Going to Yellowstone!!
 

I'm starting to plan our upcoming two week family road trip to Yellowstone/Grand Teton. We will be traveling in early August. Family is the wife and I, 12 year old son, 10 year old daughter, 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son. We will be driving in our Sequoia with a roof cargo carrier and I will likely buy or borrow a carrier for the rear trailer hitch as well. I have arranged two condos, one in Jackson, Wyoming to use as a base for Grand Teton and one in West Yellowstone to use as a base for Yellowstone itself.

Current rough sketch plan is as follows:
Day 1: Drive from D/FW to Colorado Springs
Day 2: Colorado Springs over to Pike's Peak National Park, then maybe head elsewhere in Colorado or perhaps southeastern Utah? My cousin lives in Salt Lake and he said that area of Utah is pretty cool. Unsure about this one, just thought it would be good to break the drive into two days instead of hammering out 10.5 hours and then 9.5 hours to Jackson
Day 3: Drive from wherever we end in Colorado into Jackson, Wyoming
Day 4-6: Grand Teton National Park
Day 6-10: Transfer to West Yellowstone condo, Yellowstone National Park.
Day 11: Drive up to Mount Rushmore, stay nearby that night.
Day 12: Drive from South Dakota to Kansas
Day 13: Drive from Kansas back to D/FW.

Things I'd like to do is get several reasonable day hikes in (keeping in mind the age of the kids), river rafting trip suitable for the family, a couple mornings of fly fishing (I have my own gear and my 12 year old will probably come with me), otherwise our slate is open.

Anyone who has been in that area or has advice for things to see/do in Colorado please give me your suggestions!

Really a tough call on the Colorado side trip. In all honesty, there is no good way to get to Utah from the Springs..at least no real things to see in a day.
I would take the partial day to see Pikes Peak/Garden of the Gods and then head on up to Jackson. Colorado is fantastic but between the Springs and Jackson there is not a lot to do. That being said, taking hwy 93 from Golden to Boulder and then go up to Estes Park( The Stanley Hotel- The Shining) is a beautiful drive.

Lots of scenic and easy day hikes all over Yellowstone. Grand Tetons I need me some altitude but that might be too much for young tikes. They have a ferry ride across Jenny Lake that leads to an easy waterfall hike and lookout. A fun day trip. This area of the country is simply awesome so pack as light as you can and get outdoors.

Remember too that it is absolutely wild country and wild animals are everywhere. Encourage your kids to look but don't touch. Wildlife awareness at all times. The moose, elk, pronghorn, bison, fox, raccoon, bear, wolves, and mountain lion are very real and mean business.

Absolutely see the Garden of the Gods, the Air Force accademy, and Pikes Peak. If you aren't into the steep (no gaurdrails) curvy road up the mountain, take the tram, it's worth the trip. In Jackson Wy, there is a professional rodeo that is neat to see for the kids and adults. I went on this trip from Ohio back when I was 12-13 (40 years ago) and remember most details of it and remember the beauty of bear lake and the hiking trails around it, along with the bubbling steam pots of yellowstone and old faithful. You really need to pack a picnic, and get off the beaten track to a mountain lake and just enjoy the peaceful quiet.

This very well may be my next big trip with just my wife in our camper. we have been wanting to go for years now.

went this year in late june
it froze the first nite we tryed to camp
and there was snow by the road sides up high

we flew to Denver and rented a car that was not there so wound up in a kia SUV
the little turbo was quick but too small to sleep in the back

on 26 going to casper we saw a wolfpack


we are flatlanders and the altitude was ruff on the wife
so did mostly driving in the park and out on the bear paw drive NE of the park
but there are lots of places to do short walks

Your best sights are the ones cKelly listed above in the Colorado Springs area if you are just heading up on I-25 North. Denver is pretty boring as far as actual sights to see (I lived there for 4 years, currently live 1 hour north), Red Rocks is the only spot I can think of other than just checking out the downtown area. If you are interested in Auto-attractions the Forney transportation museum is worth the trip (in Denver), also the Cussler Auto museum in Arvada (suburb) is cool too. On your way up I-25 you could hit a couple breweries in Fort Collins along the way. Fort Collins is more or less the "Napa valley" of craft brewing. Most of the "sights" people come to Colorado for are up I-70 West of Denver, which would be out of your way unless you wanted to take an alternate route up to I-80 and Jackson.

We did this trip two years ago. Stayed in Jackson for a few days then into Yellowstone. You will be amazed at how big Yellowstone is and how long it takes to get around. We found that to see all the sights we spent an insane amount of time driving in our car. We had planned to do day hikes but found very little time to do so in our four days in the park. We have talked about going back just to hike and return to the places we liked, but if you plan on trying to see the whole park during your trip it's tough. Traffic is heavy and slow, there's a lot of mileage there!

One tip I have for you is to stay as centrally in the park as possible. Would recommend you stay at the Canyon Village area. This village has the most stuff there and is very central. We stayed at Grant village on the south end and found ourselves driving an extra 20-30 minutes on each trip to get back and forth to the area. Staying at Canyon village would have saved a lot of drive time, just a longer driving when arriving/departing.

Have fun!!

Mammoth is very disappointing, the lower terraces a dry not like what it used to be 20 years ago, and I would pass on it. (My 2 cents worth)
Depending on where you want to exit I would go through Red Lodge on my way “out” of the park. You will be on the Beartooth Highway what have some of the most beautiful country in the world. There are switchbacks that you will wish you had the 911 instead of the truck. It has glacier lakes that you drive by, pink snow (yes some of it will still be there when you go) you go above timberline and get to see the tundra; it’s a whole different world. Your kids will see stuff they will not see any where else. Look at the maps Yellowstone is a loop, West is a good base. But on your last day you could base out of Cody, Fun town, great western museum with a lot of original western art work, from CW Russell, Remington etc. I know of a B & B that is just out of town that has themed rooms, They have deer and antelope that graze on thier pasture that you can see from the building. You can go back through the park on Chief Joseph highway, stop in Cooke City and then down the Beartooth or you could stay in Cooke last day and then go through Red Lodge.

While you're up there, might be a good time to visit the Little Bighorn and the Custer National Monument.

You may want to take a side-trip out of Jackson into the Wind River Range and find a ranch that rents AWD vehicles and explore the Continental Divide.

When my daughter was 15 we rented a Mustang convertible and explored the same region you are targeting and ended up spending a couple of days in Dubois, WY exploring the Divide on off-road vehicles. To say the least, it was a memorable adventure!

The last time I was through that area was on my trip back to CA from VA with the 997. The temps were well below freezing but the roads were empty (mid October 2014) and while Chief Joseph was already closed, it was difficult to leave that area and I ended up spending an extra day there...it really is a very special place and you and your family will have a blast!

What ever you do, please have dinner at the Yellowstone Lodge. We stayed at W Yellowstone for 10 days, we were tired of the typ. traveling fried food. For two nights, we drove into the Lodge for dinner. Jackson is a fun place to visit, food and dinning was fantastic.

I'll see you there in early Aug. We booked 2 months ago and the Yellowstone lodge was already booked solid for rooms!


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Stay away from the Jackson Lake Lodge. Overpriced, dirty, poorly run. We stayed there about 12 years ago, and enjoyed ourselves. Visited last summer, and we were disgusted. Food service was chaotic and poor quality in all of the restaurants. Nice view from the back deck, but thats about all.

Go to Mesa Verde