Yellowstone National Park

Road Trip Guide: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

Published on February 22, 2024January 8, 2025 by Skylar M. Beck2 Comments

One of my favorite road trips I’ve ever done was exploring the national parks throughout Wyoming. Two of the most popular national parks in the country are also located here, Grand Teton and Yellowstone! These two parks are very close to each other which makes road tripping between the two convenient. In this guide, I’ll be sharing tips I gathered throughout my own experience from visiting these two incredible parks.

Things to Know Before Visiting

Best time of year to visit

It seems like the ideal time of year to visit either of these parks is the Summer or Fall. I also think Spring and Winter would be beautiful, but access to the park may be limited due to snow. By Summer time (May-August) the snow has melted, it’s warmer throughout the day, and the majority of the park is open.

Wildlife

Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks are well known for their incredible wildlife. It’s important to respect the wildlife you may see by observing from a safe distance. The national park recommends you keep a 100 yard distance from bears and wolves, and 25 yards from bison and other animals. Both of the parks are also home to grizzly bears. And while this can seem scary, usually bears aren’t searching for you. However, if you plan to hike there’s a chance you may see or encounter a bear. If you can, it’s recommended you hike in small groups of three or more and carry bear spray or bells at all times. When we hiked, we also played music on some remote parts. The park also recommends making noise from the bells, music, or by talking to fellow hikers, this way, bears will know humans are in the area and will likely avoid that area.

Where to stay

If you like to camp, there are various campgrounds within the Grand Teton national park as well as free spots to camp for the night as well. Throughout our trip, we stayed at Jenny Lake campground and a few free camp spots I found on Campendium. Throughout the summer months there are also cabins and lodges within the park, check out here. Yellowstone national park also has a variety of campgrounds spread across the park. While we were in Yellowstone, we stayed at Canyon campground and loved it! There was laundry and shower amenities included in the reservation as well which was amazing. If you aren’t a camper, luckily, Grand Teton is close to Jackson Hole which is an amazing town with plenty of overnight accommodations. Similarly, Yellowstone has a variety of lodging options! As always, I’d recommend making any sleeping accommodations as far in advance as you can since the summer is peak season for both parks.

Park passes

I’d recommended buying the America the Beautiful park pass if you plan to visit both parks. Especially if you plan to continue on to other national parks nearby. The pass is $80 and gets you into national parks for a year. Otherwise it’s $35 to enter each park.

What to pack

Hiking shoes. Hiking boots or shoes will work best for the trails and long walks you’ll be taking while visiting both parks.
Hiking poles. These definitely come in handy when hiking up steep trails.
Layers. Even in the summer, the mornings and nights at both parks were chilly.
Backpack. This is handy when hiking or walking around to various sights.
Camera. A phone is great for this but if you do have a camera, bring it along too! There’s so much to capture on film while visiting both parks.
Navigation. I’d recommend downloading maps a head of time, both parks have limited cell service within the park. We love using google maps and park wolfe (free maps of the national parks that don’t require wifi or cell service to see) to navigate routes throughout the parks and AllTrails to download hikes in advance to follow the trail via your phone (helpful if you get lost or turned around on a trail!).
Headlamp. We love our headlamps for early morning hikes or adventures.
Water bottle.
Sunscreen.
Bug spay.
National park pass or entrance passes.
Camping or lodging reservations.

Itinerary Outline

Starting the trip will depend on where you are coming from. Since we were driving in from the East, we started our trip at Grand Teton. If you fly in, you can decide which location you’d rather start at (you can’t go wrong either!). For this itinerary, I’ll be sharing things to do in the Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks based off our experience and I’lll also be adding a few stops and sights we didn’t get to see but I’d recommend!

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton national park is one of my favorite parks I’ve visited yet. There’s so much to see and do while visiting and I loved how close the park is to Jackson Hole. We spent about four days throughout the park which I thought was the perfect amount of time, but you definitely could see most highlights in two to three days if that’s all you have.

Must Do’s in the Tetons

Wake up early to catch a sunrise. Grand Teton was my favorite place to watch the sunrise. There was something so magical about the way the Teton mountains changed colors while the sun came up. A few great places to catch the sunrise are:

Mormon Row
Schwabacher Landing
Oxbox bend

Take a drive on the scenic roads within the park. Grand Teton offers two scenic routes, the outer road, also known as Highway 191 and the inner road, also known as the Teton Park road. See the map above for reference.

Inner road pull off spots to see:

Windy point turnout
Teton Glacier turnout
Jenny Lake overlook
Cascade Canyon turnout
Mountain View turnout
Mount Moran turnout
Potholes turnout
Oxbow Bend turnout

Outer road pull off spots to see:

Elk ranch flats turnout
Snake river overlook
Teton point turnout
Schwabacher landing road
Glacier view turnout

Take a hike! The Grand Tetons has some incredible hikes that offer some of the best views! A few hikes I’d recommend are:

Hiking to Hidden falls and Inspiration point. There’s a boat shuttle available you can take from Jenny Lake that drops you right near the trail head to hike up to hidden falls. If you feel up for a longer hike, continue on past Inspiration point and hike towards Cascade Canyon. This is a long hike but it’s worth doing parts of it!
Cascade Canyon. This is a long hike but we were able to hike parts of it and combined it with the Jenny lake loop so we could also see hidden falls and inspiration point like I mentioned above.
Delta lake. This is a stunning but strenuous hike that takes you to delta lake. We attempted to hike this trail but had to turn around after a few miles due to Patrick getting elevation sickness. Make sure you go prepared with plenty of water and snacks as well as giving yourself time to adjust to the elevation in the area.
Taggart Lake. This is a fairly moderate 4 mile hike that takes you to Taggart Lake. The views along this trail were beautiful and gives you another lake to spend time at within the park.

Stop by the Jenny Lake visitor’s center for some park souvenirs.

Drive the scenic Jenny Lake road and take a walk along the lake. This was such a hidden gem! It was such a special view of Jenny Lake, and both times we stopped by, there were barely other people there.

Spend time in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Such a great town with a fun western vibe!

Drive to the Cotler Bay village area and spend time by the water. There’s also options to kayak or swim here.

Oxbox Bend pull off spot along scenic “inner” road

Mountain View turnout spot along scenic road

Views along trail towards Cascade Canyon

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National park is so big, it’s technically in three different states (Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho!). For this guide, I’m recommending things we did on our trip that were mostly in Wyoming. We spent two days exploring but I’d recommend at least three to full experience the park. Yellowstone is divided into two loops: the northern and southern. If you can, I’d recommend spending part of the trip in the north loop and the other in the south loop if you want to cut down on driving time per day. We ended up driving back and forth between the loops throughout our trip and it was doable but more time consuming to get to various points so keep that in mind. For this guide, I’ve divided activities into the north and south loops to make it easier to plan and follow.

Must Do’s in Yellowstone

North Loop must do’s

Drive to Hayden or Lamar valley to watch wildlife. These are two valleys the park recommends that usually have bison and other wild life grazing. We had so much luck at Hayden valley, it was so incredible to see bison up close! We were able to marvel at these beautiful animals for the safe distance within our car. Hayden valley is closer to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Lamar is more north on the northern loop of the park.

Check out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This was one of my favorite experiences while visiting the park, it’s stunning and there are multiple few points to give different perspectives of the canyon. Our favorite few points to check out:

South Rim drive: Artist’s point and upper falls lookout point.
North Rim drive: brink of lower falls, inspiration point, grand view point, and lookout point

Stop by Tower Falls. We didn’t have the chance to see this but I’ve heard it’s a great spot to add on your Yellowstone itinerary.

Drive to see Mammoth hot springs. The lower terrace of the hot springs was so unique and stunning we were in shock. This is a fairly quick stop but I’d say it’s a must see while visiting Yellowstone.

Spend time exploring the Norris Geyser Basin area to see more beautiful geysers and springs. This area is similar to the old faithful area, with boardwalks that lead you to view points of the various geysers and springs.

South Loop must do’s

Stop by Gibbon Falls. Around this area is also the Gibbon river which is a nice spot to fish if that’s your thing!

See ‘Old Faithful’ erupt! This is one of the most popular geysers to see, mostly because it erupts consistently every 60-90 minutes. We used the website, geyser times, to check in advance when the next predicted time frame was for Old Faithful to erupt so we didn’t have to wait too long.

See other geysers and pools in the old faithful area. There’s so many geysers and spring pools in this area connected by boardwalks which make it easy to site see. Some other geysers or pools I’d recommend checking on in this area:

Castle geyser
Daisy geyser
Spa geyser
Morning Glory pool
Grotto geyser
Grand geyser
Beauty pool

Check out the Grand Prismatic spring. This is another iconic spot in the park that is a must see! We drove to the fairy falls trailhead to hike to the overlook which gives you an above view of the spring. The hike to the overlook is about 1.5mile and a bit steep at times, but the view is definitely worth it! There’s also the option of viewing the grand prismatic at ground level, but I’ve heard this angle makes it harder to see all of the vibrant colors.

Watch the sunset. I’d recommend watching the sunset back at Hayden valley, which is what we did, and it was beautiful!

Stop at any ‘Yellowstone General Store.’ While we visited, there were so many of these stores throughout the park that offer restrooms, souvenirs, and food options.

Detailed Itinerary: South Dakota, Wyoming, & Montana Road trip

Published on December 27, 2023January 8, 2025 by Skylar M. Beck4 Comments

Over the summer, Patrick and I explored four national parks within a two week road trip. It was definitely one of my favorite trips we’ve ever taken so I wanted to share the itinerary I created. Of course with any big trip, plans can change so we didn’t get to everything listed on this itinerary, but most! I’m mentioning it here to give various ideas if you are planning a similar trip! We wanted to have options and back up plans which is why some days are packed. Combining these locations across a two week trip is convenient and makes for a perfect road trip! I mention the campgrounds we stayed at for reference and those that I’d recommend. Keep in mind, most campgrounds within the parks book up quickly, typically up to 6 months in advance so be prepared if you plan to camp! We also used the app campendium to find free campsites.

Check out my other blog posts to prepare and plan for a national park trip if you are looking for more tips.

Badlands National Park & Wall Drug Store, South Dakota

day one 🚐

After driving in from the East, we officially started our trip in South Dakota with the intent of spending time in Badlands National Park. We only planned for one full day within the park and while we could stayed for longer, it was doable to see most highlights within a day.

Badlands highlights in one day:

Take a picture at the Badlands national park sign upon entering the park
Stop at big badlands overlook
Hike notch trail (1.3mi) *be sure to get here early if you want to experience this hike with less people!
Hike window trail (.3mi) same parking lot as notch
Hike door trail (.8mi) same parking lot as notch
Stop by visitor’s center
Drive badlands loop road and view overlooks
- yellow mounds
- pinnacles overlook
On the way out of the park, stop by Wall Drug store and check out some iconic historical highlights:
- free ice water
- 5 cent coffee
Drive to Center Lake campground (1.5 hr from wall drug)

🌛Center Lake Campground (Custer state park fee required as well as campsite fee)

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

day two 🗿

Wake up early and drive to see Mount Rushmore (30 mins from camp) *we got to the monument at 5:30am and had the place to ourselves!
Take a photo at amphitheater/viewing deck
Walk along the presidential trail (.9mi loop)
Continue driving to Grand Teton NP (8hr)
Camp at free dispersed spot

🌛 Upper Teton View – Toppings Lake Dispersed Campsites

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

day three ⛰

We spent four days in Grand Teton national park. This was by far one of our favorite parks we’ve ever been to. Since there’s so much to see and do between the park and the nearest town, Jackson Hole, I’d allow at least three days to fully explore. To save a little money, we stayed at a free campsite for a couple nights before going to a campground. The free campsites in the area are primitive and aren’t reservable so there’s no guarantee you’ll find a spot each night which can add stress, but the benefit is it’s a safe and free place to sleep!

Sunrise at schwabacher landing (wear layers in the early mornings, it’s cold even in the summer!)
Drive into Jackson hole and stop by cowboy coffee for coffee and breakfast
Drive along the Teton park road and see outlook areas for wildlife:
- Oxbow Bend Turnout
- Cascade Canyon Turnout
- Teton Glacier Turnout
- Glacier View Turnout
- *Schwabacher Landing
- Teton Point Turnout
- Snake River Overlook
- Elk Ranch Flats Turnout
Stop at visitor’s center
Spend time exploring Jackson Hole
Dinner in town: hand fire pizza

🌛 Upper Teton View – Toppings Lake Dispersed Campsites

day four 🏔

Watch sunrise at mormon row
Hike to Delta lake (9 mi roundtrip) via lupine meadows access
- We unfortunately didn’t get to finish this hike because Patrick got altitude sickness in the middle of the hike! Learn from our mistake and prep yourself with plenty of snacks, water, and time to adjust to the altitude in the area before taking on a big hike.
Drive along scenic highway and stop at pull off spots
- our favorite was mountain view turnout :)
Sunset at schwabacher landing

🌛 Upper Teton View – Toppings Lake Dispersed Campsite

🚿 Showers are available at Colter Bay, Signal Mountain, and Headwaters at Flagg Ranch.

day five 🥾

Wake up early to hike parts of cascade canyon (we started at string lake)
- Along the way enjoy popular spots like:
  - inspiration point
  - hidden falls
  - jenny lake loop
Watch sunset from Jenny Lake scenic drive area
Check into campground

🌛Jenny Lake campground, tent only

day six 🐻

Hike around taggart lake (4 mi round trip)
Drive into Jackson and spend time exploring and souvenir shopping
Kayak or swim in Jackson lake
Go back to any favorite spot for one last sunset in the park!

🌛 Jenny Lake campground, tent only

Read more:
Things To Do in and Around Badlands National Park
Two Days in Yellowstone 
Grand Teton National Park travel guide
Tips For Planning a National Park Trip

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho

day seven ⛲️

We spent a day and a half exploring Yellowstone. We definitely could have spent much more time exploring, Yellowstone is massive! However, we were able to see some nice highlights throughout our short but sweet time in park. One thing to note about Yellowstone is you will spend a lot of time driving to various spots (especially if your time is limited like ours was) but the views while driving are stunning and worth being in the car!

Drive to Yellowstone NP (2 hr from Grand Teton)
Explore the old faithful area
- See old faithful erupt (you can look up predicted eruption times online) this iconic geyser does erupt every 60-90 minutes!
Walk along boardwalks to see other geysers and pools in the area. Some of our favorites:
- Castle geyser
- Daisy geyser
- Spa geyser
- Morning Glory pool
- Grotto geyser
- Grand geyser
- Beauty pool
Stop by visitor’s center
Drive to grand prismatic spring and hike to overlook (1.5mi)
Drive to camp

🌛 Canyon Campground (showers included in reservation)

day eight 🦬

Wake up early and drive to Hayden valley to watch bison! (our favorite experience in the park)
Drive to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and stop by various look out points:
- park in South Rim Rd to see view with Artist Point
- drive to North Rim Rd to see lower Lookout Point
- drive down the road to Grand View
- inspiration point to see a farther view
Drive to Lamar valley to view more wildlife. We unfortunately didn’t see many bison in this area due to the construction occurring in the park at the time.
Drive to see mammoth hot springs to see minerva terrace
Drive to camp for dinner
Catch the sunset back at Hayden valley (we ended up seeing a bison herd commuting to find a place to rest for the night, such an amazing experience to witness).

🌛 Canyon Campground

Glacier National Park, Montana

We ended our two week road trip with our last few days in Glacier national park. This part of the trip offered us some of the most incredible views we’ve ever seen! Glacier is extremely popular and crowded so it requires advance planning to ensure you book vehicle reservations (needed during peak season) and campgrounds. During peak season, the park is separated into four sections that require reservation tickets to enter during designated time periods as an attempt to limits crowds. More information on this can be found on the park’s website. Also, be sure to have bear spray on every hike in Glacier!

day nine 🚐

Drive to Glacier national park (7 hours from Yellowstone)
Check into camp

🌛 Fishcreek campground

🚿 Showers are available at camp

day ten 🏔

Wake up early to hike to avalanche lake
- Walk the trail of the cedars nature trail (1mi loop) continue hiking to avalanche lake (4.5 mi round trip)
Drive and stop along the ‘going to the sun’ road
Stop to see look out points along the way to take pics:
- The Loop– Hair pin turn on the road that allows views of stunning mountains
- Weeping Wall– Named after a cliffside that has water dripping from snowmelt onto the road and your car!
- Big Bend – Located just after the Weeping Wall, the best spot for photos or to watch the sunset :)
- Logan Pass – The highest point on the road, also where the visitor’s center is located
- Jackson Glacier Overlook– Pull off area to view Jackson Glacier
- Saint Mary Falls – Trail head for Saint Mary Falls starts at this pull off
- Wild Goose Island – Stop here to get a photograph of the famous island in the middle of Saint Mary lake!
- Rising Sun– Cute area to stop in for a restroom break or snacks
Get huckleberry ice cream as a reward!
Check into camp

🌛 Fishcreek campground

day eleven 🏔

Wake up early to drive to logan pass visitor’s center to hike the high line trail (parking lot here fills up extremely quickly!)
Hike the high line trail (~14 mi round trip)
- Due to extreme rainy and snowy weather conditions, we weren’t able to finish the entire hike but it was still one of the best experiences we had while visiting the park! We were hiking within the clouds at times! These kinds of weather conditions are typical while hiking in higher altitude, be sure to check the weather before hiking in some areas.
- The high line trail is definitely worth trying even if you only plan to hike for a few miles, the views are incredible!
Stop by lake McDonald and go for a swim to relax after a long hike.

🌛 Fishcreek campground

day twelve 🥞

Sleep in and enjoy breakfast at camp
Drive to Polebridge area of the park
- Explore the area, check out the Polebridge general store (super cute and has amazing pastries!)
Drive back up to the going to the sun road to explore pull off areas
Watch sunset at big bend

🌛 Fishcreek campground

Big bend stop along the ‘going to the sun’ road

day thirteen 🥾

Drive to logan pass visitor’s center to park
Hike to hike hidden lake overlook trail (2.7 mi)
- We were only able to hike to the overlook area and not down to the lake due to bear activity. Be sure to look up park closures in advance before planning certain hikes!
Drive to the Many Glacier area
Explore and stop in the Many Glacier hotel
Hike the grinnell glacier viewpoint trail (10 mi roundtrip)
After a long last day of exploring and hiking, get some huckleberry ice cream!
Relax at camp for final night

🌛 Fishcreek campground

Two Days in Yellowstone National Park

Published on August 16, 2023January 8, 2025 by Skylar M. Beck3 Comments

Patrick and I recently returned home from another out west national park trip! One of the most memorable national parks we visited on this trip was Yellowstone. Yellowstone national park is the first national park in the country, established in 1872 and the charm and western feel of the park is still alive today. We had two full days in the park and we focused on seeing the major highlights. Here is an overview of how we spent our time in Yellowstone.

Things to know about Yellowstone

Yellowstone is huge! It’s separated into two loops, the northern and the southern. In hindsight, it would make sense to spend part of the trip in the north loop and part in the south loop to reduce drive time during the day. We ended up driving back and forth between the loops throughout the two days which is doable but plan to spend lots of time driving!
There are so many bisons! We were so surprised with how comfortable the bison are within the park. There were bison on the sides of the road throughout most of the park!
Yellowstone national park requires a fee for entrance into the park. It’s $35 for a 7 day period. As always, I’d highly recommend purchasing the America the Beautiful pass. It’s $80 and gets you into national parks for a year!

Day One

On our first day in the park, we decided to start at the most famous geyser, Old Faithful. Old Faithful is one of the oldest erupting geysers in the park and it erupts consistently every hour to hour and a half. We used a website called geyser times to check in on the old faithful’s next predicted eruption before showing up. This was helpful to have a gauge on how much time we would have to wait. After watching Old Faithful, we walked along the boardwalk (upper geyser trail) that takes you to many other geysers and pools in the park. This was a pleasant walk and we went all the way to morning glory pool and back which was about 3 miles total. There is so much to see in this part of the park so make it your own! Some geysers or pools I’d recommend are:

Old Faithful
Castle geyser
Daisy geyser
Spa geyser
Morning Glory pool
Grotto geyser
Grand geyser
Beauty pool

After exploring this part of the park, we took a 15 minute drive to the fairy falls trailhead to hike to the overlook of Grand Prismatic spring. This is an iconic spring because it’s colors are so vibrant. There is access to see this spring up close but we preferred the overlook to see the spring from above. The hike to the overlook is about 1.5mile and a bit steep at times, but the view is definitely worth it!

We stayed at Canyon Campground while visiting Yellowstone and it was wonderful! The reservation here covered a shower a day for each camper and they had laundry facilities for campground guests.

Grand Prismatic spring via fairy falls overlook trail

Day Two

Day two in Yellowstone started at Hayden valley to watch bison! Hayden valley is a well known spot in the park to capture an up close view of bison. I was hopeful we’d see some bison but I was in awe of how many bison we did see and how comfortable they all were walking near the road! Please respect the bisons home and space, we were able to see these incredible animals up close from the safety of our car, it’s not necessary to get out of the car. It’s also not safe to do so, these are wild animals after all.

After a beautiful morning in Hayden valley, we headed to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is such an underrated spot in my opinion! This was a stunning canyon different than others I’ve seen before. I appreciated that the park had several different viewpoints of the canyon and waterfall that are all well marked while driving through this area. We started along the south rim drive at Artist’s point which was beautiful and probably my favorite of all the view points. I’d also recommend:

South Rim drive: Artist’s point and upper falls lookout point.
North Rim drive: brink of lower falls, inspiration point, grand view point, and lookout point

After spending time exploring the various view points of the grand canyon, we headed towards the northern loop of the park to drive through Lamar valley, another famous valley where bison are known to graze. The drive to this part of the park was beautiful, there were so many scenic pull off areas with mountain views. Unfortunately when we reached Lamar valley, there weren’t many bison at all which we believed was due to the construction going on. Regardless, it was still a beautiful drive.

From here, we continued driving to another famous spot in the park, Mammoth Hot springs. This was a crowded spot for good reason! The lower terrace of the hot springs was so unique and stunning we were in shock. This is a fairly quick stop but I’d say it’s a must see while visiting Yellowstone. From here, we continued around the northern loop and stopped at the Norris Geyser Basin area to see more beautiful geysers and springs. This area is similar to the old faithful area, with boardwalks that lead you to view points of the various geysers and springs.

After a busy second day, we ended our last night in Yellowstone by cooking dinner at camp before heading back to Hayden valley for sunset. One of our favorite parts of the park was watching the bison! When we went back to Hayden valley after dinner, there were herds of bison moving together. It was so magical to watch the animals in their natural habit settle for the night. We parked the car on the side of the road and had a front row seat!

Yellowstone Tips

Book a campground early if you plan to camp! There are several campgrounds within the park, all of which seem to fill up pretty quickly. I can’t speak for the other campgrounds in the park but we were very impressed with canyon campground! I’d recommended picking a campground close to sites you’d like to see since the park is so large.
You will do a lot of driving! Regardless of where you stay within the park, if you plan to see many of the park’s highlights, be prepared to drive a lot during the day.
Look up Old Faithful’s eruption times prior to stopping by
Pack your own food. There are several restaurants and “general stores” at major sites in Yellowstone, but the food wasn’t the best and it was pretty expensive.
Check out the park’s website for closures and construction zones. When we visited, there were several spots under construction which caused delays.