8 to 9 day RVing Loop -Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and ......

Hi everybody, hope you are all doing great.

My family and I (wife and 2 boys, 11 and 6) rented for the first time an RV last year and did an unforgettable,  wonderful and very enjoyable 15 day trip through California, Arizona, Nevada.
This year we do can not take that long of a trip, but a maximum of 8 to 9 days which we wanted to spend visiting Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore and any other great places you may recommend.
We are planning to fly into our starting point (probably Salt Lake City) by June 29th from Miami and make a loop during those days in the RV.

I am just putting our plans together but need to decide an move pretty fast in order to make it.
Our main objectives are to visit the main attractions, drive beautiful scenic roads, have some memorable adventures with the kids, view wildlife and check some historic sites or trails.
The idea up to this moment is as follows:
1) Rent the RV either at Salt Lake city or Jackson (we checked Access RV for that)
2) Drive to Snake River for a float trip  and then drive though Gran Teton National Park towards Yellowstone
4) Spend 3 full days at yellowstone
5) Spend half a day in Cody on our way to Mount Rushmore
6) Visit Mount Rushmore Memorial as well as Crazy Horse Memorial

......and this is were doubts start.

Would love to follow the loop south,  drive though Rocky Mountain National Park ,  then to Arches National Park spend the day there and then back to Salt Lake City to fly back home. But do not know if we can fit all this in this short period of time.

We also checked looping back from Mount Rushmore though Wyoming but did not find many interesting things to visit on our way back to starting point.  And Arches NP. looks like a place we do not want to miss specially since we can not see ourselves coming back to this area.

Would greatly appreciate if you could give us some thoughts and insights out of your own experience, as well as some ideas of how to best plan this trip, what to visit and do while in that area in that time frame, things we definitely can not miss, best routes to take, etc.

Many thanks in advance for your advise.
Ed

Ed,

Your last statement is disturbing. Not coming back to these great National Parks is just not in the future. You willbe back! ;D

If you have the choice of Salt Lake City or Jackson, I would take Jackson. That puts you right in the middle of one of the parks and Yellowstone is only an hour drive north. Now keep in mind, Yellowstone has 2.2 million acres to absorb so do not think you will see it all in one trip. (see my opening comment)

Three days in Yellowstone will only give you a sampling of what is available. Be sure to read the information you will be given when you enter the park and stop in at the Old Faithful Park Store. We work there along with Pancake Bill and his wife, Jolene. We might be able to answer some of your questions and guide you to a memorable time in our park.

When visiting Cody, the Buffalo Bill Museum is a must see and it has grown into three buildings. This cannot be done satisfactorily in half a day but it might help you decide to come back for another visit.

The Crazy Horse monument is interesting but a long way from completion. When visiting Mount Rushmore, be sure to take in the evening presentation. If you are a red blooded american, it will bring tears to your eyes!

You probably won't have enough time to really enjoy the trip if you take in Rocky Mountain National Park and Arches along with the rest you want to do. If it were me, I'd skip the Rocky Mountain N.P. and go to Arches. All parks are really great but one can only do so much in 15 days. You don't want to spend over 50% of your time driving and not be able to stop and enjoy what is before you.

Others may have a different view of your trip and, hopefully, between all of them, you will find a trip route that will provide you with a desire to do it again in the future.

Hope we get to see you at Old Faithful!

Eduwolff said:

1) Rent the RV either at Salt Lake city or Jackson (we checked Access RV for that)

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Jackson would be a much better choice.

2) Drive to Snake River for a float trip  and then drive though Gran Teton National Park towards Yellowstone

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You just missed the best part of the trip. I think Grand Tetons is a much more enjoyable park than Yellowstone, and Yellowstone is pretty darn fantastic.

4) Spend 3 full days at yellowstone

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I would suggest two days at Yellowstone and two days at Grand Teton.

5) Spend half a day in Cody on our way to Mount Rushmore

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Good idea.

6) Visit Mount Rushmore Memorial as well as Crazy Horse Memorial

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Now you are really starting to get to the point where you are trying to cram ten pounds of poop into a five pound bag. You are going to be doing a lot more driving than sightseeing. You can fit both of these in but by that time you should be heading back to Jackson to return the RV.

Would love to follow the loop south,  drive though Rocky Mountain National Park ,  then to Arches National Park spend the day there and then back to Salt Lake City to fly back home. But do not know if we can fit all this in this short period of time.

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You can fit it all in, you just won't be seeing anything.

And Arches NP. looks like a place we do not want to miss specially since we can not see ourselves coming back to this area.

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You will be back. You aren't even seeing the tip of the iceberg here. You missed Zion, Bryce, Capitol, Canyonlands, Arches, Great Basin, Bear River, Glacier, Theodore Roosevelt, Wind Cave, Custer, and a whole bunch of other great spots.

Grand Tetons are great, but unless you are going to hike a lot, it can be seen and enjoyed from the road.  Everyone has their own preferences, Tom's is for the Tetons, mine is for Yellowstone.  Rent from Jackson, drive up and through Yellowstone, maybe spending an extra day here, less in Tetons.  Focus.  As Jim said, you will be back.  Tough part of an itinerary like yours is fleeting glimpses and lots of driving.  In my opinion, you need to shave off one of the legs.  Me, it would be Rushmore, (which  is an appropriate name for the Itinerary!), incorporate more in this area.  Arches is another of my favorites, but lots of miles south.  I would save a southern loop for another visit. 

Can you get all these places visited in one visit?  I suppose so, but lots of driving, not a lot of appreciating.

That sounds like a very ambitious trip for the time allotted. You should figure on two days of driving from Salt Lake City to the Tetons. Jackson would be a much better choice. Another good option would be to fly into Billings. Then you could take the Beartooth Highway (hwy 212) into the NE entrance of Yellowstone. At almost 11,000 ft. elevation, it is a spectacular drive.

Joel

As full timers, we have a far different concept of time than those who must squeeze in a two week vacation. The vacation folks have a check list and often feel like they did not get their money?s worth if that list doesn?t exhaust them. I think you should pace yourself.

In our experience, two months in the YNP area two years ago, and in another two month attack even as we speak, YNP is a vacation in itself.

Until you have been there, I don?t think most people can appreciate the magnitude and the variety of recreation that it provides. We had no clue. For that reason, we have dedicated a huge portion of our time budget just to Yellowstone.

Everyone?s tastes vary, as witnessed by the previous opinions, and everyone focuses a little differently. I see some water time in your approach, especially with the kids, and a need to see some historically significant things for their benefit.

Salt Lake City up to Jackson with an early start is an easy one day adventure. The thing is, there are things to see on that trip as well. Because you have to come back to where you came in, you might leave Cody and points east off the list, and make YNP and the Tetons your focus. You will not run out of things to do, and a large variety at that.

We have our kids and grandkids flying into Jackson tomorrow for a week, rented a van, and we will wear them out in the Tetons and YNP, and have tons of stuff left over. I think the best thing you can say about a place is that you left wanting more. You won?t find a better place to start than Yellowstone.

Yea, rent as close to where you are planning to go as possible, saves a lot of driving time so you can enjoy the parks

Personally, I would skip Rushmore/crazyh......  Its neat and all but so busy.  I think there are much better places to see when time is tight especially since it takes a minute or two to see all that needs to be seen there. 

If you are into hiking spend more time in the Tetons.  Lots of great scenic trails to walk on and not nearly as crowded as Yellowstone,

Yellowstone is neat but being so huge it takes a while to get anywhere.  Agreed with only needed 2 days in the park to see everything..... If not into hiking this is probably the better of the two since you can drive a hournto the next lookout vs hiking at Tetons.

If you can fit it into your schedule i would head a few hours north and hit glacier.  To me its the most scenic and enjoyable park in the area with excellent views from inside the car or on hikes.  Traffic/people are a fraction of Yellowstone. 

You could easily spend a week in Yellowstone/Grand Tetons and still not see everything tyhere is to see and the same holds true for Mt. Rushmore/Black Hills/Custer SP/Crazy Horse/Badlands. I would pick and area and concentrate on that area. We spent 3 months leaving Miami the first week in June just doing a swing west and north and really wished we would have concentrated on maybe 2 areas. This great country holds some very different but beautiful NPs and all are deserving of at least a week or more. We spent one week in Yellowstone/Grand Tetons and needed more time. We will go back.

Thank you all for your advice.  Is very valuable and useful for us to put together our trip.

Sorry if my comment was a little disturbing ?..  ☺ . We actually do hope to be able to go back as most of you suggest.  We are actually flying in from Uruguay, South America;  this is something which we will not be able to do every year and if so, we would probably like to visit other areas as well. That is what my comment meant.

My wife and I lived in the US for a few years.  Even though we are not Americans, we do love and feel for this country and really like to explore it, spend time there and show it to our sons.

After reading your posts, I am trying to find a flight to Jackson and start our journey there.
Bear in mind, coming from overseas and not being ?RVers?,  just the fact of driving through historical places, stopping over at western/cowboy towns like Cody and spending the time RVing together as a family is already an adventure in itself.  More so for the kids.  And then to arrive into Mt. Rushmore Memorial , has to be something.
That is the reason we do not really mind the driving from Yellowstone to Rushmore, for we think that is one of those great places we do not want to miss. Even if once there is not much to do compared to the big National Parks, we will actually enjoy the getting there.

Even though we do like hiking a lot, with our 6 year old son during summertime, I believe hiking will be limited to short trails.

Most of you have similar opinions in regards to trying to fit too many places in a short period of time. And I can see is not wise to be doing more driving than actually enjoying the places.  So we will be weighing pros and cons in regards to what to include, and how change our loop and improve our trip.

But in the case we still want to include Rushmore,  we would appreciate your advise on ways back to Jackson,  which would be enjoyable, go through interesting stopovers and shorter in time than our original route?

Since Mt Rushmore is a must I would see the Tetons, Yellowstone and the Black Hills.  We spent 12 days in the Tetons and Yellowstone and it wasn't enough to see it all. We wanted more!!  Anyways, to find the perfect drive from the Black Hills to Yellowstone is tough. East of Cody its not as scenic as other drives IMO.  But, you gotta get there.  I'm thinking you land in Jackson and then head to the Black Hills first.  After the Black Hills visit I would drive to Cody and visit. Then enter Yellowstone through the Beartooth Hwy on the north side(amazing drive).  Then you can start in northern Yellowstone and run south and finish in the Tetons. I really see no way to visit RMNP or the Arches in only 9 days. 

Day 1: Land and get RV and supplies (depending on what time you land you may have to stay the night)
Day 2: Drive to the Black Hills, visit Rushmore (9 hour drive)
Day 3: Black Hills (rushmore, custer, big horn)
Day 4: drive to Cody visit and stay night
Day 5: leave for the Beartooth via the Chief Joseph Hwy, enter NE Entrance of Yellowstone, (lamar valley famous for wolves) drive and stay in mammoth
Day 6: central Yellowstone (Grand Canyon, Mt washburn, tower falls)
Day 7 : visit southern yellowstone (old faithful and geyser area)
Day 8: Tetons
Day 9: leave (thats if you have 9 days)

This is just an idea.
Good Luck and enjoy the trip!!!

It makes me feel much better about when i started here reading others posting the same questions.  I would really listen to the advice given  here.  My itinerary was just as ambitious, well actually alot more since I had about 2,000 more miles and an infant (but had more time). 

I really tweaked my itinerary based on the recommendations.  My computer logs my time spent on each application.  I spent exactly 36 hours working on this itinerary (not counting booking places) and after 2 months finally think I have a good one.

We are hitting most of the same places as you except we are starting in Tennessee and doing Rocky Mountains.  However, we have about the same list as you but have it in 41 days.  (36 if you don't count the flight we are taking from Denver to Rochester to visit Family and just leave the rig at the RV park).

My point is that even if you see much less then you want to, you will be much happier actually seeing things.  A comment was made here to me by one of the forum sages that really hit home....."Your stops are great but you will only see the center white line".  This really hit home to me.  I mean, we had 400-600 mile legs on our trip.  I figured it was OK because we do it all the time.  However...we only do it once then stay somewhere for 6-10 days.  Never done it one after another after another. 

I am really looking forward to Rushmore.  I know many people say avoid it but as Jim Dick brought up...I am looking forward to the night presentation.  We will be in Rushmore for the 4th.  I just want to visit some of America's greatness and feel compelled as a patriot to visit the monument!

I would also skip RMNP.  Only reason we are going there is 1) Denver was the cheapest place to fly to Rochester. and 2) Its basically already on the way home to Knoxville.  Really think you will hate yourself if you try and cram this in.  I have been told (even by the people in RMNP that they would rather be up in the Tetons over their park especially in the summer months)

We are parked in a campground where i can see crazy horse from where I'm typing and will be here for two weeks and  I don't think it will be enough time.  This is big country and there is so much to look at and do. I would also advise slowing it down a bit.

Don't wait for Crazy Horse to be finished!  How is it shaping up?  I hear it will be a generation or two before finished, if ever.

Crazy horse is pretty much a done face and a hole in the mountain under where the arm will be. It will be a looong time before it gets done!  Cold here too!

The Black Hills can be quite crowded during the summer months.  It's the first mountains you'll hit coming west from the northern part of the country.  There's lots to see and do, pick up a visitor's guide as soon as you get to the area.

At the risk of adding another thing to your itinerary, if you're taking I-90 between the Black Hills and Yellowstone, it's a 30 mile detour to loop north on US 14 and WY 24 to see Devil's Tower.  It's the monolith that was featured in Close Encounters of a Third Kind.

Figure on a couple of hours to walk the trail around the base and take in the Visitor's Center at a minimum.  There's a campground if it works as an overnight stop.

There's also a large Prairie Dog "city" in a large field right along the entry road to the Monument.  If you stop at the overlook you can see them pop in and out of their holes and may see a few standing sentry on their rear legs.

Thanks for the imfo
  Wy-lu

We were not able to rent the RV in Jackson, so we decided to start or trip in Billings (as per Great Horned Owl's ).  We were able to rent a 31' class C, from Pierce.

After taking your advice, we were also able to add a couple of days to our trip, and so decided to make the drive to Mount Rushmore and do it at the beginning, so we will be able manage time later on the trip.

So our itinerary looks as follows:

Day 1: Arriving into Billings at 12:00 , Get the RV, Get supplies at the local Walmart and drive off towards Gillette , WY.
Day 2: Drive to Devils Tower then to Black Hills and visit Mount Rushmore
Day 3: Visit one or two caves at Wind Caves National Park in the morning to leave after lunch towards Dubois
Day 4: Spend the day in that area, learning how to fly fish and hopefully catching our dinner
Day 5: Snake River Float & white water rafting (out of Jackson). Spend the rest of the afternoon and night at Jackson
Day 6: Relaxed stop and go drive through Grand Tetons towards Yellowstone.
Day 7: Yellowstone  (we have not yet made the visit plans while in Yellowstone)
Day 8: Yellowstone
Day 9: Yellowstone
Day 10: Spend the day and night in Cody
Day 11: Back through Yellowstone to catch the Beartooth Highway and again relaxed stop and go drive to Red Lodge and then drive back to Billings.  We have arranged to keep the RV for the night and leave it parked at Billings airport.
Day 12: Early (6:00 AM) Flight back to Denver . Spend the day and night in Denver
Day 13: Mid morning Flight back home


Even though we will still be fleeting glimpses as PancakeBill said,  we feel this is more relaxed than before and we will only ?rush more?  going towards and back from Mount Rushmore (again quoting PancakeBill) through he first 3 days of our trip.  And we feel pretty comfortable with the amount of miles to drive and time to spend at each area.

We even think we might have some room between day 4 and 9 to fit a horseback  3 or 4 hour trail ride.  Any recommendation?

We now need to refine our trip:
a) defining the right roads to drive and which to avoid
b) finding the right RV parks to spend our nights
c) tips you could give us out of your own experiences
d) things we can not miss visiting
e) unforgettable places to eat or shows/activities we would not want to miss while visiting the towns or cities on our way.  (Cody, Jackson, Red Lodge, Dubois, Newcastle, Casper, Riverton, Billings, Gillette, etc.)

Also, wanted to ask; since we will visit different national parks , should we get some kind of pass to do this?

Once again, thanks very much in advance for your comments and advice.

Pick up an America the Beautiful Pass at the first NPS site you visit. You can get it ahead of time by mail but it's just as easy to do it the first time you need it.


The campground at Wind Cave Nat Park is closed right now but if it's open when you head that way, it's a nice spot to stay while you visit the area. Wind Cave is more rugged but less developed than Jewel Cave. Jewel Cave is prettier.


There's a nice campground at Devil's Tower if the timing works for an overnight stay.


Be flexible and enjoy the trip.


Wendy

I think the distances out here are deceptive and easily misjudged.  For example, a drive in Yellowstone that normally takes 30 minutes can take 1.5 hours if a large herd of bison is crossing the road or has chosen to use the road as their trail.  Remember they have the right of way!  Also the park has a 45 mph speed limit so it's impossible to rush from one point to another.  If there's a bison or an elk or antelope, just about every car that drives by has to stop and photograph it!  They don't necessarily pull off to the side of the road like they're supposed to do.  Sometimes they even get out of their car and walk 30 feet to get a better view  - and their car is in the middle of the road!  They also jam on the brakes and make sudden swerves so you really have to pay attention to your driving.  In other words, it's really hard to plan on timing between various parts of the park.

ArdraF

Lots of wining roads and steep hills out here as well. It has taken me longer to drive most everywhere but it's a hell of a view.