Our family loves to travel and I enjoy putting together our itinerary to share for others (and it’s also a great reminder for me). To see our previous trips here is Nantucket and here is Utah. For France, Italy, Iceland, England, Wales, Yosemite, St John, Maui, Kauai, California coast, Lake Tahoe, Zion + Bryce Canyon and Colorado mountain towns click here.
Below is our 8 day itinerary for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. Our girls are 18 and 20 and both have said this is one of their favorite trips! My younger daughter is really into photography so to see more of her photos from the trip, click here.
August 19
We flew to Bozeman Montana bright an early landing around 11am and quickly picked up our rental car to head to Yellowstone. I booked a night at Yellowstone Riverside Cottages in Gardiner which I highly recommend. The town sits right outside the entrance to the park and it has a bunch of food options (both grocery store and restaurants). We were able to have a nice lunch here, drop our bags at the hotel and then go into the park. We went to Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin before heading back for the night.
August 20
This was a highlight day! We did the Upper Loop (Tower Roosevelt and then down to Canyon) and spent a good portion of the day exploring Grand Canyon of Yellowstone which was incredible. We did a couple of hikes (loved the Lower Brink) and then we cut across and went down to Grand Prismatic and Old Faithful. We used the Guide Along App which was SO helpful (best $25 ever spent on a trip). It told us when to stop, what things to go past and provided interesting commentary along the way.
We wish we had another night in Yellowstone but after Old Faithful we drove to Grant Teton as the sun was setting and checked into Signal Mountain Lodge (LOVED this place and stayed here for 4 nights)
August 21
This was our Jenny Lake day and it was incredible! We took the boat across the lake and hiked to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point and then continued into Cascade Canyon. We went about 3 miles each way so we were very tired but it was so worth it to go beyond Inspiration Point. We had dinner at Leeks and then watched the sunset at Jackson Lake Lodge.
August 22
We went horseback riding with Swift Creek Outfitters (about 40 minutes from our hotel) and had beautiful views. We drove to String Lake and lucked out with parking getting a spot right by the beach. It was gorgeous!! There were lots of people swimming and we walked for awhile until we got near Leigh Lake and then headed back. We got dinner at Blue Heron at Jackson Lake Lodge for another sunset.
August 23
We woke up really early to catch the sunrise at Oxbow Bend (worth it!!!) We wanted to spend the day at String Lake but this time were not so lucky with parking so we ended up parking by a lookout point at Jenny Lake. We noticed a trail below where we parked and followed that all the way to String Lake and it was absolutely stunning and we had the trail all to ourselves. After an afternoon of swimming we hiked back to our car and we went to Signal Mountain Summit for sunset. It was so beautiful and then we drove back down to Signal Mountain Lodge to catch the last few minutes of sunset on the water.
August 24
We checked out of Signal Mountain in the morning and made our way out of the park but first did the Moose Ponds hike (no moose sightings but a beautiful hike) and stopped at Chapel of the Transfiguration before having lunch in Dornans. We checked into our hotel in Jackson (Rustic Inn Creekside Resort) and explored the town before ending the night with dinner at Merry Piglet
August 25
After breakfast we scoped out Mormon Row since we knew we were going to go there tomorrow at sunrise and wanted to be prepared with where the best spot to set up the tripod. Next we went to Schwabacher Landing and walked around the trail there which was beautiful. We all needed a bit of a relaxing afternoon so we enjoyed the hotel pool and then got ready for our family photo session. We met our photographer (Bret Barton who is incredible!) at Jenny Lake for some lakeside pictures and then headed over to Cascade Canyon Turnout. It was gorgeous!!!
August 26
We woke up early for sunrise at Mormon Row (Amazing!!!) After breakfast we did the Aerial Tram and enjoyed yummy waffles at the summit. We spent the afternoon souvenir shopping in Jackson and enjoyed more pool time at the hotel. We attended the Jackson Rodeo on our last evening which was a lot of fun!
