Rocky Mountain National Park - Yellow Stone

[Engineer]

Wife and I are planning a trip in early June to head out to Rocky Mountain National Park Area and then up to YellowStone. We understand you can't possibly see all the area has to offer in the 6 days we will actually be there ( 3 allocated to driving) but would be interested in any opinions of things we should check out also of any decent trails to explore with our 5th gen 4runner....

......see what I did there to keep it relevant.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Take a look at CJ's "Last Hurrah" thread here.

I know the west well and gave him my thoughts on that area as did others.

Short story - in June you are going to be dealing with tourist crowds on a magnitude you may not like at Yellowstone.

Yellowstone is beautiful - don't get me wrong, but it can get to the point where the masses just ruin the experience. Spend a day there and then spread your wings leave the tourists behind.

There are other things in the area every bit as interesting and beautiful as anything you will see in Yellowstone and you don't need to deal with the tourist bullshit.

 

[Engineer]

Will keep that in mind, I was hoping it was "early" enough not to be a problem. We will work on finding things that are more off the beaten path to avoid the "tourists"

 

[Bevo]

Will keep that in mind, I was hoping it was "early" enough not to be a problem. We will work on finding things that are more off the beaten path to avoid the "tourists"

I was at Rocky Mountain National Park a few years ago in late September and there were still lots of tourists. Big tour buses full of senior citizens. It is a cool park, but I don't think there is much in the way of trails. You can drive the loop through the park in half a day easy.

 

[wanderMT]

Tetons, south of Yellowstone, should be visited. Beartooth Scenic highway from Cooke City to Red Lodge , MT has been described as most scenic in nation. Lots of FS roads outside the Parks but won't find trails in the Parks.

 

[DesertDog]

Pick one or the other, not both in such a short time frame. In June, there will still be lots of snow at Rocky Mountain National Park. How much do you enjoy hiking? That's the best way at either place to get away from the crowds. That hike to Dream Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park is wonderful. Just take it slow coming from the flat lands.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Depending on the snow pack most of the higher trails may still be closed in early June. There's no "wheeling" in either Yellowstone or RMNP anyway, although there are a few dirt roads (Fall River Road in RMNP is a nice drive but may not be open yet in June.)

Remember that most of the high country 4wd roads don't open until late June or even early July. In some years there are some roads that never open. I've been blocked by a snowdrift on Mosquito Pass (13,180', the highest continuous road in North America) in mid August.

If you want to see wildlife at Yellowstone your best bet is to get there early in the day. When we went in July of 2013, we camped in Cody (about 50 miles East of the East entrance of Yellowstone) and woke up at 4am to drive in. We were able to see wolves and bears and there weren't many crowds because most people had not gotten up yet.

If you're staying in West Yellowstone or Gardiner (just North of the park in Montana) you won't have to get up as early but I'd try to get to the prime viewing sites before sunrise if that's what you want to see.

Also you said "the 6 days we will actually be there" do you mean you will have a total of 6 days at both parks? Hopefully you accounted for the fact that driving from RMNP to Yellowstone or vice-versa will eat up an entire day or more, depending on where you stay. It's at least a 500 mile trip or more.

 

[Engineer]

You are correct about accounting for a day of driving time in-between and the trip to and from so we have 6 full days.(could be 4 in one area and 2 in the other etc). We always try to have a couple of things planned to see/do then spend the rest of the time exploring the area or relaxing (it is a vacation after all and I hate vacations where people plan every minute of every day......we also have no expectations to be able to see a majority of the sites in only a few days. We are flexible and will be camping out of the truck so where we stay ( do not have reservations yet) may be stateparks or a parking lot/hotel....... It’s unfortunate about the crowds but she has wanted to revisit those parks for some time and this just happens to be a week where we can do so. Day hikes will happen but we have no plans to back country camp/hike and will not be bringing the gear to do so. I myself haven’t been out west since a child so even if we only get to do scenic drives it’s worth it for me. The enjoyment is spending time with family and if there are some neat things to do that’s just a huge bonus. I will post back what we ended up doing. Thanks for the ideas so far

 

[Kelbad]

DesertDog is correct. You can find snow in RMNP even in June some years. I do a LOT of climbing in the summer in the Park. It is an amazing place.

To avoid the crowds, get through the gate early. Try to get in the park by 7am. There will be few cars on the road or at the gates. This allows you to ride all the way up to the parking areas like Loch Vale and Bear lake since they will not be full yet!! Otherwise you will have to take the shuttle bus.

The hike in Loch Vale is beautiful. Waterfalls, high alpine lakes, and beautiful views of the jagged peaks. Definitely work in a hike to lose the crowds and explore!

Trail conditions in RMNP can be found HERE.

Cheers

 

[BettysNephew]

The wife and I preferred Grand Teton NP to Yellowstone. Sheer rugged beauty. If it is operating take the boat ride to the island for breakfast. Seeing the scenery from the lake is even more stunning than from the roads.

 

[Avalanche]

Yellowstone will be packed in June. I'd spend more time at Grand Teton NP than Yellowstone. Spend the obligatory time at Yellowstone to say you've been there, and head to the Tetons to get away from the massive crowds of humanity.

Safe travels to you and yours.

 

[badhabits]

Please remember us:
:worthless

 

[Steamtrain]

For tent camping in YNP, I prefer Indian Creek, Slough Creek and Pebble Creek campgrounds. Slough Creek and Pepple Creek are away from the major tourist attractions. As already stated for RMNP and the same goes for YNP, early morning is best for seeing the sites, parking and traveling in the parks. Driving in the parks is generally slow.

Some people plan their trips to start in Colorado for recreational reasons.

I like eating at the "Taco Bus" in West Yellowstone, especially after visiting CO.

 

[PhilJ]

Yellowstone is easily doable in one long day.

 

[3wbdriver]

I did the north entry from Livingston a couple weeks ago and drove down the western perimeter road through Mammoth and down to Old Faithful. It was starting to fill up with tourists even then. Unfortunately my hope to keep driving south through the Grand Teton NP on the same road came to naught due to weather/snow conditions. It is a pretty park, but I have to admit southern Utah had me hands down afterward. Lots of little sights like this along the roads. But be aware they are working along sections of that western road. I got this picture while waiting for a pilot car escort along about a mile and a half of one way road.

 

[Friggin Idiot]

Subscribed!
I'm doing a big loop through the mountains in August, although it won't be in my 4Runner.
I just booked one of the suites at this cool place (a 1913 Stagecoach Stop) for a good price. I'm hoping that even in August, the east gate won't be the absolute chaos I expect at the west gate.

 

[Engineer]

Just got back from a whirlwind tour of Rocky Mountain, Canyon Lands, Arches and Yellowstone National Parks. I was able to get a few good shots of the 4runner. Most of what we did was paved roads to enjoy the view/short day hikes. There were a couple of easy side trails we took while in Arches/Canyon Lands. We were planning to run Fins & Thing's but it rained that morning and I wanted to keep it mild as my wife and I were both enjoying the trip thus far and she was liking the off-road driving so I figured better to go slow and have a second trip later then try to push to hard the 1st time and have her never want to go back. Ended up doing 3300+ miles in 7 days just touching on the areas highlights. We plan to go back to each area and explore more. The 4runner performed flawlessly

 

[Engineer]

Round #2