Salt Lake City to Grand Teton/Yellowstone mid-September

[Pat Kearns]

My wife and I are flying into Salt Lake City and then driving to Grand Teton/Yellowstone and surrounding areas for about a 10 day trip in mid-September. In the past we flew to Jackson Hole. What routes out of Salt Lake City to Jackson would be best photographically? Also, what areas outside of Yellowstone would be consider a don't miss it?

[diversey]

Don’t miss snake river rafting for sure!

[Willie]

Take Highway 89. Relaxing drive through some nice small towns and countryside.
Another alternative is to take the Freeway East and go North at Evanston, Wyoming. Another good trip that is quiet and relaxing once off the Interstate Highway. Easy to take a small sideways jaunt on Hwy 30 to check out Bear Lake to the West and Fossil Butte National Monument to the East. If you have the inclination you can go to Kemmerer and up Hwy 189 to Jackson Hole. Pleasant and relaxing drive and more small towns, farms and ranches with a lot of views that are worth the trip.

Bet you can tell I enjoy back roads more than Interstate travel. One can stop and photograph on this type of road.

[Michael Kadillak]

Take Highway 89. Relaxing drive through some nice small towns and countryside.
Another alternative is to take the Freeway East and go North at Evanston, Wyoming. Another good trip that is quiet and relaxing once off the Interstate Highway. Easy to take a small sideways jaunt on Hwy 30 to check out Bear Lake to the West and Fossil Butte National Monument to the East. If you have the inclination you can go to Kemmerer and up Hwy 189 to Jackson Hole. Pleasant and relaxing drive and more small towns, farms and ranches with a lot of views that are worth the trip.

Bet you can tell I enjoy back roads more than Interstate travel. One can stop and photograph on this type of road.

Agree with Willie. I would have suggested a Bozeman Montana arrival and a drive down the Gallatin River to get to the West Yellowstone entrance and a return through Mammoth / Gardner MT, and up the Paradise Valley to Livingston which is just marvelous but the rental car rates in Bozeman when I was there 10 days ago were absurd. $150 a day for a mid size and $500 a day for a van. Plus I saw all kinds of rental cars parked in the lot. Highway friggin robbery IMHO. If the rental rates adjust that is a good option. SLC is too far away from Yellowstone and Grand Tetons as one spends too much time driving between things of interest. Spend your time where you intimately want to be - in the parks. There is just so much to too and do.

In any way I would suggest taking the BearTooth Highway (past Cooke and Silver City to the East just out of the Park's East Entrance) which is a road literally in the clouds and stop in Bogarts in Red Lodge Montana for some pizza or Mexican. Back over the Beartooth Highway as the view in both directions needs to be on ones bucket list. Enjoy!

[Michael Kadillak]

Checked the rental car rates in Bozeman Montana for Mid Sept.and the rates at that time are back to normal. $32/day for a mid size SUV.

Unless there is another reason to fly to SLC, Bozeman has a great airport and is much closer to West Yellowstone. You can be there in 90 minutes. Having driven from SLC to Yellowstone many times, I would consider spending your time where you can spend your vacation exploring and doing fun things in the parks. 10 days ago I drove this route down the Gallatin Valley and it was gorgeous.

[Pat Kearns]

Michael, comparing the airfare to Jackson Hole is one of the lowest I've seen in a long time so I'll probably fly there instead. I've been looking at the Beartooth Highway and the Gallatin Valley as well. Thanks for those suggestions.

[mmerig]

Also, what areas outside of Yellowstone would be consider a don't miss it?

The Gros Ventre River valley (via Kelly, Wyoming) is a great place, with nice framing views of the Teton Range to the west. The road can be bumpy in places, but cars can make it quite a ways up without a problem. The last stretch after Soda Lake can be rough. There are interesting old trees along the north side of the valley, and some of the river is especially beautiful.

Fall colors along the Snake River and the Jackson Hole basin start around September 20th, but there may be some nice colors up the Gros Ventre by mid-September.

There is plenty of wildlife -- everything that Yellowstone and Grand Teton Park has, although the buffalo tend to be closer to Kelly. The largest wolf pack in Wyoming used to live along the Gros Ventre valley, but Wyoming Game and Fish killed most if not all of them last year. But it is such good habitat that wolves will return, if they have not already. In the spring, it is common to see bear (both kinds), wolf, and mountain lion tracks (or the animals themselves) along or from the road. Lots of elk and bighorn sheep too. But by summer, wildlife tend to be more dispersed, but I have seen them all times of the year there.

There are lots of other great spots, but the GV is a good place to start.

[Raymond Bleesz]

Pat--as has been stated, Bozeman might be worth a look at---from Bozeman up the Gallentin River into Yellowstone. But what ever. A suggestion is to visit not far from Bozeman and East of Yellowstone is Custer's site--Little Big Horn. Worthy of some time. That part of Mont/Wyo is nice. Raymond

[wyofilm]

A longer trip would be SLC to Logan (89) up the the western part of Wyoming to Alpine, WY. Here is the detour: head south down Grey's river valley, then east over McDougal Gap (National Forest) to Daniel, wy. Then head north to Jackson, wy up 189. This last part will take you through Bondurant, WY and a beautiful canyon. Always have plenty of water, fuel, and eats. Keep an eye on the weather! Some of the above route is remote in particular the Alpine to Daniel part. It is beautiful though. I would sleep in Alpine and use a second day to get from Alpine to Jackson.

[Brian Creek]

My wife and I are flying into Salt Lake City and then driving to Grand Teton/Yellowstone and surrounding areas for about a 10 day trip in mid-September. In the past we flew to Jackson Hole. What routes out of Salt Lake City to Jackson would be best photographically? Also, what areas outside of Yellowstone would be consider a don't miss it?

Well, how did your trip go?

[Pat Kearns]

We flew into and out of Jackson Hole and got home this evening. The trip was great. I want to thank Michael Kadillak and mmerig for their suggestions. Michael the Gallatin Valley is absolutely a beautiful drive with lots to photograph. I think I could spend an entire week there photographing the valley. Sadly, the Beartooth Highway was closed due to snow so that will have to wait for another trip. mmerig, thanks for telling me about Gros Ventre. We drove down it for a few miles from the highway from Jackson but not as far as I would like to have gone. That's another drive I would like to take another time. The trees were just starting to turn and will probably be at their best in about another 5 days. I don't think they will be as spectacular when we were there about a dozen years ago. I went out to the Mormon barns and met another LF photographer named Rick Garfinkle that was from California. I made him a couple of offers to buy his Kodak Master View but he just didn't want to sell it. I told him if I had one I wouldn't sell it either and wished him good light. I have to say when I was working a week's vacation went by fast but being retired now a 10 day trip goes by faster. When we were leaving today my wife said we can't let another dozen years go by before we go back. That sounded promising. :)

[Drew Wiley]

When I was nearly back to the Green River trailhead after recently spending two weeks backpacking in the Wind River Range, we ran into a retired couple from Tennessee who had hauled their own horses all the way from there just to test them out on the local trails, and then return next year for a month-long horse trip. That's a lot of gas and effort, but when I informed them what lay ahead was even better, it reinforced their resolve even more. Then, when we finally got to the car and started heading back still all dirty, I wanted to pull out somewhere along the river to clean up. But first, I set up my tripod because an afternoon rainstorm with some spectacular light coming over the Gros Vente range was headed our direction, reflecting in the water, which is rather wide and gentle at that spot. Wyoming can be addicting.

[mmerig]

. . . . The trees were just starting to turn and will probably be at their best in about another 5 days. I don't think they will be as spectacular when we were there about a dozen years ago.

The fall colors are nearing their peak now, and it looks to be a good year for colors. Maybe not the best -- but better than usual. I live in the Teton Basin in Idaho and have been working on the Jackson Hole side lately (Gros Ventre, Teton Wilderness, Grand Teton National Park), so I see the changes every day.