Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park

Thinking about making a trip to Yellowstone or the Tetons in the future? Then this post is for you! If you read my introductory post, you know that our first trip out west was to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Grand Teton and Yellowstone are two parks on my top 5 favorite national parks list. (Check out my previous blog post My Top 5 National Parks) We have been to Grand Teton 3 times and Yellowstone 2 times. While I will not claim to be an expert, I will say that Evan and I know what we enjoyed the most and hope to do again when it comes to these two beautiful parks. 

If you are going to Yellowstone, you might as well stop at the Tetons and vice versa because the two parks are only an hour and half apart from each other! When you get your maps for each park, you can actually lay the maps, one on the other, to show both parks connecting along Route 89 so it is super easy to navigate from one park to the other.

How many days to explore: On our first trip to Wyoming in August 2020, we spent 2 and a half days in Grand Teton and 2 full days in Yellowstone. Our second time in June 2021, we added a day to the Tetons and spent 2 days again in Yellowstone. My favorite was our 2021 experience. Of course you could spend a week or more at either park, but I believe 5 full days is just enough to give you a taste of what both parks have to offer.

Where to stay: All three times we have been to Wyoming we stayed within the Grand Teton area. We stayed in Jackson Hole (the main hub of the Tetons) twice, and stayed within Grand Teton National Park once. While being close to Jackson Hole’s food and shopping was nice, my favorite stay was definitely at Colter Bay Village inside the national park. We stayed in a cabin and I loved that every evening when we got back to the cabin we were able to go down to Jackson Lake and watch the sun go down behind the mountains. That being said, there are various lodges and campgrounds in and near Yellowstone or Grand Teton, but you want to be diligent about booking. We booked our cabin in Colter Bay 7 months in advance and were very lucky to get the last cabin left! 

Our final evening in Colter Bay Village, 2021

When to go: We have been in the Yellowstone/Teton area at the end of June, mid-July, and early August. Out of all three of our trips, we now have a preference for end of June through mid-July. During that time we have experienced temperatures in the low 50s in the morning and low to high 70s during the day which makes for perfect hiking weather in my opinion. Since the Tetons/Yellowstone can have snow through the whole month of May, this is also the time of year when all the snow-melt creates beautiful waterfalls, crystal blue lakes, and fast flowing rivers. 

Jenny Lake, Grand Teton 

Itinerary: This itinerary closely resembles what we did on our 2021 trip. You of course can do the trip in whatever order you want and spend however many days you want at each park. This will be the highlights of our adventure. 

    Day 0: Travel Day

     Two of the three times we have been to Wyoming, we flew into Jackson Hole Airport. (The third time we drove.) I love this airport! It is small, easy to navigate, and the perfect start to your adventure as you fly over and land beside the mountains. 

View before landing in Jackson Hole

    When you arrive in Jackson Hole, grab some lunch or dinner in town. Spend the rest of the day navigating the main park road, stop at a few pull offs to take in the grand Mountain View’s, and get settled in at your lodging for the evening. 

    Day 1: Grand Teton If it is is in the budget, I highly recommend doing a float trip on the Snake River. If you are not much of a hiker, but still want to experience similar views you could have on a hike, a float trip down the river is a good choice. There are various places that offer this experience, but we booked with Solitude Float Trips.

A peaceful ride down the river

Great views of the Tetons along the way

    After the float trip we drove around to some of the easy stops in Grand Teton such as Signal Mountain and then went to Jackson Hole for dinner and shopping for the evening. 

View of the Tetons from the top of Signal Mountain

    Day 2: Yellowstone - South Loop If you are staying near the Tetons, wake up early and drive 90 minutes to the South Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. If you want to avoid waiting in line, be sure to get to the entrance station by 8 a.m. On your way, be sure to stop for a photo-op at Oxbow Bend. 

Mount Moran, Oxbow Bend

    When you do the south loop, go clockwise. There are many places to stop along the loop, but I will focus on the highlights. 

    Your first stop will be Old Faithful. Unpopular opinion, I thought Old Faithful was overrated. Yes, it is very cool and you should see it at least once in your lifetime, but I would not focus on timing it just right to see the best eruption that you can. I advise you see Old Faithful as soon as you get to the park to avoid the crowds so you can get in and get out with plenty of time to see some other cool sites.

    Your next stop is Grand Prismatic at the Midway Geyser Basin. Warning, this spot is hot and stinky, but there will be some beautiful geothermal features here. 

Grand Prismatic

    Be sure to take the side road, Firehole Canyon Drive, just before Madison Junction. You will drive along a flowing river and see Firehole Falls. Continue on through Madison and stop at Gibbon Falls. 

Firehole Canyon

    After you pass Norris, continue on your clockwise loop to Canyon Village. This is where we spent most of our time and it is highly underrated in my opinion. Do the North Rim Drive first. Here you will enjoy a view of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Be sure to do the short, but steep, Brink of the Lower Falls Trail for an up close look at the waterfall. Next, do the South Rim Drive where you will find the Brink of the Upper Falls Trail. 

    While that might not sound like a lot, the south loop of Yellowstone has typically been a full 8 hour day when we have done it. You will want to end your day after Canyon Village, especially if you have a 2 to 2-1/2 hour drive back to your lodging in the Tetons like we did. 

    Day 3: Grand Teton After a full day in a car, you will be ready to stretch your legs and do a hike. One of the most popular hikes is Cascade Canyon Trail. This trail is 9 miles (4.5 in and 4.5 back) with 1,102 feet elevation gain. We have done this trail all three times we have been to the Tetons. You can access this trail by the Jenny Lake Loop Trail or you can take a shuttle boat across the lake that drops you off right at the trail head. We have always taken the shuttle boat as we did not want to add another 4 miles to the hike. We love this trail for it’s beautiful scenery and wildlife. We have always seen moose when we have been on the trail and one time we even encountered a bear. (Reminder to look into getting bear spray!) 

Evan made a friend along the trail on our first trip 

A couple other great spots along this trail are Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. Both spots are popular and crowded so the earlier you start your hike the better! 

Hidden Falls

If you are a first time or average hiker, you will probably be done for the day and I recommend a big dinner back in Jackson Hole as your reward!

    Day 4: Yellowstone - North Loop Start your day the same way as your first day of Yellowstone. (Keep in mind, if you are staying closer to Jackson Hole, the North Loop is even farther away and will add another 2-4 hours to your day depending on what all you get into.)

    This time go counterclockwise when you get to the South Entrance to see some new sights that you may have missed out on. You will have a pretty drive to start out along the West Thumb and Yellowstone Lake. 

Yellowstone Lake

    Your first stop is LeHardy’s Rapids with views of the flowing Yellowstone River. The water was very loud, sparkling, and blue when we were there end of June 2021. 

    Your next stop is a really neat hotspring called the Dragon’s Mouth. There is a boardwalk that leads you to an opening in the ground with smoke billowing out as if there is a dragon hidden deep inside. Listen and you will hear the dragon’s breath. 

Dragon Mouth Spring

  Next you will drive through Hayden Valley. Here you will see green grassland and if you have not seen a bison yet on your trip, you will without a doubt see various herds in Hayden Valley. You will pass by Canyon Village again and if you have time you can pull off and see some things you may have missed on your first Yellowstone Day. 

Hayden Valley

    From Canyon Village, continue north to Tower-Roosevelt. Unfortunately, both times we have been to Yellowstone, this road was closed due to construction. We were not able to experience this route so I do not have any stops to tell you about. We hope to go back and finally get to drive on the new road!

    Continue west to Mammoth Hot Springs. This area has various geothermal features to see, a good general store, a vistor center, and some decent food options. You can drive the Upper Terraces or get out and walk the boardwalk trails to see the Mammoth Hot Springs. We did the drive both times just because we did not have time in our schedule to do any hiking. 

Evan and I posing on a boulder at a pull off on the way to Mammoth Hot Springs

    After Mammoth Hot Springs continue south and stop at anything along that portion of the south loop that you may have missed on your first Yellowstone Day. This is the end of your second day in Yellowstone.

    Day 5: Grand Teton Use this day to take in any last minute activities that you have not yet done on your trip. On our last trip to the Tetons, we really enjoyed the Taggart Lake Trail. It is an easy, 3.8 mile loop and 423 feet elevation gain. 

Taggart Lake

    If you have not done so already on the trip, check out Mormon Row and see some of the homes and barns of the first settlers of Grand Teton. 

Moulton  Barn, Mormon Row

    Drive up and down the main park road one last time and enjoy your final views of the majestic mountains before you fly or drive home the next day. 

    Day 6: Journey Home Sadly your trip has come to an end, and it is time to go home. Hopefully you have taken many photos to look through on your journey home or brought a notebook with you to journal and document the memories you made. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and find it beneficial to your future trip planning! If there is something you liked or something you wish I would have expanded on, please let me know in the comments!

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