I am in the planning stations of a group ride in the summer of 2020. We will be starting out from Calgary, AB winding up at home, Toronto, ON.
We want to visit Yellowstone Park. Tenatively I have us staying in West Yellowstone, riding to the park entrance and doing what I will call the north circle (approx 130 miles) for the morning and the south circle in the afternoon (approx 110). and returning to the hotel.To those who have visited the park, am I biting off to much for?
I am leaning to the north circle for one day and the south for a second. None in our group are hikers, however we do want enjoy the sights that
the park has to offer.
Biting off way to much to do in one day. At the speeds and general gridlock you will find it would be a LONG day to do both. It will take time to see several of the sights that are along the roads.
Do some research and plan out what you want to see. Western part of the park is the area where Old Faithful and the bubbly earth is, eastern part ( Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley ) is where you will see herds of animals and the Upper/Lower Falls are. Are you planning on hitting Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Hwy? You'd better be!!!! The southern area and the Tetons are worth the ride down to Jackson Hole, the mountains are right next to you!! We stayed in Island Falls( just outside of Western Yellowstone ) last year and it worked out well, just be sure to get an early start and get to the gates and get in front of the RV's with people driving them that have never driven an RV before. You really need 4 or 5 days to see the majority of things there, ENJOY!!!!!
Watch the construction on the upper west loop. When we were there there in 2017 it was tore down to the dirt. From what i understand, it's still not finished.
mid day is the worst. Early or later is a lot less people. We were fortunate to hit it after a storm one day that ran most off. Some of the side areas on a busy day will be full. You can still see LOTS from the overlooks and pull offs doing the main loops like you drew out, just lots more to see than that
Divide into 2 days if you can. Go in as early as you can for a better chance of seeing critters. If you see traffic stopped it usually means there is something to look at. Check out facebook and look for a Yellowstone group. you can get all sorts of information there.
One loop a day. Expect to be doing it at 20mph with gridlock. Expect sudden stops in corners. Maybe you'll get lucky and there won't be too many people, yet to see that happen though.
You'll still want to stop and take a look at a few things even if you don't hike in. Yellowstone Lake for example is way bigger in person than on a map.
Do the south loop one day. The next go across the middle and up to the north east entrance as it goes to Beartooth pass. Ride to Red lodge, have late lunch and then return. What a ride.
One day for south and one day for north. Get up fairly early in order to have a lot of time. There is a lot of stuff to see and there will be a lot of people so take it real easy on the road, as someone else said, the chance of finding stationary cars into corners is fairly high.
03-05-2019, 01:39 PM
Yellowstone Park suggestions
