We Just did a road trip to SC where my son graduated from Basic Training. Going there, side trip to pick up our daugther (another story) down to Fort Jackson logged our longest one day mileage...1105 miles. Coming back to KS from Fort Gordon (his AIT..25N Nodal Specialist) was 1057 miles. We have a VW Golf TDI and spent $159 for the whole trip!

Noted! This is what we like.

Super idea!

************Damn the dogs have gas....in the man cave**********

Good advice...thanks.

[QUOTEAh, we didn't make it down that way, ran out of time. We were only up that way for a couple days before we went to Colorado. In hindsight we should have just spent the week up there. Poor planning.][/QUOTE]

Trying to avoid that. That is where the CP comes in handy for many things.


:-). Pissing contest. Both good inputs. When I come back I will report. Again...just 3 days in the area. Thus I want to capitalize on the best places and not circle jerk on the tourist areas.

Another good point, which I hadn't thought about.

I will print out this whole thread and show it to the Travel Agent wife for purview.

You all are going to make this a quality trip...much thanks.

If you need any info on NE KS...let me know.........Dang I just heard the dog fart again, then a heavy sigh..."exit stage left"
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3 days is probably good. That gives you a day in each of the lower and upper loops and one in the Tetons.
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As to the pissing contest, let me just say this: I love Wyoming and hate California. That being said, Yosemite is still vastly superior to Yellowstone. The only thing that pissed me off about Yosemite was California drivers.
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The only thing I didn't like about Yosemite was the fact that it took us 6 hours to drive through there and we ended up on the opposite side of the park, and it took us like 5 hours to get back to the place we were staying at in North Lake Tahoe. We ended up spending almost 16 hours in the van that day, but totally worth it.
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Yeah, we cheaped out and stayed at a hotel in Oakhurst instead of the big lodge in the park. That was a mistake. Took forever to get from the hotel to the park. All two lane winding roads and idiot ass California drivers.

If I ever go back, I'm staying in the park.
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Old Faithful was underwhelming but the geyser park around it was great. Sure it stinks a little but it really is an amazing area.
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We have a lot of fires burning in the state, so you're probably not going to have the long distance views you would normally have. The Smoke is going to cut into that a little bit depending on which direction the wind is blowing on any given day.

There are days the air quality is alright and days where it's pretty bad. Western Montana has been a lot worse, but like I said, it depends on the prevailing winds.

Montana Fires: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/state/27/20/

Air Quality: http://svc.mt.gov/deq/todaysair/

The good news is, school starts next week for a lot of the kids, so the tourist numbers and traffic should be down a bit.

As others have said, avoid getting too close to bison, they are unpredictable nasty creatures that can weigh up to 2000 pounds and run 30 MPH.

Someone else mentioned the cold nights, they were right. It snowed in Cooke a couple of weeks ago and there are higher altitudes than that in the area, so pack a warm jacket for your adventure.

Have fun!
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Been nice knowing you:


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I made the trek last year. Yellowstone is great, but it is overrun with rude ass tourists and traffic. Once you've seen one geyser, you've pretty much seen them all. I underestimated how far it has to go to recover from previous fires as well. I'm glad I finally made the time to go see it, but I don't know that I'll ever go back.

As previously commented, the Tetons stole the show for me. That's what I thought Yellowstone was going to be. I'd definitely go back to Jackson tomorrow.
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I haven't been through the park in many years myself and probably won't go back. There are a lot of place around here I can go to get away and not deal with the body wash of tourists and traffic jams. You are also right on the fire recovery. That damage was done in the 1988 fire, which was a monster.
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If possible, take the Red Lodge to Cooke City route to go in. (Beartooth Pass)

There's plenty of pictures to be taken on this route before you even enter the park and you'll top out at 10, 947 feet.

This is the area that Bwana and I go to sling mud and hide from civilization.
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Yeah...given the choice, I go to Cooke City via the Beartooth instead of through the park even though the park route is shorter. I just don't have the patience to deal with tourist drivers anymore.
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Any time I vacation in a touristy area, I either go the week before Memorial Day or occasionally after Labor Day. Everything's open, but the crowds aren't nearly as bad. I remember bitching about the traffic in Yellowstone to a store employee, and he told me that if I thought it was bad now, wait until the following week.

The only bad experience I've had doing this was when we rented a cabin at Sylvan Lake in the Black Hills after Labor Day. I guess that's the time of year the bugs in the area start to freak out and seek shelter, because the cabin they gave us was infested, and I mean like something out of a Stephen King horror movie. We complained and they gave us a new cabin, and it was actually somehow worse - roaches were actually falling off the ceiling light. We ended up getting a room in the lodge itself, which was okay. But I'll never go out there that time of year again.
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We had to drive from Reno to Yosemite when we were there this June. And the Tioga pass was still closed due to the huge amount of snow they got last winter.

Anyway, we drove about 5-1/2 hours to get there and stayed one night at some place about 5 miles away from the park entrance. About a 2.5-3 star place for $209.

Totally worth it though since we only had one full day to spend there.

But back to the topic at hand, Yellowstone is on our to do list. Hopefully next year. We are going to try to take two weeks and our 5th wheel and go up through SD and the Black Hills and then on to Yellowstone. We'll have to venture down to the Tetons too I guess. I want to see that lake.
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Sucks that Tioga was closed when you went through. That area was breathtaking. Not as much as the park itself, but pretty close.
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