Help me plan around my Yellowstone and Texas 2019 trip

[justacey]

Me, my husband, his brother and his wife are planning doing Yellowstone September next year 2019.
Our rough plan is
Saturday - fly to Denver (in-laws might go Friday and have an extra day there)
Sunday - drive to Gillette (or somewhere there) for 2 nights
Monday - visit Mount Rushmore and Devil's Tower and whatever else is on the loop, or what we might find to do.
Tuesday - drive to Yellowstone, stay at Canyon Lodge for 4 nights.
Saturday - leave. Probably drive to Salt Lake City
Late Saturday or early Sunday fly somewhere else for perhaps a relaxing holiday. In-laws thinking of Galveston, we like the idea of Texas for some ranching, but that's another thread.

So we will have a great time at Yellowstone, but it's a long way from International airports. Flights from the local airports for September this year are showing at $300+, so it will be much cheaper to drive, since there's 4 of us.

Has anyone stayed in the Gillette area? We'd rather have a base and do a day sightseeing, rather than be packing every morning and having to check in and check out every day and have our luggage left in the car and have to carry our valuables with us.

And has anyone driven down to SLC? Is there a scenic route and somewhere nice to stop for lunch?

Thanks, I know it's a long way off, but it's getting late to be booking inside Yellowstone. I can't believe the cheapest rooms are £200 a night!

[suei]

Hi,
We visited Yellowstone in 2015. We had a wonderful time, & I did a "Highs & Niggles" for that trip which you could take a look at here:
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=920014
to see some of what we got up to. There are also some photos from our trip in an album under my Username.
It was such a good trip, we're going back again this August/September to see some more!
There's a lot to see between Yellowstone & Denver, not least Grand Teton NP & Rocky Mountain NP, both of which are stunning! Also Dinosaur National Monument & Fossil Butte NM if you're interested in fossils, Flaming Gorge NRA, Glenwood Hot Springs & Canyon, Steamboat Springs, Vail & Breckenridge, etc.
In Yellowstone, you might want to consider splitting your nights between Canyon & another location (Old Faithful area, or Mammoth Hot Springs, perhaps) rather than all 4 nights in 1 place, as the Park is huge!
If you haven't already seen this map:
nps.gov/yell/planyourvis...ff_Map2016.pdf
it shows the distances between different parts of the Park. To get a rough idea of the drive-time in minutes, you double the mileage although this wouldn't include possible hold-ups, like "animal jams"!
I hope this helps. We haven't been to the Gillette area but, as you'll be approaching Yellowstone from the east, Cody or Thermopolis might be of interest, or possibly coming in through the north-east entrance via the Beartooth Highway.
Let me know if I can help with any other questions you might have. Happy planning!

[justacey]

Thanks Suei, I did have a look at your trip report and I’m sure I’ll ask you lots.
We’re happy just staying in the one place in Yellowstone.
And I see you are off there this year so I’ll be looking forward to your trip report after.

[jdouds]

Hi doing yelllowstone this July. Flying to Denver , stay o,night and fly to Bozeman the next morning, from there 4 1/2 h drive to canyon lodge. 4 n and then onto Lake Tahoe with a stop at twin falls. This will be followed with 3 n Monterey ( whale watching) and 3 n San Fran.

[justacey]

I’ll be very interested in your day trips from Canyon Lodge 👍😁

[CrispyA]

We visited Yellowstone and SLC in 2016 - have a look at my Rockng int the Rockies reported (link in my sig) for more details. It’s a beautiful part of the world. We also went to Texas in 2015 and did ranching so that report might help as well.

[Sew109]

I hope I am not throwing a spanner in the works but if you are ever in Denver and can anyway get a few days go to Estes Park it is our favourite place on the planet. It’s the gateway to Rocky Mountain National park it’s old town Wild West herds of elk walking through the town in the early hours. It even has our favourite breakfast place The Egg and I which beats Heidi’s in Tahoe by miles.

We stay tag the Olympic Motor lodge which is cheap but slightly ou5 of town but te Stanley Hotel 8s the place to stay and the hotel from the shining.

[signtalker]

We did Yellowstone last year, flew into Salt Lake City, travelled up and did the tetons first, then on to Yellowstone, from there Mount Rushmore , and then looped back and drove back to salt lake over a couple of days stopping off on route.

We stayed in silvergate in Yellowstone, booked a fabulous cabin direct with the owner, and we stayed at newton fork ranch when we visited Mount Rushmore fantastic place.

Jules

[Queen of Herts]

We are flying into Denver for 3 nights in August and then on to Glenwood Springs, Rock Springs, Cody and then we have a 5 night tour of Yellowstone with a guide and accommodation, then 3 more nights in Cody to chill and go to the rodeo. Then back down to Casper, Boulder and home out of Denver. Can't wait, the countdown is on!

[Add]

We did yellowstone in August 2017 - Travelled from Vegas - Grand canyon - Archers - Salt lake city - Jackson Hole - then 4 days in yellowstone flew out of SLC - on the return from yellowstone we overnighted near Idaho falls and visited Bear world - they have some of the yellowstone bears there you can bottle feed the cubs for a price.

On the way into Yellowstone went Glamping stayed at Conestoga Ranch up near Jackson hole was a bit of fun kids loved it.

We stayed in Cooke city just outside Yellowstone - we saw most animal activity was Lamar valley herds of Bison.