Yellowstone/Tetons lodging ???

[Sonya]

We are going this summer! I love the mountains. However, we will have some extra people. Me, DH, DS, the twin DD's, and my DSIL. So 3 adults and 3 kids, ages 6 and 2. The girls will probably be in pack and plays. I know where to stay in the Tetons (Colter Bay cabins) but what in Yellowstone would be big enough but cheap with a bathroom? I can't find any really good sites that tell you what you get, how big it is, and how much it costs. I know some of the cabins that are older are very tiny. We also don't want to stay in Mammoth. Any help?

 

[smschex]

Our family of 6-- 2 adults, 2 teens, and 2 tweens stayed at Togwotee Lodge in a cabin 2 summers ago. I think they had cabins of varying sizes. We had a kitchen, bath, living area with pull out sofa, and 2 queen beds. I am sure they had bigger cabins as well.

http://www.togwoteelodge.com/lodging/index.cfm

We used it as a base for both Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

 

[jsmith]

there are cabins at old faithful-and at grant village-also in west yellowstone and in the north fork outside of cody-although thats a bit far to drive back to the park-i think the snow lodge at old faithful is where the cabins there are listed. ther might also be cabins at fishing bridge-but they closed the campground due to bear activity

 

[MontanaZoo]

We stayed at the West Yellowstone KOA last Labor Day weekend. The very nice (we were acutally impressed, it's a KOA for pete's sake) cabin had a queen bed in the larger room that my brother and his girlfriend used, then there were bunk beds in the other room - probably a full or bigger on the bottom and twin on top. My sister was on the bottom and my niece on the top. There was room at the end of the queen bed in the main room for me to put down an air mattress and sleep there. Also had a small kitchenette and a table for 4 plus other chairs in both rooms.

The other place I'd check is vrbo.com.

The places with cabins in Yellowstone are Canyon, Roosevelt, Lake Hotel, Lake Lodge, Old Faithful, Mammoth. If you check on http://www.travelyellowstone.com/summer-lodges-92.html, you might be able to find something that will work.

 

[chasbos]

I have booked the Alpine Motel in West Yellowstone (our kitchen unit with two queen beds and a double futon available for the nights of August 5th thru 7th with a check out on August 8th. All our rooms are non-smoking/no pets and have air conditioning and high speed wireless Internet. The upstairs kitchen unit has a queen bed and double futon to the left as you enter the room with a full kitchen to the right. A second queen bed is in a back bedroom. There is a full bathroom with a tub/shower combination off this back bedroom. This unit has two televisions with Direct TV and a DVD player. The kitchen contains a full size refrigerator/freezer, convection oven, stove top, microwave oven, dishwasher, coffee maker, toaster, pots and pans, utensils and dishes. The rate is $149.00 plus tax ($163.90) per night.

for our stay at Yellowstone - have not yet found anything for when we are in Jackson (that is where we are going to fly into)

We are a family of 6 (DH, me, DD 17, 16, 13, 11) so we need extra room also.

We are going to do a loop - start in Jackson, head to Thermopolis, then Cody, over to West Yellowstone and back to Jackson.

We are very excited for this trip!

 

[MontanaZoo]

If anyone stops in West Yellowstone - go to Tubby's Bakery - oh my gosh, we ate there almost every breakfast and lunch. We got stuck in some awful elk jams and were glad to have the sack lunches, too! The chocolate croissants alone make me want to take the 3 hour drive to West.

 

[dolphindan1]

subscribing just because I got a bunch of info and we are thinking of going this summer

 

[MontanaZoo]

I'm not claiming to be the ultimate expert, but I used to live in Bozeman (about 90 miles from West Yellowstone) and I've lived in Montana my whole life and been to Yellowstone quite a bit. So feel free to ask questions if you have them, I might be able to answer.

 

[dolphindan1]

I'm not claiming to be the ultimate expert, but I used to live in Bozeman (about 90 miles from West Yellowstone) and I've lived in Montana my whole life and been to Yellowstone quite a bit. So feel free to ask questions if you have them, I might be able to answer.

I would like to know the must not miss things in the area.....I mean we all have heard of Old faithful....but what else

also what would be a good time to avoid the most amount of people...I have seen pics where people are just sitting in traffic...I think I wanna go when its a bit cooler too....not mid summer

 

[MontanaZoo]

I would like to know the must not miss things in the area.....I mean we all have heard of Old faithful....but what else

also what would be a good time to avoid the most amount of people...I have seen pics where people are just sitting in traffic...I think I wanna go when its a bit cooler too....not mid summer

First off, Yellowstone itself is BIG. The road is a figure 8 and you can get through both loops in a day but it's a lot of driving and you'll be pooped.

The gateways are North (with the main Roosevelt arch) - Gardiner, MT, Northeast - Cooke City/Silvergate, MT, East - Cody, WY, South - highway that hooks up to the Tetons but not really a town there, West - West Yellowstone, MT.

Montana doesn't have a sales tax except for resort towns. West Yellowstone has a sales tax, Gardiner, Cooke City and Silvergate don't.

If you like the geothermic features, stick to the west side of the figure 8 and see the geyser basins, Mammoth, Old Faithful. If you like waterfalls, they're all over the park but the Yellowstone falls are on the east side of the figure 8. I would not miss the lower falls of the Yellowstone.

Yellowstone Lake (which is massive) is on the lower of the loops towards the east. It's probably my favorite place to go since I've seen the geothermal features a lot. Two years ago on Labor Day weekend I actually saw river otters in the lake! Was my first time seeing them in the wild.

For wildlife, it pays to get up early and stay late. Best viewing is at dawn and dusk. You'll definitely see bison wherever you go in the park and most likely elk. I've seen wolves in the Lamar valley (towards the Northeast entrance) and Hayden valley (on the east part of the figure 8). Wolf spotters will be there with spotting scopes usually before you can actually see the wolves since they are radio collared. It can be difficult to see them without a high powered telephoto lens or a spotting scope.

Anytime especially during the day when a large animal is seen, there will be traffic jams and they can be massive. For us, we usually just accept this or plan our day to drive during the morning and explore somewhere during the day so we don't get caught in the jams.

The Firehole river on the west side of the park is a great place to take a break and wade or swim in since it is heated from the geyser basins upstream.

It can be really hot in Yellowstone, one July we went there and it was over 100 degrees all day long. If you go in mid to late August or in early to mid June those are good times. Yellowstone has snow a lot longer than you would think as well. Last Labor Day weekend we got there in 80 degree weather and drove home in snow.

West Yellowstone has the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center which is really nice, has great exhibits that house a pack of wolves and grizzly/kodiak bears. Especially if you don't get to see wolves or grizzlies in the park it's a good place to stop.

 

[MontanaZoo]

Mammoth

Cow elk and calf - this caused a BIG elk jam

Lower falls of the Yellowstone

Bear jam

 

[chasbos]

Love your pictures! The traffic line up looks like the ones that occur in the Canadian Rockies when the elk and mountain sheep are out!

We watched a fight between the two but not before almost hitting the car in front of us who braked very suddenly!

It is an amazing sight - especially coming from populated areas where all you see is people!

Keep the ideas coming!

 

[WDWRocksMySocks]

The places with cabins in Yellowstone are Canyon, Roosevelt, Lake Hotel, Lake Lodge, Old Faithful, Mammoth. If you check on http://www.travelyellowstone.com/summer-lodges-92.html, you might be able to find something that will work.

We've stayed at cabins at Lake Lodge and Canyon before. At the time it was three teens, one child and two adults. We got two cabin rooms and it worked perfectly. We also stayed at the Old Faithful Inn and it was AMAZING! I want to say we had adjoining rooms, but it might have just been two rooms that were next to each other. Either way, each room had a private bathroom. I highly recommend staying at least one night at the Old Faithful Inn. It was just...awesome.

I would like to know the must not miss things in the area.....I mean we all have heard of Old faithful....but what else

also what would be a good time to avoid the most amount of people...I have seen pics where people are just sitting in traffic...I think I wanna go when its a bit cooler too....not mid summer

We've always went towards mid-end of June. Like a pp said, it's a HUGE place and a lot of ground to cover. The only times we got stuck in traffic was when there was an animal sighting (we've seen moose, bison, elk, etc...). Otherwise, the crowds weren't bad at all. However, I would recommend making a reservation early - especially if you want to stay in the park (definitely worth it).

 

[perdidobay]

I would like to know the must not miss things in the area.....I mean we all have heard of Old faithful....but what else

also what would be a good time to avoid the most amount of people...I have seen pics where people are just sitting in traffic...I think I wanna go when its a bit cooler too....not mid summer

I agreee with Montanazoo about the geyser basins, the Norris geyser basin is a place you could spend hours just watching all the types of geothermal activity. My favorite in that area is Echinus Geyser, be sure to see it.

http://www.yellowstone.net/geysers/norrisbasin.htm

 

[Sonya]

We want to stay in the park, not out, and the south side (either east or west) is OK. We did the Canyon area one year and it was OK, the cabins were really um...... outdated and small though.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I was shocked by how bad the cabins and hotels in Yellowstone were and by how expensive they were. I guess it is hard to get a good return on capital when the season is so short.

We camped. It was much cheaper and not much more rustic than many of the cabins. Great trip. I have a slideshow from the trip here. My pictures from Tetons and Yellowstone can be found here.

Here is our lodging:

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Here are a few more pictures to build your anticipation of your trip:

Yellowstone:

Grand Tetons

 

[Deffenm]

Those are the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. My DH and I decided we want to go there Summer of 2010. My BIL lives in Denver, CO so we want to stop there, see Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons. I would love to hear more information about where to stay, eat, and see.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We've been to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone twice, and we're going back to Yellowstone this coming summer (June). Last year, and again this year, we're staying at Lake Yellowstone Lodge and Cabins, in the cabins.

Usually on the hill in the backround there was a buffalo grazing. We found the best place to eat was a little general store with a counter and stools within walking distance of the cabins. Right on Lake Yellowstone, with Otters.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

If you are going through Denver, consider visiting Rocky Mountain National Park as well. That was the third stop on our trip after GT and Yellowstone. Here are a few shots from RMNP:

The top of Trail Ridge Road (in August!)

Sunrise at Sprague Lake:

Elk crossing Sprague Lake:

Elk in a Meadow