a look at Google Earth and measure the distances between the various points of interest. Figure how long at 35 mph. Then double it for all the stops you'll want to make. The other thing to do if you're going to stay 'off site' is to measure the distance between your 'base' and the Grand Loop Road. There are some towns outside the park where your drive in will be 45 mins to an hour or more. Also, if you're going to focus on one part of the park, be sure your 'base' is near that area.

A really good place to look for info is on the USA TripAdvisor Yellowstone National Park forum. The people there are unbelievably knowledgeable. It's the first place I go when we start planning a trip!

Yes I was wrong about 10000 feet high, I just wanted to advise people it is still very high. We were not told when we booked our trip with a leading and very well know travel agent, on other trips with them they have been very good with advice.