Glacier, Yellowstone, and Teton National Parks- The Great Out West and Where to Begin

Last September, our family set out on an adventure of all adventures. There is just nothing quite as majestic and splendid at the American West. The peaks of the Rocky Mountains, the plains in the valleys, the massive wildlife that roams just doesn’t seem to have changed since its creation. This part of the country is truly one of my all time favorites and quickly became my children’s too.

Planning this trip didn’t exactly go according to our original plan. We had originally planned a ten day trip with friends in the fall of 2021. We had everything mapped out, plane tickets purchased, vacation homes rented, rental car reserved, and an action packed itinerary scheduled. We had spent hours planning every detail. All of that quickly came to a screeching halt when sadly we all came down with the C word just a couple of weeks before departing. I will eventually write a blog post about how to cancel trips and how to pivot plans, but to say canceling a trip like this wasn’t emotional would be a big fat lie. I remember shedding several tears over having to walk away from this dream experience. The Lord is always good and His plans are always better than anything we could ever dream up for ourselves. I’ll explain more in another post about how the Lord allowed us to pivot that was beyond our wildest dreams. Thankfully, we didn’t allow ourselves to wallow, but replanned a very similar trip for the following fall.

Round Two- So, the second time around, we were able to modify our original plans. Our friends were able to join us for the first leg of the trip which included Glacier National Park. We were joined for the second leg by my parents. My in laws and my sister in law’s family had also planned an epic road trip to the same area, and we were even able to meet up with them in Yellowstone. Again, the Lord’s plans are so much better than our own. Not only were we able to share this experience with our kiddos, but also were able to extend it to our families and dear friends.

How to Plan

Let me first take you along on how I even get started planning a trip like this. First, I absolutely love the app called Good Notes. It is fantastic and so easy to use and share. You can use a stylus to hand write notes, type notes, insert pics and links, and basically map out your whole trip. I pretty much use this for everything I plan.

Second, I begin with a basic layout of the top locations we want to hit. In this case we wanted to make sure to visit Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Teton National Park, and Jackson Hole. Next, I lay out how many days I think we will need in each location. This allows me to figure out the full length of the trip. For us this ended up being a total of 12 days. We then started coordinating dates with our friends and family. The dates were a little loose so that we could try and minimize flight costs as much as possible. Our friends were able to join us for 6 of the days. My parents were able to join us for 7 days.

The next piece of the puzzle I try to work out is the flights. I start by searching which airports are nearby and how much flights cost. When we originally planned this trip, we were going to fly into Salt Lake City, UT and out of Missoula, MT. However, our order of places to visit and airfare costs had changed. After searching all of the different airport options, we ended up deciding to fly both into and out of Bozeman, MT. One of the deciding factors was that the current state of rental cars was quite challenging. Usually you can pay a little more to pick up a car in one location and return it to another. However since everywhere was still recovering from the C word, this was not possible. We needed an airport that we could fly in and out of and pick up and return the rental car to the same location. Bozeman is pretty centrally located, but there definitely was some added drive times.

With our flights and rental car booked, we could now start laying out our stops. The first leg was going to be Glacier National Park. We had previously booked a home on VRBO that would not allow us to cancel when our plans changed the year before. However, they allowed us to rebook at another time. So, this lodging situation was an easy choice since we had already paid for it. It was located in Whitefish, MT and was about 45 min outside of the entrance to Glacier National Park. This was a little far, but the VRBO listing had said it close. This was not the only thing the listing exaggerated. Now the drive from Bozeman Yellowstone International Airpot to Whitefish, MT is about 5 hours. We had flown in a day early due to cheaper flight prices and had decided to break up the drive a bit since we would already have such a long travel day. We decided to stay the first night at Ninepipes Lodge in Charlo, MT. We really weren’t sure exactly what to expect as lodging options were quite slim. This place absolutely blew the tops off our expectations. The view was magical, the food and hospitality were outstanding, and was the perfect way to begin our out west adventure.

Now to finish out booking the lodging. While in Glacier our lodging would remain the same. We would just drive into the park each day. Following Glacier we would make the 7 hour drive south to Yellowstone. We decided to just crush the drive in one day so that we would have more time in Yellowstone. If you’ve never been, Yellowstone is huge! I mean really, really huge! It requires close to 2.5 hours of driving to make it from one side of the park to the other. Often times it’s a little longer due to road construction and wildlife. If at all possible I strongly suggest staying inside the national park at one of the many lodges, hotels, or campgrounds. There are many choices just outside of the park, but note that you will be adding at least 45 min to an hour just to get into the park entrance. It’s really nice to already be there and super easy to go take an evening or morning drive to go see wildlife. We stayed at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge and the Yellowstone Lake Lodge. We had originally booked a night at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, however, a few months prior to our arrival Yellowstone experienced a record and devastating flood. This hotel was closed, so we stayed at the Yellowstone Lake Lodge. Since we would be flying home out of Bozeman, We chose to make a loop spending two nights at Old Faithful Snow Lodge, then head all the way to Jackson Hole. In Jackson we stayed at my favorite place, The Rustic Inn. They seriously have the BEST breakfast that is included in your stay. This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever stayed. We stayed one night there and then headed back north and stayed at Headwaters Lodge located in Teton National Park. We then spent our final night inside Yellowstone at Yellowstone Lake Lodge. Our last night of the trip we chose a simple and cheap hotel near the Bozeman airport.

Now that all of the logistics were planned and booked, the real fun could begin. I don’t like to have a super strict itinerary. My husband is awesome at talking to people and getting all of the tips from the locals, so we like to have openings in our schedule to add these fun things in. I usually just write out each day on my Good Notes and start listing anything that we might be interested in doing or seeing. Glacier was a little more challenging than I had originally thought. We did have to plan ahead and reserve a pass for the Going to the Sun Road. This in my opinion was crucial, since everything you really want to see is along this road. It is pretty much the only road that runs through the entire park. There is also very limited parking in the popular hiking areas, so plan on being up and on your way well before the sun rises. It is totally worth it though.

In Yellowstone the park is pretty much organized around the two big loops that make a figure eight. We tried to chunk these areas so we could throughly explore each section and minimize back tracking. I would suggest a minimum of at least three days in Yellowstone, but you could easily spend a week just there. Most of your exploring in Yellowstone is driving, pulling off in a parking lot to go walk some boardwalk pathways, or pulling off to view wildlife and picture perfect views. There are hiking trails, but you really don’t have to do much walking to experience the beauty of this park.

In the Tetons, you’ll want your hiking boots. Don’t be intimidated by some of the longer or more difficult trails. Just do what you can and then turn back around. I promise as far as you can get will be more than worth it. The Teton mountains are my absolute favorite mountains ever! The first time I saw them I fell I love. I even bought a ring with the mountain outline that I wear everyday. Just a warning, you will fall in love with them and won’t be able to stop thinking about them. Jackson, WY, commonly known as Jackson Hole, is only about 30 minutes outside of Teton National Park and absolutely cannot be missed. The town square is picturesque and is known for the four large elk antler arches on each side. There are plenty of unique and amazing shops, galleries, and restaurants. I would suggest at least 3 days here as well, but again you could easily spend a week. Each time I go I wish I had more time here.

That’s it. That is how I work through and plan a big trip like this. I really hope this helps you not to be overwhelmed or intimidated to plan your own adventure. Things don’t always go according to plan or work out how you hoped they would, but do it anyway. Just go. Just explore. Just sit in amazement of God’s glorious creation. Then, do it again.