July 2022
Transportation: We drove, we decided to do it all in one day and started out trip in Tetons. We left at 4:30am CT and arrived at 8:30 MT, took 17 hours with a few gas fill ups and potty breaks.
Our girls do best with one long day verse 2 semi long days, but you could choose to stop along with way at Devil’s tower, badlands, black Hills ect.
Lodging: We stayed at 2 locations near Tetons and 2 in Yellowstone
TETONS AREA
Jackson lake lodge https://www.gtlc.com/lodges/jackson-lake-lodge
First 3 nights- great location in the park, beautiful lodge and a few good food options at the lodge. Good activity options. The Mountain View cabins have amazing views of the mountains, but they are small and need updates and still are pricey. We had a room with two double beds, beds felt tiny, we also used a blow up mattress that fit on the ground. They do have a pool which is always a win when traveling with kids.
Rustic Inn in Jackson https://rusticinnatjh.com/
2 night, this is located at the north end of the city of Jackson (minutes south of the south entrance of Teton NP) cute little cabins, pool and a great grounds with fire pits and teepees to explore. Good activity options. The cabins along the creek had great views. Otherwise we stayed in a less pricy cabin without the creek view and it was very nice inside, nice bathrooms, Queen beds and still had room for a Queen blow up mattress. This is within 5-10’ of walking distance to downtown. Good food options at the resort. Plenty of great food options downtown, people raved about a pizza place we didn’t make it to.
Jackson is a city within the “Jackson Hole” area. I originally thought staying here would feel too far to drive into Tetons park but actually it wasn’t. I think you could totally stay in Jackson and have easy access to the park each day. There are more updated lodging options in Jackson. Every night but Sunday they do a “shoot out” down town Jackson.
If you are looking for a rustic/nature park lodge feel extremely close to most all things in the park then stay in the park. If you want a bit more space, updated rooms and internet then stay just outside the park in Jackson.
Jenny lake lodge is the all-time place to stay if you don’t mind spending lots of $$ and want to be able to have and all-inclusive feel right inside the park. I feel like this would be best as an adult vacation. It is pricy but seems to have great reviews. We chose Jackson lake lodge for the location and pool option for the kids
YELLOWSTONE AREA
A lot of people talk about staying just outside the West Entrance being a good option outside the park. We wanted to decrease driving as much as possible so stayed in the park. The in park lodges do tend to book up quickly, but if you are ok watching the website daily you will eventually find something. Look up https://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/ (best to book through this site run by Xanterra) I found reservations by grabbing even one date at a time and was able to eventually find what we needed.
The park is very large and if you want convenience I would plan to stay in at least 2 different locations, one with easy access to the south loop and another towards the north loop/canyon area. If you choose to stay in one location I would choose Canyon Lodge, very updated, had WiFi, nice rooms and fairly centrally located although it’s an hour drive to old faithful area.
We chose to stay near old faithful area and then Canyon area, very happy with these locations as they had most of what we wanted to see close by. I love my solo morning runs and was able to explore several more geysers from Old Faithful inn (that the girls just were too worn out to see) and some great look out views of the Canyon right from Canyon Lodge.
Old Faithful Inn
Fantastic Lodge area, ok dining options (make a reservation if wanting to eat dinner here), rooms are a tiny step up from Jackson lake lodge, typical park rooms, a bit outdated but not too bad. They do have some authentic old lodge rooms without bathrooms (communal bathrooms available) these looked very cool, but with kids having a bathroom in the room won. We stayed in the West wing with two queen beds and had room for the blow up mattress. Great location for seeing old faithful and the upper geyser basin and taking the path to morning glory pools (lots to see along the way). We found the best location to actually watch old faithful go off was at the top part of upper geyser basin verse sitting with the crowds at the seating area just around old faithful. NO WiFi!! Actually be prepared to not have Wifi in Yellowstone so either buy a good map or print off directions before you go. They do have Wifi at some of the other lodges in the Yellowstone but still spotty at times, no Wifi when touring around the park.
Canyon Lodge
This is located at the northeast side of the south loop. Great location for seeing the canyon and falls. Updated rooms, descent food options in the “Canyon Village”. They have cabin options for less $$ and when I ran past them they actually looked like a good option. We stayed in the lodge area in a room with porch, this was a great room, next time I would specifically request a woods view as some of the porches are right off the parking lot which I don’t think is worth the extra money to have a porch. They have a trail near that starts by the cabins that is paved that goes right out towards Grand View point and lookout point.
We originally also had one night booked at Mammoth springs which is the very north end of the north loop, this is great for viewing Mammoth Hot springs and doing some things in Gardner. When we were there the north entrance to Gardner was still closed due to recent flooding/road damage so we didn’t stay there but still drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs. Neat to see but not really a much do.
Activities:
Lots of great options you can find with a quick google search or within the lodge websites. I will list out the ones we did below:
Our Favorite!: Horseback riding with Swift Creek Outfitters. https://www.horsebackadv.com/ This is about 20’ drive from Jackson lake lodge. They are very laid back and even let the twins ride (who are not technically old enough) They do river crossings and the scenery is beautiful (no view of Tetons, but that didn’t matter). We had a great Wrangler named Andrew. Great experience for all of us, lasted about an hour, but they do have longer rides if desired. You don’t even need a reservation, just show up which worked great for us!
Scenic River float on the Snake River: This was ok, but honestly I wouldn’t say it was worth the time or money. Scenery was beautiful, but was about an hour too long (2 hours total in the raft, then 30’ in van driving to and from the drop off/pick up locations). We did this through Jackson lake lodge and they provide transportation to/from lodge.
Covered Wagon Cookout with BAR-T-5: https://www.bart5.com/ We booked with through Rustic Inn, but you could probably book with Bar T 5. This was a cool unique experience with a cool scenic wagon ride to/from the dinner area. Food was good and they have a little show with country “cowboy music”.
Other options we didn’t get to: There is a touristy activities at snow king right above Jackson, and Teton Village very close to Jackson that has an option to take the gondola up with some amazing views and restaurants if you want to eat up there.
Hikes/views worth seeing:
TETONS
Grand View Point: Trail head is very close to Jackson Lake lodge, the front desk recommended this hike, was a good family option with great views of the Tetons and lakes at the top.
Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point near Jenny Lake: You can take a boat shuttle across Jenny lake (otherwise it’s a two mile hike around the other side of the lake). If you arrive before 10am you shouldn’t have to wait too long for the shuttle on the way there or on the way back. This is a very popular family hike/activity and it gets very busy the later you get there. We arrived at 8am and hoped on right on the shuttle there and back without any wait. No reservations for the shuttle, first come/first serve. If you are up for it there is a hike that continues on into the Canyon (Cascade Canyon), we did not do this as it gets long for little legs, but is supposed to be pretty cool.
Taggart Lake: This is a great family hike, not too long and amazing lake/Teton views once you get to the lake!
Delta Lake: if you are up for a longer hike (I think 7 miles or more) this lake also has amazing views, we did not get to this one, but would if we went back!
Mormon Row Historic District: This isn’t actually a hike, you drive right up to the famous Barns that are often photographed with the Tetons in the background.
YELLOWSTONE
Mystic Falls (starts at Biscut Basin loop walkway): Great family hike to beautiful falls, less people/crazy than only walking on all the busy walk ways. Some great thermal pools to see on the way too.
Upper geyser basin and the path to morning glory pools: Lots of cool thermal pools and geysers along the way, easy distance for family, right out front of Old Faithful Inn.
Grand Prismatic Springs: This is amazing, the largest thermal pool. I would highly recommend seeing this from the view point that you can walk to from the Fairy Falls parking lot. We actually did not do this, we parked right at the spring, but its so large you really can’t get a good look at it unless you are viewing from up above. I wished someone had told me about this J. We (the kiddos) were too tired to drive back to fairy falls and do the walk, but I don’t think its that far and would be worth the view point.
North and South Rim of the Canyon: several points to drive or hike to: I would recommend driving straight to Artist point, you can walk from Grand view point to Lookout point easily and if you are up for a trail hike there is a trail between Inspiration Point to Grand view/Look out point. All are amazing beautiful views of the canyon and falls! This was my favorite area of Yellowstone!
Mudpots: Theses were recommended to me, we passed them after a long day and didn’t end up doing them, but they are supposed to be cool and are near Canyon Lodge area or on the way from Old faithful area to Canyon area.
WiFi: ok Wifi in Tetons National Park, NO Wifi in Yellowstone, some spotty stuff when at lodges that do have Wifi, but not all lodges in the park have Wifi. Print off maps or buy one if you are planning to use you google map it most likely will not be an option.
Food: Great to have our cooler and food options for snacks as needed. The lodges all had food options and we usually ate a late breakfast and then a dinner at the lodges and used our food for lunch/snacks while hiking.