Yellowstone/Glacier vacation

[dubllung4]

Everything already mentioned about Glacier above is spot on. We would drive the GTSR in the evenings when it was less crowded and saw lots of wildlife.

I haven't seen it mentioned yet but MT-49 from 89 to US 2 is an awesome drive.

 

[Mt Al]

Lot's of great advice, going to 2nd or 3rd making sure you head up or down Beartooth Pass. If you're coming through Bozeman and have time the Museum of the Rockies is great for kids. Depending on your drive between Yellowstone and Glacier, the road on the West side of Flathead Lake is sketchy with fires, fires and more fires. Hope they're out by the time you get here, plus hope you have fun and please be a dude and share some pics!

 

[bozeman]

We spent 5 days in Glacier (kids 12/14) had a blast!!! Somewhat crowded but well worth it. Make sure you jump in @ Red Rock!!!!

 

[Ferrulewax]

In YNP right now, actually not as crowded as I anticipated- maybe due to the floods, entrance closures, campsite closures, and time of year (kids back in school). I hate that the valley and beartooth pass are closed, as they are my favorite parts of the park, but the rest still leaves plenty to do. We were able to get reservations to camp 5 days before we got here, so that's definitely not normal for prime season IMO. Spoke with a guy in a shop in Jackson that seemed to think it had been less busy this summer as well.

 

[Titan_Bow]

My family and I love Glacier. Last year we went and got one of the cabins on Lake McDonald. That was really nice. Still had to get up before daylight if you wanted to get over Going to the Sun and find parking up there, but it was really awesome. We saw bighorns, mountain goats and a momma griz with her cubs all from the trail at the top of Logan Pass to Hidden Lake.
Living in Colorado and spending time in big mountains, I'm still blown away at the scale and size of the landscape in Glacier. Yellowstone was interesting, especially the geological formations, hot springs, etc. but the landscape there is not on the same sense of scale as Glacier.


Must do things I would say are these:
Take the drive up and over Going to the Sun road. Stop at Logan Pass, do a hike up there. Hidden Lake trail is busy, but its really pretty. You will likely see mountain goats and bighorn sheep.

Trail of Cedars is awesome, giant old growth cedar and hemlocks. There is also a hike up to Avalanche lake from here and that is really beautiful.

Take the boat ride on Saint Marys Lake and do the Saint Marys Falls hike.

Spend some time in Many Glaciers, eat dinner at the big lodge there.

Drive up north and go to Polebridge. Spend some time in the Flathead river if its hot, or drive up to Bowman or Kintla lake.

If your kids are older and into more strenous hikes, then theres Highline and Grinnell glacier, they are 10 plus miles each.

 

[nodakian]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet but MT-49 from 89 to US 2 is an awesome drive.

Very true. Slow and twisty, but gorgeous.

Also, there's about 10 miles of construction on 89 between St Mary and 49 right now so watch your timing.

And gas up in Browning or somewhere on the west side, depending on your route. Gas was $6 in St Mary yesterday.

 

[mjh]

It's been a few years and a lot has already been said. We camped in Glacier and in Yellowstone in a tent. Keep a clean camp, food and related materials locked up in a trailer when not directly in use. We kept bear spray with us accessible at all times.

Our daily plan was get up earlier, get to the places we wanted to see. Eat on the road as necessary. Make a leisurely way back to camp mid day or later. Have a big meal, clean up, take a nap. Take an evening drive to a closer location, campfire ranger talk, hang out around small campfire. Eat more if hungry. Get up do it all again.
Oh and at least one Ice Cream stop a day to keep everybody happy.

Take good optics--keep at hand--spotting scope if you have one. Example. We're driving across the busy valley road. Cars are starting to stop. Spouse with her bino's says hey there's something blackish over there, maybe a wolf, maybe a bear. I look with my bino's---certainly a wolf. We're lucky we pull into a parking spot. Unload the preset up spotting scope. You can see the hair on the wolves snout with the transition from the white under the jaw into the grey's and finally black of the face and head. We have a great view with the scope. As we have seen wolves in the wild before we let other folks and kids around have a look through the scope. Good times for all.

We went Glacier (several nights) down into Big Hole National Battlefield ( camped near the pass in NF campground} then Salmon Idaho. Stopped at a ghost town on the way to Hailey. Stayed overnight in a hotel and onto Graters of the Moon. Grand Teton for a night....did really do anything there...drove onto Yellowstone--(several nights there) went east out of YS to Thermopolis and visited Dinosaur Museum. Stayed overnight. Went on the Devils Tower--stayed nearby there as well. The headed homeward.

Lots to do in the area not just the National Parks.--Museums, National Monuments, Centers, off the beaten path.........pick and choose what your family is interested in........as my spouse says on a family vacation....everybody gets to do something they want to do.......the rest gotta go along.....

I think we were on the road for 15 day's it was grand.

 

[Go West Old Man]

……… Crowds were worse for us in Glacier. Seemed like everyone and their brother was there. I’m from a medium sized town in North Georgia and personally knew 4 different families/ groups that were out there when we were.

@Carpet Capital Shyster , good post & good info. Especially like the info re: Cody. We did Tetons & Yellowstone late Sept. 2018 and good time to be there. Crowds not too bad & weather was great. Glacier is on our bucket list but general advice or comments from folks say late September, being school fall break for my wife, may be too late for some of Glacier still being open. Right now we’re trying to plan a trip to go roam about & sightsee sw SD, NE/north central WY,& SE MT on a loose agenda , again last week of Sept. Probably fly to Rapid City & basically try to go see as much as we can in 9 days out & back. Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, Beartooth (?)Highway scenic drive, maybe out as far as Little Bighorn National Monument, possibly south & spend some time in Cody, etc. Good friends here say there’s lots to see & well worth the trip. May be my excuse to my wife for buying buy a new pair of nicey pricy binoculars. Meantime, hi & hello from just south of y’all down here near the “Big Chicken”.

 

[jayhawk]

The Cody firearms museum is a must see. Also I once went to a pretty nice steakhouse there, though I can't for the life of me remember the name of it . . .

The Bighorn Mountains and the Sheridan/Buffalo area are SEVERELY underrated, and definitely worth checking out if you get the chance. The Fetterman Massacre and the Little Bighorn Battlefield aren't too far off the beaten path if you have the time. These are all on the way from SD to Cody.

 

[Go West Old Man]

The Cody firearms museum is a must see. Also I once went to a pretty nice steakhouse there, though I can't for the life of me remember the name of it . . .

The Bighorn Mountains and the Sheridan/Buffalo area are SEVERELY underrated, and definitely worth checking out if you get the chance. The Fetterman Massacre and the Little Bighorn Battlefield aren't too far off the beaten path if you have the time. These are all on the way from SD to Cody.

@jayhawk , thanks for these tips and , , and on your suggestions!

 

[Carpet Capital Shyster]

@Carpet Capital Shyster , good post & good info. Especially like the info re: Cody. We did Tetons & Yellowstone late Sept. 2018 and good time to be there. Crowds not too bad & weather was great. Glacier is on our bucket list but general advice or comments from folks say late September, being school fall break for my wife, may be too late for some of Glacier still being open. Right now we’re trying to plan a trip to go roam about & sightsee sw SD, NE/north central WY,& SE MT on a loose agenda , again last week of Sept. Probably fly to Rapid City & basically try to go see as much as we can in 9 days out & back. Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, Beartooth (?)Highway scenic drive, maybe out as far as Little Bighorn National Monument, possibly south & spend some time in Cody, etc. Good friends here say there’s lots to see & well worth the trip. May be my excuse to my wife for buying buy a new pair of nicey pricy binoculars. Meantime, hi & hello from just south of y’all down here near the “Big Chicken”.

Hey Brother! How are things down in Cobb? I think Rapid City/Badlands/ Mt. Rushmore to the Bighorn Mountains (can you do Devil’s Tower on the way?) would be an awesome trip. Matter of fact, we’re kicking that exact itinerary around for the future. I went to Rapid City once when I was a senior in high school and it was a really cool town even back then, so you won’t be disappointed in making it a destination. Trying to get the kids to all 50 states so if we did a similar itinerary, we may have to detour for a half day and lay eyes on North Dakota somehow.

 

[jnawalaniec]

I just spent 8 days in Yellowstone mid-July and spent 8 in Glacier last summer. If it’s possible to just choose one I would suggest that, wayyyyy too much park to only spend a few days there. After 8 days in Yellowstone I felt like we hadn’t even scratched the surface even with the northeast section being closed. The crowds weren’t nearly as bad as expected, I’m assuming a lot of people cancelled trips after the flood expecting the park to be completely closed.

Glacier was a madhouse when we went last year, we were lucky to have a going to the sun road pass and lucked into a first-come-first-serve spot in a campground in the park. It was worth the effort to get the camp site, had to be there at 5:30 am to get in line, the ranger then comes out and tells you how many spots will be opening, they then free everyone to run through the campground to find sites without a ticket to claim, absolute shit show.
Avalanche lake is a crowded trail but was awesome.
Logan pass is a cool stop, go super early if you want to try to park.
Many Glaciers is an amazing area, saw a grizzly over there. (the park ranger who was maybe 120lbs soaking wet, literally chased it off with a hand full of rocks and his bear spray to end the traffic jam )
Polebridge was cool, stop for the huckleberry bear claw. A lot more solitude up past that area and a ton of big whitetail bucks.

Yellowstone - if you’re fishing the park can’t be beat. The only places we really saw people were in Haden Valley drooling over bison, and at fairy falls. Outside of that on hikes we didn’t see many people at all which was nice. Saw probably 8 bears, a grizzly with cubs (saw her 3 times), countless elk, bighorn sheep, bison, coyotes, eagles, no wolves though.
Cascade Lake - Nice hike, great lake to fish.
Fire hole river - incredible fishing
Galiten River/ Bighorn pass - Black bear central
Grebe Lake - awesome views, decent fishing
Washburn mountain - bighorns everywhere, beautiful 5g tower at the top.

 

[Go West Old Man]

@Carpet Capital Shyster , post up some WY & backcountry fishing pics from your trips. I made a note of your Cody area fishing guide recommendation. I’d already had a fishing day in mind for possible activity consideration if we go in Sept.

 

[mlgc20]

I usually go to Yellowstone/Tetons/Jackson a couple of times a year. In fact, I was there this week. The crowds are much lighter than usual. Still a lot of people. But, not nearly as crazy what you'd see in a normal year. Definitely a bummer that Lamar Valley is closed, but still plenty to do.

The one thing I would tell you is absolutely do not depend on food from the vendor within the park. It's terrible. Get groceries outside the park and picnic while your in the park. The food from the vendors is not good and extremely expensive.

 

[ErikM]

Lots of great info here. I’ll echo to check out the Cody Night Rodeo for sure! Best one of the four or five I’ve attended in WY/ID/MT over the years. That is a lot of ground to cover in an 11 day trip that includes hiking. Custer Park/Black Hills are great areas to explore. I’ve only driven through, but the Bighorns are on my list for more exploring as well. Wherever you end up, enjoy the trip!

 

[Dust Rider]

Get the window mount spotter attachment. When you get in a 20 minute bison jam you can glass the hills right from the driver seat

 

[rickjames80]

Lots of good info already. The only thing I will add is YNP has a junior park ranger program that our kids had fun with. They also offered nightly informative shows at different campgrounds. A lot of park specific topics that we all enjoyed

Become a Junior Ranger - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

How to become a Junior Ranger in Yellowstone!

www.nps.gov

 

[mark1j]

Can’t really add anything else to what has already been said. Kids will enjoy the Cody rodeo and the Cody museum is awesome. Get a steak at The Cody Steakhouse. There is a sporting goods store in Cody called Rocky Mountain Discount Sports that has a good selection of firearms and other gear. I ended spending some money there.

Also there is a app that narrates as you drive through the park that talks about history and geology of the area and gives you info on upcoming stops and pullout’s. It is a must. I think it’s called gypsy app. I think it costs a few dollars but it’s worth it.

 

[bozeman]

+2 on Polebridge visit in Glacier...worth the drive, IMO. We got out and got in the river....COOOOLLLLDDD....kids loved it.

 

[Aluminum Rain]

Has anyone hiked the Highline trail from Logan pass visitors center to the loop and got a shuttle back to the parking lot?