Yellowstone/Grand Teton One Week Trip Advice

Just a thought but you might want to look at the KOA campground or motels at the West Entrance. Things might be tight again this year with the staffing cuts at the park campgrounds and June is normally crowded.

I personally would not camp at Bridge Bay Campground the first week of June. At an elevation of 7800 feet, it will be extremely cold at night, sometimes below freezing. I have spent a pretty miserable night there at the end of June before.

Consider either a lower elevation campground or splurging a bit for a cabin or hotel room.

My visit was 20 years ago, at the end of May. There was still lots of snow on the ground a lower levels of Yellowstone. Also lots of bears, ignoring the tourists - they were just looking for all the food they could find coming out of hibernation. I did spot a couple of reclusive moose at Grand Teton. Don't spend too much time there on the bison - there are many more in Yellowstone.

I go to Yellowstone yearly although I do not camp. Here are my thoughts:

Will you be tent camping? The Cooke City area campgrounds are mostly National Forest Land and may not be accessible that early in June depending on how much snow they have this winter. They are mostly east of Cooke City so that is going up in elevation. One of the campgrounds allows ONLY hard sided rigs after a horrible fatal incident in 2010. I do have a friend who is also a Destination Expert on the Trip Advisor Yellowstone forum who I can ask about the Cooke City Campgrounds if you think this is what you want to do.

IF you haven't found this page yet, here is a link to the official Yellowstone NP page giving the open/close dates for the campgrounds. Some are reservable and managed by Xanterra, the lodging concessioner, some are reservable and managed by YNP and booked thru recreation.gov. The National Forest campgrounds are bookable thru recreation.gov

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm

I'd probably go with 2 nights at Mammoth which is lower in elevation than some of the other campgrounds across the Northern Range.

2 nights at Madison looks fine for seeing the thermal areas and your 1 night at Bridge Bay is fine too.

I don't like to move hotels so not sure how much trouble it will be for you to pack up but I'd probably do 2 nights at either Jenny Lake or Signal Mountain. I've stayed in the Signal Mountain Lodge a number of times and like that location. The restaurant there is good if you want a meal out. The Jenny Lake Lodge is more upscale than I want to do so have never eaten there.

Depending on the snow load from this winter, hiking may be better in the Northern end of Yellowstone along the road from Mammoth to Lamar Valley as this is lower in elevation than the Canyon/OF area. Still, there will be plenty to do.

This is a primo time of year for wildlife sighting, particularly bears and particularly in the area around the Tower Junction. This is casually referred to as the "Bear-muda Triangle", hahaha. LOTS of Sows with cubs from about the road going back to Hellroaring Trailhead around thru Tower Junction and up to Tower Fall. Both Grizzly bear and Black Bear.

Did you have any hikes you were targeting?

Please forgive my super delayed response - thanks much for all the great advice!

We’ve extended our trip and have the following tent camping/lodging booked for Yellowstone:

• Night 1: Mammoth Campground
• Night 2: Tower Fall Campground
  
• Night 3: Old Faithful Lodge and Madison Campground (TBD)
• Night 4: Madison Campground
• Night 5: Madison Campground

I LOLed at "Bear-muda Triangle"! I’m finding Yellowstone challenging to plan for traffic around top attractions. Is there a recommended routing to hit the top attractions based on our lodging? My plan is to hit super busy things first thing in the morning and then hike during the day. Still looking into hikes for each day as we get our plans firmed up. We got Yellowstone Treasures out of the library, any and all tips would be greatly appreciated. We're so excited to visit! Thank you, thank you, thank you for the advice and help, it is greatly appreciated!

Ok, thanks for the update.

Flying in to Bozeman around noon....here are my thoughts:

Day 1: Drive down to Gardiner. Stop somewhere....Belgrade (Albertson's grocery near where the airport is actually located), Bozeman, Livingston (Albertson's grocery) or Gardiner (Gardiner Market) for a cooler and some supplies. Once you are in the park and set up , head to the Mammoth Terraces. Walk the Lower Terrace, drive the Upper Terrace. IF you are birders, drive a little south (uphill) to Swan Lake Flats where you will see a big lake on your right. There is usually a pair of nesting Trumpeter swans here. They usually nest on the left side, near shore. Head back down to Mammoth stopping at Rustic Falls. This and many of the waterfalls are on the edge of the old caldera.

Day 2: Drive east from Mammoth to Tower Junction, looking for and stopping for bears and other wildlife. In the Tower Junction area, take a left out the NE entrance road. This road has been totally reconstructed with a new bridge over the last couple of years. I am excited to drive it this June as well! When you get to the sign for the Yellowstone River Picnic Area, look across the road to your left to see if there are any Bighorn Sheep in this area. There is also often a nesting pair of Sandhill Cranes. There is a paved pull out by some small glacial lakes so pull over, turn off the car and listen to see if you can hear their squawking. Drive out to at least Barronnette Peak pull out (past Pebble Creek Campground and is a long paved pull out on the left). At Barronnette Peak pull out look way over to the distant cliffs to see if you can see some mountain goats. You can continue to Cooke City today if you want to see what that looks like. You could stop at Trout Lake to hike or Yellowstone River Picnic Area hike. They both should be snow free but Trout Lake (the portion going around the lake) will probably be muddy in spots. Return to Tower Junction, go south to the campground stopping at Calcite Springs and some of the small pullouts on the left. At the small pull outs, look carefully across the canyon to see if you see Bighorn Sheep in this area as well. The Moms and babies often hang out no the impossibly steep sandy looking slopes as protection against bear. Do Tower Fall later in the day. It tends to get crowded so late afternoon is good. Most people enjoy the Rooevelt Lodge dining room...it's usually barbecue type of meals. Overnight Tower Campground.

Day 3: Head south over Dunraven Pass. Do the North Rim Drive, South Rim drive and the Brink of the Upper Falls which is a separate entrance from either rim drive.. Here you'll see the Upper Falls and Lower Falls as well as the Canyon. Continue south thru Hayden Valley looking for wildlife. Go to Fishing Bridge and then retrace your route back to Canyon. Be sure to stop at Lehardy Rapids and see the Harlequin Ducks that are there this time of year. They perch on the rocks mid-river, fly furiously upriver then bob back down to their rocks, lol. From Canyon head west. Stop at Norris Geyser Basin if the parking lot does not look too crowded. Overnight OF Lodge or Madison.

Day 4: Spend most of the day in the Upper Basin. Get the Geyser Times app and check the prediction times for the big showy geysers. My particular favorites are Grand Geyser and Riverside Geyser. Daisy is good too. DON'T crowd into the benches around Old Faithful. A better view is from across the river on Geyser Hill on the benches next to Beehive Geyser. I usually get 5-8 miles in on the boardwalks and trails in this area so you don't need to add in another hike. Overnight Madison

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Day 5: There is no cell service at Madison but if you drive to the pull outs near Biscuit Basin (currently closed due to geothermal explosions in July 2024) you can get service. Check to see if there is anything on Great Fountain Geyser. It's on Firehole Lake Drive. The last 2 years this has been closed to vehicles as one of the bridges is out or weak or something. They were pathetic before...just basically railroad ties over marshy thermal areas so it's no wonder they are a problem. ANYway, it's about a mile back in on the road so you might enjoy walking back there. You WILL need your bear spray. Do Fountain Paint Pots geyser basin, maybe Midway late in the day (traffic here is awful during the day). You could do a hike out to Fairy Falls and catch the Grand Prismatic overlook on the way back or you could walk out to Lone Star Geyser (past OF and Kepler Cascades). Lone Star goes about every 3 hours so take some food and water so you can sit and wait for an eruption. Overnight Madison

Day 6: Head to Jackson/Grand Tetons today??? I'd go via Canyon so you can get another crack at wildlife in Hayden Valley and then drive along the lake side on your way out the South entrance.

Yellowstone Treasures is awesome. It's the guidebook all the regulars generally have in the car when we are in the park. Her mile by mile road log is really good.

I live in the Wasatch Mountains (part of the Rockies) in northern Utah. We are having an extremely dry winter with almost no snow in the valleys. We are all worried about water for the summer. A quick check suggested that Yellowstone is also having a low-snow winter. So it’s looking optimistic that you will not be hampered by snow still on the ground the first week of June.

Pam, thank you so much for the super detailed itinerary! I really appreciate it and love all the bird callouts. This is so helpful and I really appreciate the time you took to type all this out!

Noted on the snow and sending you good thoughts for water in the summer - thank you for your reply and help!

We hiked a lot of trails in Yellowstone. My favorites are Bunsen Peak, Storm Point Trail, Port Sublime and Hellroaring Creek to the suspension bridge.

Have a fun trip!

Thank you so much for your recommendations! Added to our list 😊