Yellowstone and Grand Teton are national parks are amazing to visit. The wildlife, the volcanic activity and the mountain landscape are breathtaking. On this post we share our experience of a 6 days road trip from Salt Lake city to these two parks done early in June 2024.

Itinerary:

Day by day

Day 1: From Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone (Thursday May 30th)

First step to reach Yellowstone is to arrive close from Yellowstone. We choose to do a loop from Salt Lake city and to drive about 4hours north to West Yellowstone.

We landed at 4pm in Salt Lake city. The Salt Lake city airport was nice and the rental car pick-up was fast. In our way to West Yellowstone we did two stops: One in Farmington to buy bear spray and grocery (more about bear spray in the practical information section), and a second one in Pocatello at Jim Dandy Brewing. Jim Dandy Brewing had great beers and was the perfect stop for a quick break and to stock few 4 packs for the trip.

The road from Salt Lake to West Yellowstone had nothing amazing. We just had some nice views of the Tetons when we were around Ashton. We arrived at our destination around 8:45pm and stopped by Yellowstone Beer Company just before the closure of the Kitchen. The beer and the food was ok, the merch were really cool. After dinner we filled-up the tank and went to sleep.

Day 2: Grand Prismatic, Old Faithful, West Thumb, Hayden valley (Friday May 31st)

We left West Yellowstone around 5:40am and drove to the West park entrance and Grand Prismatic. The road along the smoking Madison river and the early lights was already a great spectacle. We also encountered our first small bison herd with two calves. After the Madison Campground we turned south toward Grand Prismatic and saw more bison and nice scenery.

We arrived at Grand Prismatic at 6:20am and were one of the only car. We went for the quick walking loop around Grand Prismatic and were impressed by all the smokes and vapors. The colors of the pools are also amazing but are more impressive when the sun is high in the sky. After this perfect introduction to Yellowstone we continued south to Old Faithful.

Our initial plan was to park at Biscuit Basin and walk to Old Faithful but the trail was closed. So we parked at Old Faithful at about 7:10. We walked along Old Faithful and decided to go walking around. We visited the geyser basin starting by Castle Geyser (North West), we were super lucky to arrive just when an eruption was starting. We continued walking and crossed the Firehole River. From the Belgian Pool the road going north to Grand Geyser was closed so we went back east to the Upper Geyser basin stopping quickly to each spring and geyser. Visiting this part of the park early in the morning was a great, all the smokes from the geyser and the spring are super impressive when the sun is still low and the air is cool. It gives the feeling to be in another world.

We then entered the forest to go to Solitary Geyser, and then to Old Faithful observatory. On the Observation Pt Trl just after Solitary Geyser we spotted some fresh bear poop. Inside the forest, about 100m (300ft) from Solitary Geyser we stopped as we saw some movement in front of us. Two Bears were about 25m in front of us in the trail and started to charge us. We didn’t had time to get the bear spray and we just ran toward Solitary Geyser. We never ran that fast, but the bears arrived on us super fast, they started to go away from us when they were just 3 or 4 meters from us. We continued running few more meters to arrive at Solitary Geyser where another couple was present with bear spray. We knew that running is usually not recommended. In our case it was the most obvious action considering that the grizzly already started charging us, and that we had an open area close by with additional people. We have no idea why the bears started running away from us. Maybe making noise and agitating the hiking poles afraid them. Or maybe it was just a charge to make us run away.

After this very scary encounter with the local wildlife we went back to the geyser basin being as noisy as possible. And we went to the visitor center to explain our story to the rangers. They gave us different possible explanation: the second bear looked too big to be a cub for us, but the rangers explained that mama bear can keep her cub up to 3 years. So the second bear was certainly a cub and mama bear was trying to protect him. They also explained that their was a dead animal in the area and they were maybe protecting the carcass. They seemed preoccupied and closed this area of the forest.

In Old Faithful we took the time to visit the old Inn and to buy few souvenirs. We also waited few minutes for and eruption of Old Faithful. The Old Faithful Inn all in wood is very impressive from the inside. And the Old Faithful eruption was nice to see. It was about 10am and the area was not too packed yet.

On our way back to the car we stopped to get a second bear spray. We then drove back north to Fairy Falls Parking Lot. From this parking lot we started the hike to Grand Prismatic Overlook. We are usually annoyed by crowded hike but this time we were very happy to have a lot of people with us (more protection if a bear encounter happen again).

The hike to Grand Prismatic Overlook is a must do. The Overlook is easy to access and from this point you get the famous view over Grand Prismatic. The overlook is busy but it’s still a must do. From the overlook you can continue the hike up to Fairy Creek and Imperial Geyser. (Alltrails link). The hike between the Overlook and Fairy Creek is mostly in the forest. The Fairy fall is nice but nothing amazing. We didn’t continue the hike up to Imperial Geyser because we were still too afraid of our bear encounter. But from Fairy fall the short hike to Imperial Geyser seems worth it. It gives you access to a nice pool which is less crowded than all the other ones that are close to a parking spot.

From Fairy fall we went back again to the Grand Prismatic Overlook and back to our car to do Grand Prismatic a second time around noon. It was about 1pm, and at Grand Prismatic the parking was full. We had to park along the road and walk 5 minutes. We took our picnic watching the Firehole River, all the tourists, and a bison. Our second tour of the Midway Geyser Basin (Grand Prismatic) was very different than the first one: less smoke, more people, and brighter color. Doing early morning and mid day was a good idea to experience it in different ways.

After Grand Prismatic we decided to go to the Canyon area (where we had our lodge for the night). We went there using the road that goes South to West Thumb and then North East via the Hayden Valley. On the road we stopped by Biscuit basin for the short hike and the Sapphire Pool. We also stopped by the West Thumb Geyser basin and the Black Pool. For each of them we had a nice short hike with beautiful springs. They are perfect short break to pause the driving.

The road between Old Faithful and West Thumb and the road between West Thumb and Fishing Bridge had nothing exceptional. Mostly forest that were just going out of the winter. The road between Fishing Bridge and Canyon Village (Hayden Valley) was not as great as what I imagined. When arriving closer to Canyon Village there was some nice overlook of the Yellowstone River and few bison. Maybe later in the season the wildlife is more present and the valley is more interesting.

In Canyon we checked-in to our room at Canyon Lodge. Took the time to rest a little bit and went back to Hayden Valley Alum Creek for sunset and picnic.

Day 3: Canyon, Mammoth, Lamar Valley (Saturday June 1st)

Even if we woke up early we were not willing to start hiking too early as we were still afraid of being charged by a bear. We did the few stop of the North Rim drive and went back to Canyon Village to check the Ranger station. At 9:30am we went to Artist Point at the end of the South Rim. During a summer sunny day around 9:50am you can see a rainbow from the lower fall mist which is very cool to see. We selected a nice spot and waited for the rainbow which arrived just on time. I really recommend to catch this rainbow if you are around the canyon at this time of the day. (You can see below pictures before and during the rainbow without zoom and with zoom).

After Artist point we checked the different spot of the canyon: Upper Falls View (South Rim), and on the North Rim we did the few hikes that we were afraid to do alone in the morning: Brink of Lower Falls, Red Rock point. Nearly all the Canyon Overlooks are nice, each of them offers a slightly different view.

After our morning in Canyon we drove west to Norris Porcelain Basin and North to Mammoth. The Road between Norris and Mammoth is nice, if we had more time we would have done more stop, but we had to be in Gardiner not too late to catch the UEFA Soccer Champions League Final. Finding a bar with the game in Gardiner was difficult, we finally went to Iron Horse Bar and Grill which was a nice surprise. From the outside it’s not very welcoming but inside they had decent food and beers with a nice terrace. They were also broadcasting the soccer game which was perfect for us.

It was about 3pm local time when the game ended, we went to see the Roosevelt Arch and went back to Mammoth to visit the hot spring. The Arch is nice to see but I’m not sure it’s worth to drive their if you are not planning to go to Gardiner. In Mammoth we parked close by the visitor center and went to the Mammoth springs. We did the Terraces trails up to Canary Spring and back. It took us about 1hour to do this hike and we had great pictures of the springs. (I missed the upper Terrace Loop Dr – this drive was looking more like a parking lot when we access it from the trail and we didn’t realize it was a scenic drive to do).

Going back to our car in Mammoth we stopped by the visitor center. We also saw a wolf, he looked afraid and was running in the middle of Mammoth. It was about 5pm when we left Mammoth to go to Lamar valley. The Blacktail Plateau Dr was closed so we used the Grand Loop Rd. After Tower Junction we had a first nice stop at the limit between the forest and a pond. We initially stop for some bison resting on the grass and saw later a couple of Sandhill crane with two new born. We also saw a pronghorn resting in the forest. After this first stop we passed the Lamar canyon and entered the Lamar Valley.

The view when entering the Lamar Valley was magical: the river is in the middle with large areas full of grass and bison and the mountains all around. We continued the road up to Trout Lake taking pictures of all the bison and the cut calf. In Trout lake we turned around and went back. We stopped when cars were parked and asked what people were looking at. Apart from bison, they were very often looking at animals that were very far away and very difficult to take pictures of. But people were very nice and happy to explain what they were seeing. We didn’t do any hike but hiking to Trout lake or doing a walk at Lamar River Trailhead would certainly have been a good idea.

After Lamar Valley we went back to Canyon Village. On the road we did few stops to see a black bear close by the road and some more bison and dears that were far away. The road between Tower Junction and Canyon Village offered some nice views of the park.

Day 4: Norris Porcelain Basin, road to Grand Teton, Jenny Lake (Sunday June 2nd)

We started the day by driving to Norris Porcelain Basin. The small loop north from the Norris Geyser Basin Museum was great with the morning light. Similarly to the Old Faithful area, I think visiting during the morning or the evening give you a much better experience as the smokes are more impressive. We continued hiking in this area by doing the loop which is south from the Museum. On the south loop we liked the Emerald Spring at the very beginning. The rest of the hike was without major interest.

After this first short hike we drove south toward Old Faithful. On the road we stopped along the Gibbon River for breakfast. We also stopped at Fountain Paint Pot. At this location the walk allowed us to see more nice pools (Silex Spring) and few small Geyser. We then continued South and stopped at Black Sand Basin which is a small basin close to Old Faithful. This site had a short loop with few nice pools as well. At this stage we had seen enough spring and basins and it was difficult to say which one was the most beautiful.

We were very happy with our Yellowstone experience, and were now on our way to Grand Teton. After passing the West Thumb intersection we continued south to the Grant Visitor Center. There was nothing specific to see so we continued south. The road from Grant Visitor Center to Colter Bay was in the forest and we only stopped for a picture of the Grand Teton entrance. Inside the park we stopped at Colter Bay Visitor Center for a picnic, and continued south to Jenny Lake.

At Jenny Lake the parking was full and a lot of cars were parked along the road. The weather was not very good but better than what was forecasted for tomorrow so we tried the Jenny Lake Trailhead up to Inspiration Point. We started the hike around 2pm. The beginning was in the forest along the Lake. When we were on the south part of the lake we stopped few minutes with a group of people to observe a Grizzly which was peacefully walking above Moose Pond. We then continued North along the Jenny lake, and saw a marmot on the trail when we arrived close to the Cascade Canyon (all this part of the hike can be avoided by using the boat from Jenny Lake visitor center).

The hike from Cascade Canyon to Inspiration point is beautiful, we went fast as it was starting to rain and we arrived at Inspiration Point just when the rain was starting to be strong. It was a quick stop and we started the hike down. We were going south along the lake when we heard some noise in front of us. A grizzly was in the middle of the trail between two groups of hikers. The bear was very calm, it seems he was just looking for food or water. Everybody started to make some noise and after few minutes the bear went up in the mountain. Even if the grizzly was very calm we were extremely surprised to see one in the middle of the day on this trail which is heavily trafficked.

We finished the trail at about 4:20pm under a light rain and drove to Moose and to our hotel just before Jackson. After a quick break we went back to Moose for a floating tour at 6pm with Barker-Ewing company that we booked online the day before (about $100 per persons). The tour begin by a drive from Moose to the starting point on the river which is just after the Snake River Overlook. The guide took few minutes to prepare the raft and we then embarked with about 4 people on each side of the raft. (the raft is always gently spinning so there is not real front or back).

The tour was a nice experience, the guide was very experimented and good at spotting any animals. He was also very knowledgeable about birds. During the tour we saw: some ducks, sandhill crane, a bald eagle, and a deer crossing the snake river which was very impressive. The tour was relaxing (it’s not whitewater rafting) but still require a lot of skills from the guide to avoid all the obstacle in the river. We would have loved to see a moose or some beavers but we only saw “beaver activity”. Although we didn’t saw everything we were hopping to see it was still a very enjoyable experience.

For the evening we went to Jackson to heat at Million Dollar Cowboy steak house. There was nothing amazing but the food was good. As we were in the steak house we could go to the bar without any cover charge. The decoration of the bar with the saddle stools and many other details was very fun.

Day 5: Grand Teton rainy day (Monday June 3rd)

We had been lucky so far on the weather, but this luck was coming to an end. For our only full day in Grand Teton the forecast had rain all day long and we had to adapt the activities.

We started the day by some hot beverages at Cowboy coffee. The Huckleberry mud pot was a great surprise. We then stopped at Percefone Bakery to buy a breakfast and some breads. After this good breakfast we went for a driving visit of the park hopping to see some wildlife. We drove first to the Gros Ventre area and the T/A Moulton Barn on the south east part. We then continued to Schwabacher landing and took the 5 minutes hike in Schwabacher. No wildlife but a very nice view of the river with the clouded mountains on the background.

We continued the driving tour going north to Oxbow bend. This is another good stop for a nice view of the mountains with the Snake river on the foreground. In Oxbow bend we saw some white pelicans eating in the river. Our next stops were in Jenny lake and in Moose to visit the park shops and the visitor centers. The Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Moose had a nice exposition and the shop was also one of the best with a lot of choices.

For Lunch we headed back to Jackson for an elk Philly steak and some beers at Roadhouse Pub & Eatery. The food and bears were good. We then walked in Jackson and stopped in few shops for souvenir or to visit the local photo gallery.

From Jackson we decided to try the Moose Wilson Road. This is a small road between Teton Village and Moose which is closed to big vehicle. At the start of the road in the Granite Canyon Entrance we finally had some interesting wildlife. An Ospreys was perched on the tree just at the entrance gate and we were able to get good pictures of him.

We continued the road driving slowly and not seeing anything interesting. When arriving close by Moose, a grizzly mama decided to cross the road just in front of us. We first saw her checking the road, and then her cub arrived. They both crossed the road and went in the mountains. It was finally something exiting on this rainy day.

It was about 5pm and it was still raining. We decided to head back to our lodge to pack some drinks and picnic hopping to have maybe a better sunset. Going to our lodge we saw a lot of cars stopped just after the bridge in Moose. We stopped as well to see what was happening. Everybody was looking at mama moose with her baby. We were very happy to see a moose as this is one of the few animals we had not seen yet.

For sunset we went to Schwabacher landing with our picnic hopping to see more moose. There was still some intermittent rains but no moose. We took our dinner in the car, watching the mountains and writing post cards. Just before sunset the rain stopped, the mountains were still in the clouds and we had no hop to see any wildlife. We were ready to leave when the sky suddenly became pink and we were able to enjoy some amazing colors over the mountains. It was a great way to finish the day.

Day 6: Grant Teton and road back to Salt Lake City (Tuesday June 4th)

Since our plane was leaving late from salt lake we had a full morning to spend in Teton. Some clouds were still present but the weather would be good. We already had nice Schwabacher landing pictures from yesterday sunset so we went to T.A. Moulton Barn in the morning to see this other iconic location. We were there at about 7:20am and had some good lights. We enjoyed the nice views of the Barns in the foreground with the mountains on the back ground.

After this good start of the day we went back to our lodge to pack and did the same driving tour than the day before: Schwabacher landing, Oxbow Bend, Jenny Lake, and the Moose Wilson Road. We didn’t see any major wildlife but were happy to finally see some blue sky behind the Tetons.

We left Jackson around 1:30pm and started our drive back to Salt Lake by a stop in Melvin Brewing in Alpine. This brewery was a nice stop with great beers and a cool location over the lake. If we were starting our trip it would have been a good place to by few 4 packs. We left Melvin around 3:15pm and drove to Salt Lake. The road between Alpine and Salt Lake offered a lot of great landscape and was a good way to finish the trip.

Practical information

Bear Spray

If you plan to go out of your car, you must carry bear spray in Yellowstone and in Teton. Few companies offers rental with multiple pick-up and drop off locations. When you are in the forest with low visibility, we advise to have the bear spray in your hand. During our encounter with mama grizzly in the forest we had no time to react.

Key advises when planning your trip:

Yellowstone and Grand Teton could be visited without hiking a lot, most of the top spots are very close from the parking lots. If you want to go their with minimum planning this is our top advices:

• Know what you absolutely want to do with good weather condition, and adjust your planning to the weather. Two of the best spot that are weather dependent are: Grand Prismatic overlook, (and other springs) which have better colors during a sunny day when the sun is high in the sky. And Canyon Artist point on the south rim at 9:45 in a sunny day. You may need to change your planning if it’s raining the day you wanted to be at these locations. Other locations will be less impacted by bad weather.
• Our list of must do in Yellowstone would include: Grand Prismatic early morning and noon, Grand Prismatic overlook around noon, Old Faithful (lodge, Geyser and tour of the Geyser basin) before 10am or late, Canyon north and south rim, Lamar Valley, Mammoth spring.
• Our list of must do in Grand Teton would includes: Jenny Lake, Schwabacher landing, T.A. Moulton barn just after sunrise.
• Outside of the must do, just open your eyes on the road and stop when you see something nice or when you see other cars parked.
• Enjoy the parks for sunrise or sunset. You don’t even have to walk to find amazing sunset points. You can just park your car, open a snack, and wait for wildlife or sunset.
• Be ready for the season: traffic/parking issue during summer. Snow or cold weather otherwise. On our side during early June we had no issue with traffic or parking, few days of bad weather, and some snow on the mountains (good for picture, bad for some hikes).
• If you have a rainy day, you may still be lucky and see wildlife, just go outside :).

Reflecting on our trip:

Our overall trip was amazing. We did less hike than initially planned due to our initial bear encountered (yes we were scared) and the rainy day in Teton. These are few stuff that I would have loved to do in addition:

• Yellowstone short trails in the Lamar Valley River
• Yellowstone Imperial Geyser (just after Fairy Falls)
• Yellowstone trail between Biscuit Basin parking and Old Faithful (was closed for us)
• Teton Cascade Canyon Trail after Inspiration Point.

Where to stop to buy 4 packs

• Between Salt Lake and West Yellowstone we recommend Jim Dandy Brewing in Pocatello
• Between Slat Lake and Teton we recommend Brewing in Alpine

Map

You can use the Map below to see the full itinerary!