I've been in Yellowstone/Grand Teton the last 3 days. I don't know what summertime crowds are usually like but this is pretty crappy. Pretty much everywhere today had to circle the parking lot or wait for someone to get into their car. Even at 6:30 in the rain tonight I had to wait 15 minutes for a spot at Midway. There was a 2+ mile long traffic jam headed back into West Yellowstone. That was after spending a good chunk of the drive out of the park going 10-15 mph.

lexofer said:

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I've been in Yellowstone/Grand Teton the last 3 days. I don't know what summertime crowds are usually like but this is pretty crappy. Pretty much everywhere today had to circle the parking lot or wait for someone to get into their car. Even at 6:30 in the rain tonight I had to wait 15 minutes for a spot at Midway. There was a 2+ mile long traffic jam headed back into West Yellowstone. That was after spending a good chunk of the drive out of the park going 10-15 mph.

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This is not encouraging to hear... headed to Montana for a wedding over Labor Day weekend and planned to stay the week after to bop around Yellowstone, Tetons, etc. Hopefully things have cleared out by then...

Today was a bit better. We left the hotel at 7am instead of 8. As we got to each place there was usually one or two parking spots left, but every time we left there was a large line of cars waiting for a spot. Seemed like we were just ahead of the crowd everywhere. Did just have to wait 1.5 hours for a table for dinner in West Yellowstone.

Gypsy app is great for letting you know what's around and gives you an idea of what to do. Also has offline maps of the trails.

lexofer, what are food options in the park? Was told everything in park was takeout. Don't want to wait in line for sandwich. We are thinking about buying an ice chest and taking food with us.
Also have changed our reservations to stay in West Yellowstone. Are dining options there limited?

All the restaurants in West Yellowstone are open. Almost all have waits during dinner time. Some have every other table closed and some do not.

First two days in Yellowstone we got sandwiches for lunch from the general stores. Stores have limited capacity so a guy lets you in as others leave. Tried the restaurant at Mammoth yesterday. Soda machines and coffee maker was closed. Takeout burgers and some fried food. Burger patties were the same kind as from elementary school cafeteria, would have rather had a cold sandwich again.

Visitor centers and other indoor areas in park are all closed.

IMO taking a cooler to Yellowstone is a smart choice even when things are normal.

The food in the park at the lodges is plain. It wasn't expensive, just meh. We knew going in what to expect. Burgers were ok. I had the fried chicken at lake lodge and it wasn't bad. The bbq chicken at OF was a lot of food but that was its only redeeming quality. We tried to do a hot breakfast and coffee/tea in the morning, sammys out of the cooler for lunch and then usually a hot meal late after coming in from the valley.

Sounds like going in late September would be better as crowds would be much smaller? Last kids heads to college in 2 weeks so we're empty nester's soon and the wife and I plan to take full advantage of that.

One of the things I like about that area, is they aren't focused on stuffing your face with a 3500 calorie a day diet. Pretty much just sustain yourself for your needs. If we all lived like that we would be healthier nation.

The grocery store in West Yellowstone is closing at 6pm these days if you're planning on bringing in a cooler. Google says they close at 10pm but that isn't what's on the sign in the door. Watched four groups of people come up and pull on the door right after we did the same.

I don't want y'all to think it's all bad, all the cool stuff to see is still there. Once you find parking there is enough room to spread out unless you're waiting to see one of the geyser's go off. Both Grand and Castle went off 10 minutes apart today and were going off at the same time for a while. Also got to see Riverside and of course Old Faithful our first day there. Riverside went off late and there were only about 30 people watching.

We went again early again to hike Fairy Falls. Plenty of parking when we got there but when we got done hiking all the geyser basin parking lots were overflowing so definitely get to those first thing in the morning. There's several areas with road construction, people that like to drive 20 under the speed limit while constantly hitting their brakes, and wildlife in the road so don't stress about getting anywhere quickly.

Thanks for all the info. We are definitely looking forward to the trip.
What areas did you see most wildlife...elk, bison...any bears?
Other than the well known sites, any hidden jewels you found and would recommend?

I was there Monday through Thursday this week. I stayed at the Canyon lodge and can reiterate what Lexofer was saying. I was mostly animal watching and going to the falls. The best times to do anything was from early morning until about 11am and then from anytime after 5pm. It gets light around 5am and dark around 930pm so you have plenty of time to see things. I recommend a hike in the noon to afternoon hours to avoid the crowds. I am not a big fan of the geysers, so I stayed away for the most part, but that area was definitely the most congested. It also hurts traffic on the north side with Tower Roosevelt being shutdown.

The food was as described, I likened it to the cafeteria food at Callaway house or high school cafeteria food. Canyon lodge had the best food options out of any of the other camps. The bacon cheeseburger at Mammoth was pretty dang good (I might have bee really hungry). Plenty of grab and go options. The general stores shut down at 6pm but the grills stayed open until 9pm. The gas station in canyon also stayed open until 9p but the one in Mammoth did not.

I saw lots of Aggies on my trip. Sad I'm having to head back to life today. It's been an amazing trip froM the Blackhills, to Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, Bighorn, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in 9 days. When I get back to Houston I will have covered almost 4500 miles in 10 days.

Found a place in Driggs, I'D. We arrive on Sept 7 and leave Sept 18. Can't wait to get up there!

dmart90 said:

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Found a place in Driggs, I'D. We arrive on Sept 7 and leave Sept 18. Can't wait to get up there!

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Driggs is a cool town. Was really surprised by it.

Saw one of my future ex wives in the Ace Hardware there.

We did it the other way and were a hair over 4300. Amarillo, Breckinridge, Vernal UT And Dinosaur NP via Steamboat Springs, Jackson, GTNP, Yellowstone, Beartooth Hwy to Red Lodge, Bighorn, Devils Tower, Rushmore, Badlands and finally home.

I missed Badlands but did Custer, Black hills, Wind Cave snd Mt Rushmore before going west through Bighorn, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Bighorn was impressive as well.

Any suggestions on a budget friendly pair of binoculars? Or what kind of specs we should try and have for wildlife viewing?

dmart90 said:

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Found a place in Driggs, I'D. We arrive on Sept 7 and leave Sept 18. Can't wait to get up there!

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There was a pretty cool brewery in Victor, which is a short drive south of Driggs.

streetfighter2012 said:

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Any suggestions on a budget friendly pair of binoculars? Or what kind of specs we should try and have for wildlife viewing?

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you definitely need binoculars. I screwed up and didnt take any.I bought these recently and are decent

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-intensity-hd-binoculars

There is also a company that rents them.

https://rgunsngear.com/product-category/shop/binoculars/

The best animal watching is usually from a long distance. The buffalo heards are in Lamar Valley. I saw wolves and black bears in that area. I also saw a lot of animals in Hayden Valley.

I mentioned it in another thread, but as someone who hikes a lot, everywhere outdoors has been more crowded the last few months. It's one of a limited number of activities that is fully open and it's safer because it's not in recirculated air Or putting you next to someone for any length of time, so many more people have been out.
Long term that will pay dividends for the parks and other outdoor spaces as more people see their value, but short term for a place like Yellowstone that is already crazy crowded in summer, it has to be pretty miserable traffic wise. Traffic and crowds was already the worst thing about that park. But hopefully everything you get to see more than offsets it.

oragator said:

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I mentioned it in another thread, but as someone who hikes a lot, everywhere outdoors has been more crowded the last few months. It's one of a limited number of activities that is fully open and it's safer because it's not in recirculated air Or putting you next to someone for any length of time, so many more people have been out.
Long term that will pay dividends for the parks and other outdoor spaces as more people see their value, but short term for a place like Yellowstone that is already crazy crowded in summer, it has to be pretty miserable traffic wise. Traffic and crowds was already the worst thing about that park. But hopefully everything you get to see more than offsets it.

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I was there the 22nd to 26th of June and logged around 350 miles in my Jeep. It was my 1st time so I have nothing to compare it to, but I didn't think it was unbearable unless you wanted to go see old faithful. I also was getting up at 4am and roaming the roads. It gets light around 5am and sun up around 6am The worst traffic times were from 2-4pm. By 6pm most of the traffic was gone. I did a lot of animal watching from 6pm to 10pm when it finally gets dark.

Had a wonderful trip with too many highlights to cover them all, but at the top of the list was seeing Grizzly 399 and her 4 cubs in GTNP. They were walking along the road near Pilgrim Creek when we saw them. We hiked 5-6 miles each day and the weather was perfect. Also floated the Snake River. Even though late season, there were enough rapids to make the trip fun.
Crowds in Yellowstone were not as bad as we feared. The Grand Prismatic Spring was the one area in Yellowstone where we had to wait for parking but we got there in late afternoon. We did buy a cooler and ate lunch from it each day which was probably a good call to not have to wait in lines for food.
Jackson has become our new favorite place, and we enjoyed the trip so much we decided to stay an extra day there. We are now talking about planning a ski trip there next winter.
The most "touristy" thing we did was to stop at Yellowstone Bear World in Rexburg, ID and bottle feed baby bear cubs. It was a lot of fun to watch them play and to be able to interact with them.
Thanks for all the advice, this area is definitely one we plan to return to.
Happy Trails.