hiking

airport to condo to ranger station

mammoth area

We'll arrive at Mammoth too early for lunch, but I don't know if it will be convenient to do some hiking and then stop for lunch.  Mammoth Terrace and Mammoth Dining Room close Oct 12.

 2 hr 21 min, 75.9 mi drive
8:30 hit the road
10:45 arrive Mammoth
2:45 head to cabin
5:00 arrive cabin

Google earth map says trail is 3.9 miles, takes 3 hours: 

Mammoth ranger programs:

Opal Terrace (across the street from the rest):

Minerva Terrace (looks like the best one to me)

Palette Spring:

Cleopatra: 

Mammoth Overlook bottom: 

Mammoth Over look top: 

Lamar Valley and Bear Tooth

9a leave cabin

10:30a arrive Lamar for wolf watching

2:30a leave Lamar head to Bear tooth

3:00 Bear Tooth stops

5:30 check in Yodeler.

1 h 57 min to the end of the Valley with no stopping.  Assume 2 extra hours for stopping.

Bear Tooth:

about 36 min from end of Lamar to start of bear tooth.

"This 63 mile drive from Cooke City to Red Lodge is an awesome experience. Plan a full day for the round trip and do it on a day when weather is great. You will experience a lot, spectacular mountains, alpine lakes, wild flowers, snow/glaciers and difficult yet rewarding drive (beartooth pass is over 3300m high) It takes about 3 hours with minimum stops, be sure to bring OFF and layered clothes."

google maps says 1 more hour from start of Bear Tooth to Yodeler in Red Lodge.  Random guy says allow an extra 1.5 hours to stop at a few overlooks.  

Red Lodge restaurants: 
Bridge Creek Backcountry Kitchen & Winebar  http://www.eatfooddrinkwine.com/ people like it a lot, but it doesn't look like too much stuff that the kids would want to eat (no burgers or chicken tenders)

Sam's Taproom and Kitchen:  people like it, some people say there are lot of children there at lunch, they do have burgers, etc.  http://redlodgeales.com/sams-tap-room/menu/

Animals

Marmot:

Pika:

Pine Marten:

golden mantled ground squirrel (like a chipmunk with no face stripes):

Food

Jim suggested each family cook one night, and we eat dinner out for the rest of the nights.

Dinners
We can't cook at the hotel in Red Lodge on Friday.  The Saturday that Lynn and I arrive, Lynn and her kids will be too late for dinner.  So potential eating-in nights are S, M, Tu, W, & Th.  Since we are only staying in Jackson Hole 2-3 nights, it might be problematic to buy a whole meal's worth of food, and then have to move the ingredients and left overs to West Yellowstone.  The day we drive from Jackson Hole, see the Canyon, and then drive to West Yellowstone is also going to be a long day with 3 hr 42 min of driving plus the sight seeing.  Wed and Thursday are good eating in nights.

Can we put together a grocery list for Saturday?  I think there are a number of items that all 3 families will use (bread, milk, eggs, butter, fruit, etc).  The condo is supposed to have paper goods and cleaning products.  We could potentially eat in for breakfast, lunch and dinner for Sunday and breakfast and lunch for Monday.

Lunches: 

Since we need to have packed lunches Mon and Fri, and maybe Sunday, I'd recommend bringing a soft sided cooler.  That might help us to transport groceries from Jackson to West Yellowstone as well.

Sunday, there are a lot of restaurants around Jackson, but there is a lot to do in the Tetons to do it in one day, so if we pack lunches, we could eat on the shuttle boat that crosses Jenny Lake.  Could do some overlooks and Rockefeller Preserve in the a.m., then take a shuttle boat at noon.  Must be back by 4p to get the last shuttle across the lake, or we'll have to walk an extra 3.3 mi around the lake.

Mon or Tues (which ever day we leave Jackson Hole, see the Canyon, and end up at West Yellowstone)  The cafeteria is not open at the Canyon and It is a solid hour drive to Grant Village for the closest caf'.  I think packed lunches will be the way to go this day.

Tues or Wed (Old Faithful day) Old Faithful Caf is open, could skip packing lunch if we want a break.

Wed or Thurs ( Mammoth day) The Mammoth Terrace is grill is open, but it takes 2.25 hr to get there, we'll arrive too early for lunch, and the trail is 4 mi, so when we are done the trail it'll be too late for lunch.

Thurs: if Mammoth day, see above, if it is the break day, plenty of options in West Yellowstone.

Friday: Lamar Valley and Bear tooth Hwy: There are no places to buy food out here.

For Groceries in West Yellowstone there is the Market Place, and Food-Round Up

reviews of Food-Round Up say it is small, as over-priced as you'd expect for a very small tourist town in the middle of nowhere, but ground coffee and beer are cheaper here than at Market Place:  http://www.yelp.com/biz/food-roundup-supermarket-west-yellowstone

Market Place got much better reviews largely because they had more food in stock:  http://www.yelp.com/biz/market-place-west-yellowstone-2

Groceries in Jackson Hole:
Albertson's - 1.9 mi E of condo on 26.  reviews say is similar to a small Safeway with tourist town prices.  One review says the Bear Spray is $60 here, but $45 elsewhere.
Jackson Whole Grocer: 2.6 mi S of condo on 26.  similar to Whole Foods, some organic, some standard grocery.  Complaints about the burrito bar.
Smith's Food & Drug: 3 miles from the condo, very few reviews, but they have a pharmacy and review said the food was well stocked with a good bakery.

Cafeterias and restaurants open Sept 22-26 in Yellowstone:
Lake Lodge Cafeteria: (not open for lunch while we are there)

• September 2 – September 28
  Breakfast: 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
  Continental Breakfast: 7:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
  Dinner: 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Old Faithful Lodge cafeteria: 

• September 2 – October 4
• Lunch: 11:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
• Dinner: 4:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Canyon General Store is open until Sept 29, Canyon Lodge dining room and cafeteria close Sept 14.

Grant Village (in West Thumb, by the lake): sevice station and dining room are open.Grant Village Dining Room opens at 11:30 on May 23, 2014

• Breakfast/Breakfast Buffet: 6:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
• Lunch: 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
• Dinner: 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

The dining room will close after breakfast on September 28, 2014, Reservations are required for dinner.

Mammoth Terrace Grill (fast food at park prices): 

• September 11 – October 6
  Continental Breakfast: 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
  Lunch/Dinner: 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Roosevelt Old West Cookout, last day is 9/14.  

Roosevelt Dining Room closes 9/1.

Grocery List starting point: 

1 gal 1% milk

1 gal skim milk

1 dozen eggs

1 lb lunch meat

1lb Oscar Meyer bacon

1 lb breakfast sausage

1 lb ground beef for spaghetti

Nature’s own whole wheat bread

½ lb real butter

yogurt

Smallest Sour cream

Macaroni & Cheese

Box spaghetti

Jar spaghetti sauce

Jiff Smooth peanut butter (has to be Jiff)

brown Mustard

Soft tortillas (20+)

Salsa (tomato flavored, not fruit flavored)

Sugar (small box for coffee and lemonaide)
coffee
coffee filters

Small Box of luna bars (or equivalent)

Plain cheerioes

Candy/ Cookies 

Chips, 1 ruffles or lays

Ritz crackers
Juice for the kids.  Mine will drink Apple, or juice boxes, or Capri Sun, or Gatoraide.
Juice for adults?

2 LT Diet Caffeine Free Coke or Pepsi x 2?

beer

Wine, chardonnay 2 btls or 1 box
1.75 L Captain Morgan

Baby carrots

bananas

1 cantelope or ¼ watermelon

strawberries

apples, gala or fuji

2 Sweet onions
2 Green peppers
gallon zip bags
do we need paper plates and solo cups?

Itinerary

Full Week Schedule, Tentatively :
day 1, Sat, arrive, stay in Jackson Hole
day 2, Sun, explore Tetons, stay in Jackson Hole
day 3 Mon, Tetons, or start exploring Yellowstone to allow for a day of bad weather
day 4 Tues, Yellowstone Canyon and surrounding, stay in West Yellowstone
day 5 Wed, Old Faithful and surrounding, stay in West Yellowstone
day 6 Thurs, Mammoth area and Fire Hole canyon hot springs, stay in West Yellowstone
day 7 Fri, Lamar Valley and Bear Tooth Highway, Stay in Red Lodge
day 8 Sat,  drive to Billings Logan Airport, fly home

We can decide Sun evening if we've seen enough of the Tetons, or if we really need another day.  We have 4 days of sights planned in Yellowstone.  There was talk about allowing a 5th day so that if we get a bad weather day, or an illness/over-stressed situation, we can take a day to chill.

Yellowstone Canyon drive times: 
Jackson Hole to Yellowstone Canyon: 115 mi, 2 hours 39 mins

1. Yellowstone Canyon to West Yellowstone: 39.3 mi, 1 hour 3 mins

Total driving for the day: 3 hr 42 min plus stops.  

how road closures are going to affect our vacation

This map is from http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm

Below is my google map of the places we talked about seeing.

First Day in Yellowstone, coming from Jackson Hole:

Drive time condo to Old Faithful with roads open:

1. 98.1 mi, 2 hours 11 mins

   
   

Drive time condo to Old Faithful with road closure: 

1. 157 mi, 3 hours 45 mins

   
   

Proposed change, do the Canyon on the first day in Yellowstone since we'll have to drive by it anyway.

Mammoth: 
drive time cabin to Mammoth with roads open: 48.5 mi, 1 hour 18 mins

drive time cabin to Mammoth with road closures: 

1. 75.7 mi, 2 hours 20 mins

   via Grand Loop Rd

Is is not clear if any of the things we want to see at Mammoth will be accessible.  More research required.  

rental cars

11 days SUV:
kayak.com 9/16 - 9/27, JAC - BIL $1027.55 for a Jeep Grand Cherokee or similar from Alamo.
7 days full size car:
kayak.com 9/20 - 9/27, JAC - BIL $377.89 for a Generic Full Size car from Alamo.
11 days full size car
kayak.com 9/16 - 9/27, JAC - BIL $680.20 for a Generic Full Size car from Alamo.
4 days full size car (will probably need 2)
carrentals.com 9/16 - 9/20 JAC - JAC $128.01 for a Toyota Camry or similar from dollar.
4 days van:
orbitz.com 9/16 - 9/20 JAC - JAC $307.72 for a midsized van Caravan or similar from Dollar.
UPDATE as of 8/21/14, found a midSized SUV directly from Dollar for $179.90.

For some reason renting one car for 11 days straight costs more than renting one car for 4 days and then a different car for the next 7 days as shown below:
1) Renting a car for 11 days = $680.20

2) Renting two cars for the 1st four days, and then two different cars for the last 7 days costs
($128.01 + $377.89)  = $505.90, a savings of $135.

The van is only $51 more than renting two full sized cars for the 4 days and will simplify parking and allow you all to visit and plan on the way to Yellowstone.

So, my recommendation is each family pays $377.89 for a full size car for the week of 9/20- 9/27, and each family pays $103 for 1/3 of the Grand Caravan for 4 days?

A complication would be getting people and gear back to the condo on 9/27.  Lynn's flight changed such that she is arriving around 7p.  My flight changed also, but I have not accepted the changes.  R&T could drop Jim and Casey off at the condo on their way to the airport to exchange to a smaller vehicle.  Update, Connie's flight arrives at 8p and Casey is going to the airport to rent a car for the Phelpses so it will be done ahead of time.  It is 10 miles/16 minutes from the airport to the condo.