Yellowstone National Park entrances

[The Beast]

Planing to come down from Castlegar BC after a fantastic, phenomenal, KRUZIN THE KOOTNEYS rally JULY 7 - 10 and wanted to see yellowstone. Any good ideas how to maximize the experience or what entrance is better?

[utadventure]

Murray-

 

Yellowstone is a great Natl Park. From the rally, I think the best way into the park would be to go East on I-90 and take US89 into the north entrance of the park. This will put you in Mammoth Hot Springs (great place for lunch and ice cream). From Mammoth you can work you way down the west side of the park. Lots of fields for wildlife to show up. Further down the west side is Old Faithful and the Lodge. You definitely want to see the geyser and if you can, the lodge is fun to stay in. There are many places to stay in the park from camping to hotels.

 

Next would be to go to the south end and up the east side, along Yellowstone Lake. The road to the East entrance has some good views but I would go up and out the NE entrance. That will take you through the Lamar Valley (usually a large herd of Buffalo here), through Cooke City and across Beartooth Pass (Hwy 212) to Red Lodge, MT

[BlueSky]

Old Faithful the geyser and the old magnificent Inn built in the early 1900s is not that far from the western entrance. It was 1975 when I drove there around the first of June. It was still very cold with snow piled up to about 8' high on the side of some roads. The Ranger at the eastern entrance asked me if I had snow chains when I arrived. I didn't but he said I could probably make it ok without them in my 70 Mustang. We drove around the north side about 60 miles if memory serves to get to Old Faithful. I wanted to leave by the southern exit and go through Jackson Hole but the road from Old Faithful to the southern exit was not plowed during the winter and was still blocked by snow. So, I would have had to drive about 80 miles back around the north side and east side of the park to get to the southern exit. So, instead we left the western exit and drove about 135 miles total to Idaho Falls to spend the night. That was over 40 years ago so things may have changed a bit since then.

 

Oh, as we were driving south towards the Grand Canyon the next morning, I heard on the radio that the park was closed due to a snow storm! Early June!

Edited January 22, 2016 by BlueSky

[jakester]

The entrance Bluesky referred to is the Garner entrance, it has the Roosevelt Arch there. We camped at Indian Creek camp ground last year.(down the road from mammoth a few miles) This Natl park is much larger than I ever imagined, give yourself plenty of time to see it. Mammoth to Old faithful was about an hour and a half ride. This was August and it was cold and rainy on the way out, Another two hours to the Cody entrance. This place is awesome...like a Disney movie on steroids.

Very nice, I want to go back

Bill

[XV1100SE]

If you are camping....book your spot now (if you still can). On the West side of the park there is a small town that you can get a motel/hotel room but again, book NOW.

[cowpuc]

Just thinking out loud, considering weather and motor home traffic patterns,,, I would take 90 to 78, 78 down to the Red Lodge, turn right and head into Yeller Stone on 212 via Beartooth pass in the morning, follow 212 till you come to a "T" and turn left (right turn will take you towards the North Entrance), the left turn goes down thru the center of the park = I would go down the center road), follow that road - watch for "Water Fall" signs as you travel along the Yellow Stone River - worth the walk to see the falls! Keep going till you come to the left turn that goes to East Entrance - DONT TURN (stop for gas though) - keep going straight along west side of the lake, road will "T" off again, turn left, follow down to the South Entrance and into the Teton's, wait to do the Teton loops till morning, ride into Jackson Hole for dinner, park on main street and eat Hot Dogs at outside cafe and harrass all the Harley riders, back up to Teton entrance, right after entrance turn right toward campground - set up tent and go bear, Moose and Elk hunting (camera of course). Do Teton Loops early in morning to avoid huge traffic backups, back into Yeller Stone thru South Gate, come to corner that leads to East Gate (its the road you came in on the day before) dont turn right, keep going up to Old Faithful, see old Faithful, ride around old Faithful "trails" to explore the smelly water area, back track to west side of Lake where you came thru the day before, turn left this time and follow around to the East entrance, out to Cody, Cody's cool - LOTS of good food,, going east out of Cody take "14 A" not "14", follow 14-A up thru Powell, fill up in Lovell and cross the Big Horn Mountains (I wont ruin it for you trying to explain the beauty but will say that it took over 30 years for them to get the pass in leading up into the Big Horns - IT IS AMAZING and very very little traffic), 14A will join with 14 - stay east on 14 and come out to 90 real close to Custers Last Stand National Park - worth the explore too..

1 pm till 5 pm always seems like thunderstorm time in the mountains, keep an eye on the sky.

[The Beast]

WOW !!! Thanks Guys for all your help. Looks like it's time to take out the map and start plotting, after I go to the Vancouver Bike Show this weekend. I want to see what my canadian Loonie can buy me

[cimmer]

West Yellowstone is the Western entrance and has numerous hotel and camping options there. It can be hard to get accommodations in the park as a lot of them fill up over a year in advance. Also some of the park campgrounds are hard sided required sites due to bear issues. This is especially true around the fishing bridge area and has usually been a good area to see bears at.

Good luck and enjoy the trip.

Rick F.

[Sailor]

I would definitely use the north entrance. Old Faithful and its lodge are worth a visit. If you have time Jackson Hole is interesting. Sometimes the wildlife gets real up close and personal. I had a buffalo come out of the woods and run alongside of my bike for a ways. We were eyeball to eyeball. The last time we were there the elk were in the town as it was calving time. I noticed one elk with a huge rack. A ranger told me he was " Old number nine" that being the number of cars he had destroyed. I would go out the east entrance and on to Cody then up to Red Lodge via Bear Tooth.

[Yammer Dan]

On my bucket list!!

[The Beast]

Thanks for the info. Will you be getting off the Island and visiting the Bike show this weekend?

[The Beast]

I would definitely use the north entrance. Old Faithful and its lodge are worth a visit. If you have time Jackson Hole is interesting. Sometimes the wildlife gets real up close and personal. I had a buffalo come out of the woods and run alongside of my bike for a ways. We were eyeball to eyeball. The last time we were there the elk were in the town as it was calving time. I noticed one elk with a huge rack. A ranger told me he was " Old number nine" that being the number of cars he had destroyed. I would go out the east entrance and on to Cody then up to Red Lodge via Bear Tooth.

 

Thanks for the info. Will you be getting off the Island and visiting the Bike show this weekend?

[eagleeye]

Just a heads up: I'd check with the park before you leave to see if any of the entrances are closed for some reason. I've run into this in the past.

[Sailor]

Can't make it to the show. Hurricane Janet is president of the Scottish Dancing group and Saturday is Robbie Burns night. Looking forward to some Haggis.

Last time I went to the show it cost me $ 20,000.00. Got a nice Venture midnight special though.

[syscrusher]

Just thinking out loud, considering weather and motor home traffic patterns,,, I would take 90 to 78, 78 down to the Red Lodge, turn right and head into Yeller Stone on 212 via Beartooth pass in the morning, follow 212 till you come to a "T" and turn left (right turn will take you towards the North Entrance), the left turn goes down thru the center of the park = I would go down the center road), follow that road - watch for "Water Fall" signs as you travel along the Yellow Stone River - worth the walk to see the falls! Keep going till you come to the left turn that goes to East Entrance - DONT TURN (stop for gas though) - keep going straight along west side of the lake, road will "T" off again, turn left, follow down to the South Entrance and into the Teton's, wait to do the Teton loops till morning, ride into Jackson Hole for dinner, park on main street and eat Hot Dogs at outside cafe and harrass all the Harley riders, back up to Teton entrance, right after entrance turn right toward campground - set up tent and go bear, Moose and Elk hunting (camera of course). Do Teton Loops early in morning to avoid huge traffic backups, back into Yeller Stone thru South Gate, come to corner that leads to East Gate (its the road you came in on the day before) dont turn right, keep going up to Old Faithful, see old Faithful, ride around old Faithful "trails" to explore the smelly water area, back track to west side of Lake where you came thru the day before, turn left this time and follow around to the East entrance, out to Cody, Cody's cool - LOTS of good food,, going east out of Cody take "14 A" not "14", follow 14-A up thru Powell, fill up in Lovell and cross the Big Horn Mountains (I wont ruin it for you trying to explain the beauty but will say that it took over 30 years for them to get the pass in leading up into the Big Horns - IT IS AMAZING and very very little traffic), 14A will join with 14 - stay east on 14 and come out to 90 real close to Custers Last Stand National Park - worth the explore too..

1 pm till 5 pm always seems like thunderstorm time in the mountains, keep an eye on the sky.

 

This is probably your best overview tour of the park and surrounds. Minimum of 3 days but I would stretch it to 4. Since you'll be coming at things from Castlegar you may want to consider the Lolo Canyon ride on Hwy 12 between Lewiston, ID and Missoula, MT. It'll take an afternoon but it's one of those winding sweepers that are so much fun. Fill with gas before you go and again at the midway station just to be safe.

 

Lolo Canyon Ride

[Guest divey]

Whatever route you take Murray, don't pass up the opportunity to ride the Beartooth Pass. You won't regret it (nor forget it)! Doug