Road Trip to Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Park

The minute states started opening back up and travel bans lifted, you bet I hit the road! My friend from college, Gabby, and I headed out West for 7 days to enjoy the peace + quiet, nature, and all the West has to offer.

Over the course of 7 days, we spent a total of 31 hours in the car, hit 6 states, visited 2 national parks, and spent countless hours outside enjoying the scenery.

Below I’m sharing our exact itinerary on what we did, saw, ate, accomplished, and more information for you so that you can plan your next roadtrip ↓

7 DAY ROADTRIP

If you’re planning to attend more than one National Park, I would recommend getting the annual pass, however, we purchased a regular entrance pass once we arrived = $35/car for 3-7 days!

TUESDAY - DRIVING DAY

We left from Lakeville, MN (30 minutes south of the Twin-Cities area) around 4:30am and arrived in Gardiner, MT around 6:30pm. It was a 14 hour and 15 minute drive with an hour time difference - CST to MST.

Tip: We rented a Nissan Rogue (SUV sized car) which I highly recommend! It gave us not only more room up front for driving, but lots of space for packing our suitcases, hiking equipment/backpacks, and cooler. 

Gardiner, MT is the nearest city to the northern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Once we settled in, we headed to Gardiner Market to pick up some groceries to make dinner for a couple nights.

Tip: We packed a cooler full of basics such as sandwhich supplies (turkey, cheese, bread,) mini bagels for breakfast everyday, chips, granola bars, etc. which was extremely helpful during the day inside the park(s) since there’s limited places to eat if you’re on a hike!

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

There are two main loops - shown on the map. We did the southern loop (Madison, Old Faithful) on day 1 , and the northern loop (Mammoth HS, Roosevelt area) day 2.

CAUTION: Wildlife is real!! Light to moderate traffic does begin to form when animals approach near the road. Binoculars are very common to see hikers have to scope out wildlife.

Driving to our first destination we pulled over to see a huge herd of bison and drove a couple more miles to see a small grizzly bear in the ditch! Overall on the trip, we saw tons of antelope and bison (most common), 1 moose and her baby, 2 black bears, 1 grizzly, and heard a pack of wolves howling in the distance.

WEDNESDAY - YELLOWSTONE DAY 1 (SOUTH LOOP)

We first drove all the way to to Old Faithful -the drive time was about 1 hour and 40 minutes. There, we waited about 30 minutes until Old Faithful erupted and then explored the rest of the area around it.

Tip: NPS has an app for each park if you want to check that out. I googled “Old Faithful eruption estimation times” before heading out for the day to better time when it’s predicted to erupt.

Next, we drove to the Grand Prismatic spring! If you’ve seen any photos of colorful pool-looking geysers at Yellowstone, this is the place! Grand Prismatic spring is beautiful!! You walk around to see clear blue water in one direction to bright orange scaly rock in another. Seeing this up close is incredible, however, the overlook is a must too! The overlook is located off of Fairy Falls and is about a mile, minor hike up to the top.

The last stop we made on the southern loop was Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon. Before heading out West, I did some research on places to visit. This canyon was by far the sight I was looking forward to see, and let me tell you, it looks exactly like the pictures.

Once you arrive to the canyon, there’s a couple different lookout points for different views. We started at the Brink of the Lower Falls to see the giant flowing waterfall. At Brink, there’s a lookout point at the top, as well as a path that goes down to see it closer. We then headed to Red Rock viewpoint from there.

THURSDAY - YELLOWSTONE DAY 2 (NORTH LOOP)

Gabby is passionate about wildlife, so we headed to Lamar Valley! Lamar Valley is known for seeing great wildlife. I would definitely recommend the drive through the valley if your goal is to see lots of animals!

After driving back toward Rosevelt, our plan was to go to Fire Hole Canyon Drive. Once we got there, it was closed so we couldn’t swim in the hot springs. NOTE: *look at the NP website to see what is closed for the day before driving out of your way to places* Since that threw a wrench in our day, we did Fire Hole Lake drive and then drove west to Paint Pot. Unfortunately, it did storm a little so it did take us a little longer than it usually would to do the north loop. 

To end the day, we hiked Mammoth Hot Springs. In total, it was 3.5 miles. We parked at the Lower Terrace overlook to start. There are various different springs - Mound, Canary, etc. 

For dinner, we ate at Two Bit Saloon. It’s definitely a place where the locals go if you’re looking for a true Western experience. They’ve got good food, pool tables, and karaoke. 

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

FRIDAY - TRAVEL TO JACKSON, WY

Before heading to Jackson, WY and the Grand Tetons, we stopped at the Tumbleweed Bookstore and Cafe for a quick bite and took some photos in the mountains. In WI, we don’t have them so I was in awe everyday looking at them!

To Jackson, it was about a 3.5 hour drive through both parks which was INSANELY breathtaking. Once we got there, we headed straight into Moo’s Ice Cream to have a cone in hand while we walked the city square. If you’re looking for a cute, quaint, small-town charm atmosphere, Jackson, WY is exactly that! There are tons of shops to bum around, restaurants to eat/dine at, and you must stop at Million Dollar Cowboy Bar for one of their signature drinks! For dinner, we ate at Jackson Hole Drug which had a country, diner feel with rockin’ milkshakes. 

Jackson, WY is the closest city to the entrance of the park and I would definitely recommend staying there! (Places were booked in Jackson so we had to stay elsewhere) We stayed in Victor, ID which was about 35 minute drive on the overpass from Jackson.

SATURDAY - GRAND TETONS DAY 1

We started early, like 4:30am early! We left Victor at 4:30am to drive 45 minutes to catch the sunrise at Mormon Row. The mountains begin to lightly turn pink while the sun comes up and it was the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen.

Once the sun rose, we headed right over to Jenny Lake for our hike (around 7am). We parked and walked about 0.5 miles to the ferry. We took a 6 minute ferry across the lake to start our hike! If you want a longer hike, you can walk the 2.5 miles around the lake to get to the starting point. Once we got off the boat, we headed to Hidden Falls - a beautiful waterfall that lightly mists on your face while you’re looking at the water crashing down.

Our end goal of the day was to hike to Cascade Canyon which is past Inspiration Point. If you’re looking for a shorter hike, Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point are two great hikes to start (especially if you have kids with you). Keep in mind, to Inspiration Point, it is a slightly moderate hike uphill through some rock. Overall, it was a 5.6 mile hike one way (11.2 miles total) because once you reach the Canyon, you have to go back the same route.

I recommend beginning the Jenny Lake hike as early as possible since their busiest time to take the boat shuttle across the lake was between 1pm-4pm. We finished around 1:30pm with our hike and headed back to Jackson for dinner at Merry Piglets.

NOTE: We did have plans to attend the Rodeo, however, it was completely sold out. So if you want to attend, make sure to get tickets in advance/couple days before the event.

SUNDAY - GRAND TETONS DAY 2

Our last day :(

Persephone Bakery for breakfast! Their lemon scones, breakfast bowls, and coffee are to die for! Upon filling our bellies to the brim, we set off on our hike.

We first hit Schwabacher’s Landing (about 1-2 miles) which was extremely flat and was the perfect morning stroll next to the river overlooking the mountains. I would highly recommend this short, yet scenic hike if you’ve got small children with you or if you’re looking for something peaceful :) I also noticed lots of fishermen too!

After our stroll, we headed to hike Two Phelps Lake. When heading there, it gets a bit confusing. You should park at Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve and follow the path to the lake- which is about 1.5 miles. We chose to hike around the entire lake (4.5 miles), however, there are a couple other trails along the lake that you can hike as well!

Make sure to follow the signs to Huckleberry Point then to Death Canyon in order to stay on the correct trail - it wasn’t labeled the best on the signs so make sure to bring a map!

After putting in another 12 mile day, we grabbed an appetizer at the Silver Dollar Bar + Grill in the Wort Hotel. Highly recommend their spinach dip! Then on our way back to Victor, we cooled off with a refreshing beer from Grand Teton Brewing. 

MONDAY - DRIVING HOME

And we’re off, coming back for you MN! We left Victor, ID around 6:00am and drove to Jackson to stop for a quick breakfast at Cowboy Coffee.

NOTE: Our drive home was a little under 17 hours since we drove the 3.5 hours from Yellowstone to Grand Tetons.

What was cool about both drives is we took different routes to get there and get home! On the way to Yellowstone we drove through North Dakota and Montana and on the way home, it was through all of Wyoming and South Dakota before hitting finally Minnesota.

Overall, it was an incredible trip! The mountains always bring me peace and never seize to amaze me. Are you planning your next trip there? If you have any questions, comments, or other recommendations you’d like to give, drop it below! I would love to chat with you ↓