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I've been telling my wife "were going out west this year!" for like 6 years now while never actually doing it. This year is our 15th anniversary and we both want something awesome, both having agreed upon something like Yellowstone being a great destination. Since I hate a number of you because you live in amazing places that I frequently dream of, I figured it would be best to ask you! Here is what I have "planned" so far for the trip: Length : Two weeks (perhaps a couple of days extra) I am driving out there from Cincinnati, we love road trips and have some things planned for the route there. My question to you fair goons is, around this time (august/september) is Yellowstone a good choice? We love to hike (wife is not a fan of poop in a hole you just dug so backpacking is out) and plan on doing quite a bit of that. We plan on a mix of 60/40 camp/hotel or cabin sleeping, a mix of "I'm cheap" and also wanting to have a shower here and there. So again, would you suggest Yellowstone and if so what would you recommend we plan to see (any awesome hikes, etc). We are both fit so rougher hikes are welcome. If Yellowstone is not advisable around this time (insane crowds, etc) what else would you suggest?
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Jan 3, 2017 17:38
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August is usually gonna be busy since kids are out of school etc. things often quiet down a bit after Labor Day, but I'm generalizing about parks and stuff in general, not Yellowstone specifically Unfortunately I don't know any great hikes there but the Tetons are right next door as well so look into hitting them up for some hikes too
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Jan 9, 2017 05:27
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I don't know specifically about Yellowstone crowds, but generally August is a good month, I prefer early September though. I don't know exactly what date hunting season starts in Wyoming regions, usually anywhere from September 15 to October 1. Higher chance bugs die off with the first freeze although summers have been getting overall later since we've been out there. Other advantage is if you're doing more off the beaten path trails they'll have had yearly maintenance done on them (if they're maintained). If you're looking for day hikes the Sawtooth NRA near Ketchum/Stanley ID is fantastic. I've always wanted to go to Hells Canyon NRA also, but I've just been to the outskirts. I hear they've been super low on maintenance funds though, so at least check and see at a ranger station which trails they still maintain yearly. One problem with Yellowstone is that there's a decent amount of federal land around there that isn't Teton/Yellowstone but it's usually half and half BLM/USFS and they spend a decent amount of effort catering to motorized because the mountains aren't so big. So if I were doing it how you want to I'd spend a few days around Yellowstone area and then travel over to ID/MT for the rest.
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Jan 10, 2017 21:13
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Wind Rivers are also a few hours south of the Tetons And by few hours I mean like 2-6 hours because I don't quite remember E: might be more of a backpacking spot though. Photographers point can be a day hike but probably not worth going all the way out for one hike
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Jan 11, 2017 11:48
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One of our CORs used to work for USFS at the Wind River range, I've never been there but I can get a handful of day hikes from him if that's your thing.
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Jan 11, 2017 11:52
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I completely forgot about my own thread  Any info you guys can get would be great! It's a two week trip so I have time.
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Feb 23, 2017 20:21
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I talked to the trails guy in Montana that relocated from working Wind River. He specifically said Green Lakes area and Squaretop or Square mountain, something like that was a must-see. You can drive all the way to the lakes and there are multiple trails from that area, he said mostly dayhikes.
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Mar 3, 2017 02:58
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thatguy posted:I talked to the trails guy in Montana that relocated from working Wind River. He specifically said Green Lakes area and Squaretop or Square mountain, something like that was a must-see. You can drive all the way to the lakes and there are multiple trails from that area, he said mostly dayhikes. Awesome, thank you very much for the info!
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Mar 6, 2017 16:19
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I have used two previous editions of this book when planning hikes in Yellowstone, and really liked it. You'll have a hard time getting it off of Amazon, though, as the Yellowstone Association publish it and only sell it new through their store. Agree that after Labor Day should be a fine time to hit Yellowstone, but don't leave it too much later than that. poo poo's high up. In Yellowstone proper, Slough Creek is my favorite campground, but Tower Falls was also nice. I haven't stayed at Pebble Creek, but it's also small and supposed to be good. Indian Creek is kind of big, but is generator-free. Lewis Lake is also generator free and has a total vehicle-and-trailer combined length limit of 25'. The rest are basically all giant and RV-choked. I know that you can purchase shower access in the hotel at Mammoth--the old lodge is rooms with shared bathrooms, so they'll sell you access to those separately. Handy and cheap way to clean up after camping and hiking a bunch. I think something like this is available at most of the lodges, but I've only personally used the facilities at Mammoth. Jordanis fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Mar 9, 2017 |
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Mar 9, 2017 09:37
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Jordanis posted:I have used two previous editions of this book when planning hikes in Yellowstone, and really liked it. You'll have a hard time getting it off of Amazon, though, as the Yellowstone Association publish it and only sell it new through their store. Agree that after Labor Day should be a fine time to hit Yellowstone, but don't leave it too much later than that. poo poo's high up. Awesome info! We're actually heading out mid August now so it should be better timing for weather. Really looking forward to this! Since were driving our route takes us past The Badlands so we're going to see that as well.
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Mar 10, 2017 17:58
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mAlfunkti0n posted:Awesome info! We're actually heading out mid August now so it should be better timing for weather. Really looking forward to this! Since were driving our route takes us past The Badlands so we're going to see that as well. Personally, I treated Badlands as a drive-through park (northeast entrance to Pinnacles entrance, IIRC) and didn't feel too deprived. It's really something, but you won't catch me hiking around much in that kind of terrain in high summer. Jordanis fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Mar 11, 2017 |
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Mar 11, 2017 02:32
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Awesome, have fun. One word of advice about Yellowstone...it's loving big. If you also plan to try to go around and see lots of the park it will require a whole lot of driving. But it's a real neat and unique place
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Mar 11, 2017 16:48
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Jordanis posted:Personally, I treated Badlands as a drive-through park (northeast entrance to Pinnacles entrance, IIRC) and didn't feel too deprived. It's really something, but you won't catch me hiking around much in that kind of terrain in high summer. That's a good point. A friend mentioned the black hills would be more enjoyable.
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Mar 12, 2017 19:08
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mAlfunkti0n posted:That's a good point. A friend mentioned the black hills would be more enjoyable. Black Hills are scenic as gently caress, but I don't know much about hiking there. Only been there when driving through moving from Chicago to the coast, so we just hit, you know, Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Deadwood. I would really have liked to be able to see Wind Cave. On Highway 16/385, just north of the turnoff to the Crazy Horse memorial, there is a ramshackle barn with 'ANTIQUES' painted on it. They have a donkey that roams the building. He is friendly. Makes for an entertaining stop.
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Mar 14, 2017 02:42
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Jordanis posted:Black Hills are scenic as gently caress, but I don't know much about hiking there. Only been there when driving through moving from Chicago to the coast, so we just hit, you know, Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Deadwood. I would really have liked to be able to see Wind Cave. We might stay in Hill City for a night or two and explore a bit, it seems Sunday Gulch Trail (http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/trails/sunday-gulch-trail) would be a nice hike for the day. We're camping the first night at Ashton Wildwood Park in Iowa, really just a stop for sleep and we drive again in the AM.
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Mar 14, 2017 15:19
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mAlfunkti0n posted:We might stay in Hill City for a night or two and explore a bit, it seems Sunday Gulch Trail (http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/trails/sunday-gulch-trail) would be a nice hike for the day. We're camping the first night at Ashton Wildwood Park in Iowa, really just a stop for sleep and we drive again in the AM. That does look pretty good. Other sources I turned up are calling it more like 720 feet of descent and ascent, though; I dunno where they're getting 214 ft. https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7019912
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Mar 15, 2017 01:56
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Jordanis posted:That does look pretty good. Other sources I turned up are calling it more like 720 feet of descent and ascent, though; I dunno where they're getting 214 ft. https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7019912 That should be a fun hike given the drastic change in elevation in general for me. At home I am 867' above sea level so I'd imagine it will take some time to get acclimated to it.
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Mar 15, 2017 14:26
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Jordanis posted:Black Hills are scenic as gently caress, but I don't know much about hiking there. Only been there when driving through moving from Chicago to the coast, so we just hit, you know, Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Deadwood. I would really have liked to be able to see Wind Cave. The Black Hills are sick as hell, you gotta drive through Custer National Park, coming in from the road you see Rushmore (word to the wise, don't pay to park there, there's a wide spot down the hill where you can park for free and just walk up, Rushmore kinda sucks but you should see it), the entrance to Custer is a really cool drive that takes you through tunnels and a really neat view of Rushmore. Then there is some loop to drive where you will almost certainly have some up close and personal adventures with buffalo, pronghorn, wild donkeys, deer, all that good poo poo. After that, you can go up to some area called, I think, the Spires or something where you can definitely hike. I'm not sure how far the trail is, I got caught in a thunderstorm with lightning cracking pretty close and it was sort of hairy so we turned around. Also I thought Rapid City was kind of a fun little town and hotels are inexpensive there, although there is some historical one or something which has a neat bar in it. I echo what the other guy said about the Badlands, they're neat to drive through and it's worth stopping for a look around but it's not THAT great. The rest of South Dakota is boring as gently caress and driving through it is a true lesson in flatness.
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May 6, 2017 14:37
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I failed horribly at planning my vacation and had to remove yellowstone as my destination. I picked August 12-26 as the dates we would go .. and guess what, that darn eclipse thingy is passing right over the park and everyone is going there. Soooooo.... Colorado is awesome, what should I do there!?
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Jul 10, 2017 21:19
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mAlfunkti0n posted:I failed horribly at planning my vacation and had to remove yellowstone as my destination. I picked August 12-26 as the dates we would go .. and guess what, that darn eclipse thingy is passing right over the park and everyone is going there. Garden of the Gods is a great day hike location. The main trail is very accessable, extremely pretty, but can be crowded. The more senic trails are nice too, and rather less crowded. The Air Force Academy is cool if you like planes or MilHist. Mesa Verde is so awesome. Very cool place with great rangers, lots of hikes of all lengths, lots to see besides the Cliff Dwellings. Definitely try to stay at the hotel, it's super chill. I unfortunately had a massive sinus infection last time I was there, but still managed to enjoy myself. The little hospital at the bottom of the mesa is also very nice. The Rockies of course, but I have no personal opinions on it as I was high as hell on codine and suffering altitude sickness when we drove through. Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Jul 13, 2017 |
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Jul 13, 2017 12:20
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Suspect Bucket posted:Garden of the Gods is a great day hike location. The main trail is very accessable, extremely pretty, but can be crowded. The more senic trails are nice too, and rather less crowded. Awesome thanks for the info! We have a friend that lives right outside of RMNP so she's going to snag a pass for us and show us around a bit. I am bummed about Yellowstone but RMNP and the surrounding areas look great.
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Jul 13, 2017 15:55
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I'm just now seeing this thread and am sad that you can't go to Yellowstone now. 🙁 It's one of my favorite places on Earth! It was my first national park and ever since then I've been hooked... Anyways, I really hope you get to visit it someday! As for Colorado, make sure you spend one night in Denver to acclimatize yourself before you do any actual hiking, I learned that the hard way! Not too far from Denver, you can drive up MT Evans, really really awesome views up top and a fun (scary) drive... It sounds like your spending most of your time near Rocky Mountain NP, which is also gorgeous, but if you happen to head south at all you should totally check out Great Sand Dunes NP! It's a bit out of the way and in the middle of nowhere, buy it's a really unique experience because the dunes are massive and you can sandboard down them! It's unlike any place I've been before, huge sand dunes right next to a mountain range make for some really interesting scenery. ☺️
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Jul 14, 2017 20:24
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liz posted:I'm just now seeing this thread and am sad that you can't go to Yellowstone now. 🙁 It's one of my favorite places on Earth! It was my first national park and ever since then I've been hooked... Oh man seconding Dunes I forgot that was in Colorado too. Totally worth at least a day trip, very neat place.
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Jul 16, 2017 22:38
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Thanks for the tip on a day before hiking, I had not thought about that! I am hoping to get to Yellowstone next year now, so it will still be on my active to do list. The sand dunes sound awesome, I'll make sure we fit that in. Thanks for the info!
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Jul 20, 2017 16:31
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mAlfunkti0n posted:Thanks for the tip on a day before hiking, I had not thought about that! I am hoping to get to Yellowstone next year now, so it will still be on my active to do list. The sand dunes sound awesome, I'll make sure we fit that in. Thanks for the info! Let us know how it goes! Take pics, and Don forget to take it easy at first. Hydrate hydrate hydrate and moisturize.
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Jul 21, 2017 16:11
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Suspect Bucket posted:Let us know how it goes! Take pics, and Don forget to take it easy at first. Hydrate hydrate hydrate and moisturize. Well, sadly it didn't go this time around. First it started with me waking up and my eyes didn't function like they did the day before (mostly resolved after three weeks), a week later my dog injured her back badly (good now) and then the next week a very good friend died. After the first two events we had to scrap plans for the trip and move them to next year. Oh well, more time to plan and more money to save and perhaps three weeks instead of two?
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Aug 29, 2017 18:04
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