Planning a summer road trip from College Station to Boise to Yellowstone to Mt. Rushmore and back home.

Looking at google maps, it wants us to drive from Boise, ID up through the southwest corner of Montana and come into YNP from the east side in Cody, WY. Is that the best route? It looks to me that the shortest route is to enter YNP from West Yellowstone, MT. Any advantage of one over the other?

Yep, you're correct in that you'll want to enter via West Yellowstone. I'm not sure what your map program is considering, but that would be 3-4 hours longer going around to Cody.

I would, however, recommend a stop in Cody once you're done touring Yellowstone. The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is awesome and well worth a stop along the way to SD.

Awesome. Thanks. My goal is to enter YNP on the west side at West Yellowstone, and exit on the east side and drive through Cody on our way to Mt. Rushmore.

I'm headed that way this summer as well. I bet the map is sending you a wierd direction right now because of winter road closures.

It's a pretty drive exiting along the E gate (HWY 14) towards Cody. If you're up in the Lamar Valley area you can also exit via the NE gate and go through Cooke City, MT and down the Chief Joseph HWY back to Cody. That is also a really impressive drive and it really shows off a part of the park that not too many people see.

Definitely not the quickest route to Yellowstone, but I would recommend (due to the views) taking Hwy 21 out of Boise and go through Lowman and into Stanley. Then get on 75 and head north through Challis and Salmon.

TommyGun said:

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Yep, you're correct in that you'll want to enter via West Yellowstone. I'm not sure what your map program is considering, but that would be 3-4 hours longer going around to Cody.

I would, however, recommend a stop in Cody once you're done touring Yellowstone. The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is awesome and well worth a stop along the way to SD.

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This ^^

I was in Cody a couple weeks for work. The museum was fun and the hotel/bar in town was interesting knowing how old and the history behind it.

Some of my favs was the brisk mornings starting at 5-5:30am (day light up early) and days go until about 9:30pm. The town has mock shoot out show for the kids to watch in the evenings ~5/6ish.

Depending on the time in the summer you go, just know Sturgis is going on in August so hotels bookings and possible traffic issues all those motorcycles/ppl can cause--just a heads up. You can also find houses or cabins to rent as well from the locals. Might not make sense if you're just passing through.
My two cents
Sounds like a fun trip!

Even if you don't go up to the NE entrance. An early morning trip up Lamar Valley has a good chance at seeing a grizzly.

Also, the gunfight show was suspended last I was in Cody (this past summer) because someone accidentally loaded real bullets. Luckily no one died. Great town though. I've spent hours in that museum and still haven't seen everything. Very awesome.

Thanks for the tips. We will be there in the middle of July. So we will not have to worry about Sturgis.

I may try to sneak a detour over to Ketchum on our way to Yellowstone and stop by First Lite head quarters if there's a shop there on site.

Don't forget your trout rod!

TommyGun said:

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It's a pretty drive exiting along the E gate (HWY 14) towards Cody. If you're up in the Lamar Valley area you can also exit via the NE gate and go through Cooke City, MT and down the Chief Joseph HWY back to Cody. That is also a really impressive drive and it really shows off a part of the park that not too many people see.

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I second this. Follow TommyGun's advice, he knows what's up. Chief Joseph Hwy is awesome and very scenic.

In terms of from Boise to West Yellowstone, I would skip the Interstate as I84 and I86 are not very scenic (read that as not scenic as all) and you will likely either die directly of boredom, or fall asleep and run off the road, roll 14 times and die.

Take I84 east of Boise, exit at Mountain Home (exit 95) and take Hwy 20 east. It will put you in Idaho Falls just 30 minutes or so longer than taking the interstate to Idaho Falls. In all honesty, Hwy 20 is not much more scenic except that it goes directly past Craters of the Moon National Monument which is pretty cool. If you have kids it is a good place for them to get out, run around and maybe climb a cinder cone. There is an extensive lava flow landscape that is pretty cool.

I also like that as you head east from there you go through the barren wasteland that crosses the Idaho National Energy Lab (Nuke Stuff). As you approach Idaho Falls and cross I15 it is like the movie Wizard of Oz...you go from monochrome to color. In about 10 or 15 miles you transition from desert to barley fields, rolling hills and mountains looming on the horizon as you approach Yellowstone.

If you're going all the way to Mt. Rushmore, have some other destinations in mind. Mt. Rushmore is neat, but I had by fill in less than half an hour. That's a long way to travel for that. Hit Deadwood on the way, maybe the Badlands afterward. Make it worth the extra miles.

tx1c said:

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If you're going all the way to Mt. Rushmore, have some other destinations in mind. Mt. Rushmore is neat, but I had by fill in less than half an hour. That's a long way to travel for that. Hit Deadwood on the way, maybe the Badlands afterward. Make it worth the extra miles.

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Thanks for the information. I'll keep that in mind.

La Fours said:

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I may try to sneak a detour over to Ketchum on our way to Yellowstone and stop by First Lite head quarters if there's a shop there on site.

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Then taking Hwy 20 out of Mountain Home is the way to go. Just hang a left at Hwy 75 and you will be in Ketchum in 25 or 30 minutes after getting on Hwy 75.

Since you said Yellowstone then Mt Rushmore...you HAVE to drive the Beartooth Highway (212) that takes you from Cooke City to/through Red Lodge. I promise you it will be a drive you won't ever forget.

If you are in need of accommodations the Red Lodge Inn is a great place and they'll probably have some free beer in a Yeti sitting outside for you. And Red Lodge has a nice strip of pubs/restaurants/shops for an evening's relaxation.

Make a detour coming out of Boise and visit the Sawtooths in Central ID. Think of it as the Teton's without the crowds.

Supervolcanoes

You can see the bear's tooth to the right of center:

I was doing some planning for the summer because my daughter wants to meet us in WY and tour Yellowstone and the Tetons ( I still chuckle every time I type that ) and it could be the software is showing all the roads in Yellowstone closed. I was looking at different places to fly into and anything in Montana took us around Yellowstone and not just because the speed limit is 45MPH all over Yellowstone. I finally figured out it was taking road conditions into account and now, all roads in Yellowstone are closed, except maybe into Mammoth.

Any particular reason why you are going to Boise? I've only been 1 time and that was to see a football game on the blue turf. I don't know of anything particularly noteworthy about the city except for the university.

Since this sounds mostly like an outdoorsy trip, you may be better off going to Sun Valley and exploring the Sawtooth National Forest for a bit. Just a suggestion. Sounds like a fun trip.

Lol. It's for my cousin's wedding.

Depending on the time you have, Craters of the Moon is a great stop, as well as the historic nuclear reactor near Arco. Pics of both on my epic Yellowstone thread from a couple of years ago. I'll look for the link.

Found it:

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/2314784

It may show that way because I think the west entrance is closed right now?

Man, thank you so much for the route tip. Driving i84 on the way to Boise from SLC was boooooooooring. Hwy 20 drive was fantastic. And the kids loved Craters of the Moon. I'll try and do a proper trip report when we get back home.

La Fours said:

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Man, thank you so much for the route tip. Driving i84 on the way to Boise from SLC was boooooooooring. Hwy 20 drive was fantastic. And the kids loved Craters of the Moon. I'll try and do a proper trip report when we get back home.

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Glad I could be of help. I was not joking when I mentioned one might fall asleep from boredom on I84, run off the road, roll multiple times and die. It happens several times a year just on the 45 mile stretch from Boise to Mountain Home. I have always thought that travelers that drive through Idaho on I84 must think "Geez this state sucks"...which actually is fine with me.