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OT: A Great Day in Yellowstone

Appreciate you taking the time to pass along all this info. I am going to do some research.
Vienna, you aren't driving either a black Chevrolet hatchback with a bunch of number stickers or a white Ford SUV? I saw both out and about on Montana roads today with South Carolina plates.
 
Vienna, you aren't driving either a black Chevrolet hatchback with a bunch of number stickers or a white Ford SUV? I saw both out and about on Montana roads today with South Carolina plates.
We are driving a black dodge van. Rented in Bozeman. Has CO. plates. Tomorrow is our last day before heading to the Jackson Hole area. We may end-up with Covid but this is a great time to visit. Traffic and crowds are unbelievably light.
 
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We decided to go down to Yellowstone yesterday for the first time in the 2020 season. We stayed in the northern part of the park, from the Gardiner entrance over to Roosevelt Junction and ventured a bit into the Lamar River Valley. The traffic in this part of the park was brisk, but noticeably lighter than most summers. There were a good number of California plates in the park yesterday, but zero tour buses and zero international tourists. The traffic at the Gardiner entrance was backed up 100 yards or so, but that is not unusual for July. The Mammoth Hot Springs area had plenty of parking and was not the frantic node of activity that it usually is. All of the trail heads we passed had ample parking. We did two hikes today: The Yellowstone River Overlook Trail and the Hellroaring Creek Trail. We've never done either of these hikes, but really enjoyed them. They are both fairly low-investment hikes; each about 4 miles round-trip and with lots of great views along the way. The Overlook Trail follows the cliff on the north side of the river, opposite the Tower Falls area. For the first 3 miles of this trail, we didn't see a single person. The Hellroaring creek trail crosses the old pedestrian suspension bridge that spans the Yellowstone River for some really spectacular views of the river through a very narrow canyon. It's hard to imagine how they even built the bridge in this back-country area.

If you want to see Yellowstone but really despise the summer crowds, this August would be a great time to do it. And if you've already seen the "check the box" tourist sites in the park like Old Faithful and the Yellowstone Falls, it's a really great time to get out and do some hikes in the less famous areas of the park with practically zero other tourists.
I think it’s awesome that you live that close to a National Treasure! I’m very envious. I would love to have the opportunity to get out there and enjoy the area!
 
We are driving a black dodge van. Rented in Bozeman. Has CO. plates. Tomorrow is our last day before heading to the Jackson Hole area. We may end-up with Covid but this is a great time to visit. Traffic and crowds are unbelievably light.
Enjoy the trip. I havent been to Jackson in the summer since I was a kid. We've always gone in the winter and now in the fall, mostly to avoid the insane crowds of tourists (think Gatlinburg on steroids). But this year, things may be different. Grand Teton National Park is incredible. The most awe-inspiring mountain range in the country, in my opinion. As you drive down to Jackson from Island Park, look to your left as you drive through the little Idaho towns of Tetonia and Driggs and you will catch the backside of the Tetons which are almost as impressive as the front side but much less photographed.
 
I think it’s awesome that you live that close to a National Treasure! I’m very envious. I would love to have the opportunity to get out there and enjoy the area!
I hear ya. I have to pinch myself all the time.

Hey, if anybody is looking for an uncrowded state to vacation in this summer, I'd check out Washington. It looks like most of their residents are here in Montana right now. Lol. I was down in the Tobacco Root Mountains exploring some campgrounds today and I swear every other car had Washington plates.
 
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Enjoy the trip. I havent been to Jackson in the summer since I was a kid. We've always gone in the winter and now in the fall, mostly to avoid the insane crowds of tourists (think Gatlinburg on steroids). But this year, things may be different. Grand Teton National Park is incredible. The most awe-inspiring mountain range in the country, in my opinion. As you drive down to Jackson from Island Park, look to your left as you drive through the little Idaho towns of Tetonia and Driggs and you will catch the backside of the Tetons which are almost as impressive as the front side but much less photographed.
We are planning a hike in Moose Wy. You need to take a ferry on Jenny lake to get to the trail head. My kids will enjoy. Deciding on a 2nd hike in the Tetons. Will definitely be looking for the backside of the Tetons on the drive there.
 
Seven or eight years ago, we went camping at Springfield campground on Lake Hartwell. We were between two groups of people who had retired and were camping across the country. They had just come from the Jackson Hole area, and were telling us how beautiful the area was. We were intrigued about the idea of traveling the country with our camper when we retired.
 
I hear ya. I have to pinch myself all the time.

Hey, if anybody is looking for an uncrowded state to vacation in this summer, I'd check out Washington. It looks like most of their residents are here in Montana right now. Lol. I was down in the Tobacco Root Mountains exploring some campgrounds today and I swear every other car had Washington plates.
You may not get this before we head out but would you recommend going through west Yellowstone to get to the Grand Tetons Looks like it would add an hour but may be more scenic?
 
We were in Wall Drug South Dakota on our way to Yellowstone . Spent the night there . It was 112 degrees that day . South Carolina car parks next to us and believe or not the back of the car had a big ass clemmy tater paw . My dad said look at that BS A 1000 miles away from and clemmer shows up to screw up a great trip. lol
 
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Back in 1989 I lived in Yellowstone for about a month fighting the big fire. It was probably the funnest thing I did in the USMC. I went back to the park about three years ago, I was surprised at how much fire damage was still visible throughout the park. Beautiful place though.
 
You may not get this before we head out but would you recommend going through west Yellowstone to get to the Grand Tetons Looks like it would add an hour but may be more scenic?
Sorry I didnt see this earlier. Let me know which route you took and how you loked it. I assume you were talking about driving through Yellowstone via West Yellowstone on your way to the Tetons. Going through the park is always scenic, but from Island Park, I actually preferr going through Ashton, Tetonia, and Driggs to Jackson up and over Teton Pass.
 
Sorry I didnt see this earlier. Let me know which route you took and how you loked it. I assume you were talking about driving through Yellowstone via West Yellowstone on your way to the Tetons. Going through the park is always scenic, but from Island Park, I actually preferr going through Ashton, Tetonia, and Driggs to Jackson up and over Teton Pass.
We did the Ashton, Driggs route. I love agriculture so this was the right choice. Very pretty country and a bit of a contrast to Yellowstone.

Enjoyed Jackson. We stayed in Victor. Did a long hike and a good bit of sightseeing. We leave tomorrow for Colorado.
 
WE will be at Yellowstone on 9/13 staying in a campground outside the south entrance. Can't wait.
That is a beautiful time of year. There will have been a couple of snows in the higher elevations to take the haze out of the air and a lot of the aspens will be turning at that point. And the crowds, what there are of them this year, will be significantly diminished by then.
 
We are driving a black dodge van. Rented in Bozeman. Has CO. plates. Tomorrow is our last day before heading to the Jackson Hole area. We may end-up with Covid but this is a great time to visit. Traffic and crowds are unbelievably light.

I'm about to "rip off the band-aid" relative to this Covid-19 stuff and hit the road. Well, quite honestly I had better wait until they get a vaccine and then head out but it had better be soon. I'm 75 and have a combination of asthma and COPD but heck I could develop some other dreadful disease and die before there is a cure for Covid-19.

I have a friend that is exactly my age (within a few months) and lives in Denver, Co. He has made a couple of round trips to Greenville and has a large family and visits a lot of people when he is in Greenville. His sister from Greenville visited him and his wife recently in Colorado. He send me a number of pictures with his sister where he had taken her in Colorado. He wasn't wearing a mask in any of the pictures.

I asked him did he ever wear a mask and he said only in places where he was required to wear a mask. Now he does have any underlining issues and that certainly helps. But my gosh, he has a large family and he goes into their homes without wearing a mask and doesn't get Covid-19.
 
Enjoy the trip. I havent been to Jackson in the summer since I was a kid. We've always gone in the winter and now in the fall, mostly to avoid the insane crowds of tourists (think Gatlinburg on steroids). But this year, things may be different. Grand Teton National Park is incredible. The most awe-inspiring mountain range in the country, in my opinion. As you drive down to Jackson from Island Park, look to your left as you drive through the little Idaho towns of Tetonia and Driggs and you will catch the backside of the Tetons which are almost as impressive as the front side but much less photographed.

In 2013 we spend almost an entire week in Yellowstone but after the visit we went to Jackson Hole but we would spend the night in Driggs. It was a neat little town. I didn't know to look for the backside of the Tetons though.
 
Pack a jacket
Yes, definitely pack a jacket. In mid-September, you may have afternoons when you do not need it, but you may also have afternoons when it snows. In the mornings, you will most definitely need it. Most of the popular areas of the park are above 7000 feet elevation.
 
uscg1984- your thoughts on the big sky area? We didn't spend any time there but drove through it.
 
uscg1984- your thoughts on the big sky area? We didn't spend any time there but drove through it.

It's your typical world-class caliber ski resort area; beautiful and expensive, similar to Sun Valley, the Teton Village at Jackson Hole, or others. If you drove by on Highway 191 between Bozeman and West Yellowstone, the resort is about 10 miles off to your right and basically everything from the highway to the resort is part of a big planned community. Big Sky bills itself now as the largest ski resort in North America, but they are taking some artistic license as the total acreage includes the skiable terrain of the adjoining Yellowstone Club, a private ski resort of the super rich. Club members can ski all of Big Sky, but your Big Sky lift ticket doesn't let you ski on their exclusive ground. Still, if you can't get your fill from the other 4,000 or so skiable acres, you probably have a skiing problem. lol I haven't priced real estate in Big Sky, but I would assume the market there has more properties with 7-figure price tags than 6-figure ones. Of all the communities in Montana, I suspect Big Sky has the lowest percentage of native Montanans. Not that there's anything wrong with that , but don't expect that community to "feel like" Montana in many ways.
 
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It's your typical world-class caliber ski resort area; beautiful and expensive, similar to Sun Valley, the Teton Village at Jackson Hole, or others. If you drove by on Highway 191 between Bozeman and West Yellowstone, the resort is about 10 miles off to your right and basically everything from the highway to the resort is part of a big planned community. Big Sky bills itself now as the largest ski resort in North America, but they are taking some artistic license as the total acreage includes the skiable terrain of the adjoining Yellowstone Club, a private ski resort of the super rich. Club members can ski all of Big Sky, but your Big Sky lift ticket doesn't let you ski on their exclusive ground. Still, if you can't get your fill from the other 4,000 or so skiable acres, you probably have a skiing problem. lol I haven't priced real estate in Big Sky, but I would assume the market there has more properties with 7-figure price tags than 6-figure ones. Of all the communities in Montana, I suspect Big Sky has the lowest percentage of native Montanans. Not that there's anything wrong with that , but don't expect that community to "feel like" Montana in many ways.
You are right. Couldn't find one single family home under 7 digits. A couple of condos and townhouses in the $800k range.

I honestly didn't have a clue that I would like Montana as much as I did. Also liked the Driggs area of Idaho.
 
I honestly didn't have a clue that I would like Montana as much as I did. Also liked the Driggs area of Idaho.
Grand Targhee ski area, about 8 miles east of Driggs at the end of Ski Hill Road, is one of my favorite ski resorts. About 2000 lift-served acres, about 800 acres reserved for snowcat skiing, about 2200 feet of vertical, 400-500 inches of powder per year, absolutely zero crowds, and what may be the most scenic views of any ski area in America (the backside of the Tetons).
 
You are right. Couldn't find one single family home under 7 digits. A couple of condos and townhouses in the $800k range.

I honestly didn't have a clue that I would like Montana as much as I did. Also liked the Driggs area of Idaho.

I love Driggs. While we were in Jackson Hole we spend the night in Driggs. Much cheaper, $70 in Driggs vs $250 in Jackson Hole. We found an Old Fashioned Drug Store there which had great milk shakes. Plus, the little town was quite charming.
 
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You are right. Couldn't find one single family home under 7 digits. A couple of condos and townhouses in the $800k range.

I honestly didn't have a clue that I would like Montana as much as I did. Also liked the Driggs area of Idaho.
Driggs is #1 on my list. Like the location and the home prices. More affordable than some of the other places and it was wife's favorite. If I had unlimited resources, I would probably choose the big sky area over Driggs but my wife actually likes Driggs over B.S. it appears you can get a 2000-2500 Sq foot home in the $475-$700k.
 
We were in Wall Drug South Dakota on our way to Yellowstone . Spent the night there . It was 112 degrees that day . South Carolina car parks next to us and believe or not the back of the car had a big ass clemmy tater paw . My dad said look at that BS A 1000 miles away from and clemmer shows up to screw up a great trip. lol
I call that a rest stop. Take a leek on it.
 
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