My wife and I just wrapped up a two-week road trip from San Antonio to Yellowstone and back. Here is part 2 of my pics and reports:
...Left Denver headed toward Yellowstone National Park.
Info on park accomodations...
Made reservations in the park back in FEBRUARY, and had trouble getting the locations/dates we wanted. We booked cabins in the park, the cheapest level that included in-room bathrooms (a Mrs. Speck requirement). The plan was to stay in a couple of different places in the park (since it's so large, you want to spread out where you stay so you don't lose 2 hours just driving from Old Faithful to Tower). We ended up with 3 different locations -- 1 night at Old Faithful, 2 nights at Canyon, 1 night at Lake. And we had weird sleeping arrangement. Old Faithful was 1 double & 1 single bed... Canyon, 2 single beds... Lake 1 double. The cabins and lodges are operated by Xanterra. They have online reservations, but I have been told that you can often find more available by phoning them. There are often cancellations (since reservations have to be made so far in advance). The morning I checked out at Old Faithful, I overheard the clerk telling a couple about the 3 rooms he had available in the park (1 at Old Faithful, 2 at Canyon). The morning we left, I overheard a couple looking for a room, and the clerk checked and found that there was nothing available in the park (but the clerk provided phone numbers and a courtesy phone to places just outside the park). Here's the other catch when booking with Xanterra -- you have to place a deposit equal to the first night's stay (estimated, since Congress approves the rates annually). No biggie, right? Except since we were staying at 3 different places (and no location had a 4-night stay available), we had to pay 3 seperate deposits. The prices ranged widely ($112/night at Old Faithful, $74/night at Canyon, $69/night at Lake). The price structure was partially due to popularity, but also quality of the cabins. The cabins at Lake and Canyon were much more run-down than the Old Faithful cabins (exterior paint peeling, no door viewer in the door, cheap door locks, weird shower stalls). There is no A/C. It was only an issue when we checked in at 6:30 and the windows had been closed all day. It took a couple of hours for that room to cool down, but otherwise the rooms were often chilly (at the end of July). The photo here is our Old Faithful Lodge Cabin.
Since our first day was at Old Faithful, I didn't want to pull into the park at dark-thirty, just to check into our cabin and go to sleep. So we pressed as far as we could -- Laramie, Wyoming -- the night before. The drive from Laramie to the park was lengthy (time-wise). Usually Google Maps and the GPS both overestimate driving time (as some sort of safety feature, is my theory). Google said the drive was 7 hours. GPS said 9. The GPS was dead-on. 420 miles in 9 hours. There was assorted road construction, including two or three places where we had to wait at a flag-man for our turn to drive a one-lane stretch. The going was slow particularly in Grand Teton National Park. Lots of road construction there.
Stopped shortly in Grand Tetons, but mostly just enjoyed the scenery as we drove through. We had purchased the Interagency Pass for $80, and it got us through both parks for free. Otherwise it's a minimum of $25 to enter Grand Tetons and a minimum of $25 to enter Yellowstone. We were in the park just a few days after "Fee-Free Weekend" in the National Park System. That meant crowds were down because everyone came last week, and there were some nice left-over deals in the gifts shops. Arrived at the Old Faithful area in time to eat dinner there (sure, everything was expensive... even when we got sandwiches and chips at the general store, meals were always at least $20 for 2. Gas in the park was about 50 cents higher than outside.) walked the geyser basin for a while, then went to bed.
In the Park, Day 1:
Woke up, toured the Upper Geyser Basin (home to Old Faithful, Morning Glory Pool, and many, many others). Then the plan was to drive the red route on the map above to get to Canyon, where we were staying for two days. There was construction along the route with predicted 30-min delays, so we picked up sandwiches to eat lunch in the car when we got delayed.
We stopped at Grand Prismatic Pool. I believe it was a 1.2-mile round trip walk on boardwalks. Mostly flat. There are about 3 very large thermal pools here, Grand Prismatic obviously the awesomest. You cannot take a bad photo of Grand Prismatic. Then stopped at Artist Paint Pots (about a 1.5-mile NOT flat walk... the paint pots are at the top of an overlook) and Mammoth Hot Springs (these are the terraced springs you see... not to be confused with the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD.). There is a drive around one portion of the springs (no trailers or RVs), then boardwalks around the other portion. Don't make my mistake and park the first place you see. The active springs may be 3 parking areas over and you may be able to save yourself some walking. This is not flat. Steep sections and stairs take you up and down the springs all over the place.
The next stop was for an elk, then to walk to Tower Falls (easy, short walk). From Tower Falls to Canyon, we saw a MOB of stopped cars at one section, finally saw grizzly they were all observing. Pulled over to take photos. Be sure you pull your car past the white line and always stay a safe distance! Made it on to Canyon.
In the park, Day 2:
Canyon was my wife's favorite commercial area. The shops, restaurants, hotel are all arranged in a horseshoe, and the restaurants are a good variety. While I waited for Mrs. Speck to wake up, I discovered a trail from our cabin to the rim of the canyon (thanks to Yellowstone Treasures, by Janet Chapple). Nice walk through the woods to some awesome views. We then drove both rims of the Canyon. Crowds really picked up as we got later in the morning. Some parking areas were crowded. Then headed drove to Lake to investigate fishing trips. Guided trips are based on a full boat of at least 6 people, so it's expensive for a couple. (Now, if you could find two other couples to fill out the boat, it would be a good deal.) But they had plenty of motorboats available to rent. So we boat our fishing licenses, rented gear, rented the boat, and set out on an adventure. Had fun out on the Lake for about two hours. (Didn't catch anything, but we didn't go very far out.)
3-day fishing license: $15/person
Rod & Reel: $8/day
Motorboat: $47/hour... will charge increments of 10 minutes. Clock starts when you push off.
In the Park, Day 3:
Drove to the Mud Volcano area -- big, bold, intimidating thermal features carved out of a woodsy hillside. Then drove to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. WOW! This basin is right on the Lake, making for great views. At the thermal pools here have been better protected than those near Old Faithful (no visitors tossing in pennies or scratching their name in the algae/thermophiles), meaning richer colors in the pools. There are about 2 miles of flat boardwalks here. Very pretty, a must-visit.
Drove to Lake, checked in to our cabin. I went to wander around the Lake Hotel later -- it is the oldest still standing/operating hotel in the park. Very nice. A string quartet was performing as I wandered through.
In the Park, Day 4:
The next morning, we got up and began our drive out of the park. Which I will tell in Part 3...
[This message has been edited by speck (edited 8/5/2009 4:21p).]
...Left Denver headed toward Yellowstone National Park.
Info on park accomodations...
Made reservations in the park back in FEBRUARY, and had trouble getting the locations/dates we wanted. We booked cabins in the park, the cheapest level that included in-room bathrooms (a Mrs. Speck requirement). The plan was to stay in a couple of different places in the park (since it's so large, you want to spread out where you stay so you don't lose 2 hours just driving from Old Faithful to Tower). We ended up with 3 different locations -- 1 night at Old Faithful, 2 nights at Canyon, 1 night at Lake. And we had weird sleeping arrangement. Old Faithful was 1 double & 1 single bed... Canyon, 2 single beds... Lake 1 double. The cabins and lodges are operated by Xanterra. They have online reservations, but I have been told that you can often find more available by phoning them. There are often cancellations (since reservations have to be made so far in advance). The morning I checked out at Old Faithful, I overheard the clerk telling a couple about the 3 rooms he had available in the park (1 at Old Faithful, 2 at Canyon). The morning we left, I overheard a couple looking for a room, and the clerk checked and found that there was nothing available in the park (but the clerk provided phone numbers and a courtesy phone to places just outside the park). Here's the other catch when booking with Xanterra -- you have to place a deposit equal to the first night's stay (estimated, since Congress approves the rates annually). No biggie, right? Except since we were staying at 3 different places (and no location had a 4-night stay available), we had to pay 3 seperate deposits. The prices ranged widely ($112/night at Old Faithful, $74/night at Canyon, $69/night at Lake). The price structure was partially due to popularity, but also quality of the cabins. The cabins at Lake and Canyon were much more run-down than the Old Faithful cabins (exterior paint peeling, no door viewer in the door, cheap door locks, weird shower stalls). There is no A/C. It was only an issue when we checked in at 6:30 and the windows had been closed all day. It took a couple of hours for that room to cool down, but otherwise the rooms were often chilly (at the end of July). The photo here is our Old Faithful Lodge Cabin.
Since our first day was at Old Faithful, I didn't want to pull into the park at dark-thirty, just to check into our cabin and go to sleep. So we pressed as far as we could -- Laramie, Wyoming -- the night before. The drive from Laramie to the park was lengthy (time-wise). Usually Google Maps and the GPS both overestimate driving time (as some sort of safety feature, is my theory). Google said the drive was 7 hours. GPS said 9. The GPS was dead-on. 420 miles in 9 hours. There was assorted road construction, including two or three places where we had to wait at a flag-man for our turn to drive a one-lane stretch. The going was slow particularly in Grand Teton National Park. Lots of road construction there.
Stopped shortly in Grand Tetons, but mostly just enjoyed the scenery as we drove through. We had purchased the Interagency Pass for $80, and it got us through both parks for free. Otherwise it's a minimum of $25 to enter Grand Tetons and a minimum of $25 to enter Yellowstone. We were in the park just a few days after "Fee-Free Weekend" in the National Park System. That meant crowds were down because everyone came last week, and there were some nice left-over deals in the gifts shops. Arrived at the Old Faithful area in time to eat dinner there (sure, everything was expensive... even when we got sandwiches and chips at the general store, meals were always at least $20 for 2. Gas in the park was about 50 cents higher than outside.) walked the geyser basin for a while, then went to bed.
In the Park, Day 1:
Woke up, toured the Upper Geyser Basin (home to Old Faithful, Morning Glory Pool, and many, many others). Then the plan was to drive the red route on the map above to get to Canyon, where we were staying for two days. There was construction along the route with predicted 30-min delays, so we picked up sandwiches to eat lunch in the car when we got delayed.
We stopped at Grand Prismatic Pool. I believe it was a 1.2-mile round trip walk on boardwalks. Mostly flat. There are about 3 very large thermal pools here, Grand Prismatic obviously the awesomest. You cannot take a bad photo of Grand Prismatic. Then stopped at Artist Paint Pots (about a 1.5-mile NOT flat walk... the paint pots are at the top of an overlook) and Mammoth Hot Springs (these are the terraced springs you see... not to be confused with the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD.). There is a drive around one portion of the springs (no trailers or RVs), then boardwalks around the other portion. Don't make my mistake and park the first place you see. The active springs may be 3 parking areas over and you may be able to save yourself some walking. This is not flat. Steep sections and stairs take you up and down the springs all over the place.
The next stop was for an elk, then to walk to Tower Falls (easy, short walk). From Tower Falls to Canyon, we saw a MOB of stopped cars at one section, finally saw grizzly they were all observing. Pulled over to take photos. Be sure you pull your car past the white line and always stay a safe distance! Made it on to Canyon.
In the park, Day 2:
Canyon was my wife's favorite commercial area. The shops, restaurants, hotel are all arranged in a horseshoe, and the restaurants are a good variety. While I waited for Mrs. Speck to wake up, I discovered a trail from our cabin to the rim of the canyon (thanks to Yellowstone Treasures, by Janet Chapple). Nice walk through the woods to some awesome views. We then drove both rims of the Canyon. Crowds really picked up as we got later in the morning. Some parking areas were crowded. Then headed drove to Lake to investigate fishing trips. Guided trips are based on a full boat of at least 6 people, so it's expensive for a couple. (Now, if you could find two other couples to fill out the boat, it would be a good deal.) But they had plenty of motorboats available to rent. So we boat our fishing licenses, rented gear, rented the boat, and set out on an adventure. Had fun out on the Lake for about two hours. (Didn't catch anything, but we didn't go very far out.)
In the Park, Day 3:
Drove to the Mud Volcano area -- big, bold, intimidating thermal features carved out of a woodsy hillside. Then drove to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. WOW! This basin is right on the Lake, making for great views. At the thermal pools here have been better protected than those near Old Faithful (no visitors tossing in pennies or scratching their name in the algae/thermophiles), meaning richer colors in the pools. There are about 2 miles of flat boardwalks here. Very pretty, a must-visit.
Drove to Lake, checked in to our cabin. I went to wander around the Lake Hotel later -- it is the oldest still standing/operating hotel in the park. Very nice. A string quartet was performing as I wandered through.
In the Park, Day 4:
The next morning, we got up and began our drive out of the park. Which I will tell in Part 3...
[This message has been edited by speck (edited 8/5/2009 4:21p).]
Gig 'em Aggies! 