LF Advice: 200 from La to Jackson Hole

[LALC]

Hey guys,

I'm planning a road trip next summer because my wife has a course in Denver July 25 - 28. I sadly won't be able to drive over for the LCDC, it's just far enough that I can't make a day trip. However, this being my first road trip up there I was hoping I could toss out my road trip plans and you guys could give me some advice on places to visit, trails to take, etc.. I'll be with the wife and our 4-month old (due Feb). We're staying in hotels every step of the way because of the baby. Can't really do heavy trailing, but you guys have posted pictures of some very amazing views in this area of the country, would love to visit some if I can.

Day 1 - North Louisiana to Amarillo TX (full day driving, not much room to deviate at all)

Day 2 - Amarillo to Capulin Volcano National Monument, then
-Monument to Breckenridge CO (full day driving, little room to deviate)

Day 3 - Breckenridge CO to Jackson WY (full day driving, little room to deviate)

Days 4-7 - Basecamp in Jackson WY, plans are open, hoping to make a day drive loop through south Yellowstone and Grand Teton

Day 8 - Full day drive from Jackson WY to Denver

Day 9-11 - Basecamp in Denver, wife is with me all day

Day 12-14 - Still in Denver, but wife in class 8-5

Day 15 - Denver, wife in class til noon, then we head south driving home as fast as we can get there

Thanks in advance! Hope you guys have a great time at LCDC, wish I could make it.

 

[ryanCA]

Looks great

We just did (LA to Yellowstone to Galcier and back down through Zion and Antelope canyon), total of 3611 miles . LX was fantastic. AC full blast, 13 mpg, 85mph

I would offer more advice than I realized you were talking about the other LA

 

[mooneywa]

I can speak to JH mostly:

There actually isn’t a ton of trail availability in the JH area. In the Togwotee area there is more - just north of US287 near the pass are some decent trails, but otherwise with all the national park area there isn’t much.

You CAN do the full “grand” loop of Yellowstone in a day, but you’re really going to miss a lot and it’ll be mostly driving. It looks short in distance but the speeds are slow (no more than 45mph) and that time of year the traffic will be bad. Each point of interest will take a lot of time with all the people, parking, and a baby. If you can break up the trip and get a room in the park, you’re going to be better off and you’ll get to see more. If you can’t break it up because of lodging in Jackson, you almost want to do two parts of the park in two days - Mammoth, Norris, and Old Faithful one day, Canyon and the lake on another. However, if you have to choose, do Old Faithful and the west part of the park. There’s no LC trails in the park so it’s all hiking. I can give you a list of day hikes if you PM me that vary from 1 mile to 15 miles in the park.

GTNP is worth a day itself. There’s great little day hikes around Jenny Lake. The weather changes quickly so standard outdoorsman common sense applies. Also, if you go more than 1/2 mi from the parking lot carry bear spray.

It’s touristy but the family might enjoy the tram ride at JHMR. The views are incredible, you’re instantly brought 4k’ up into the Tetons and there’s a restaurant and some light hiking available at the top.

There’s some great hiking on the west side of the Tetons in Idaho. FAR fewer people with about a 45 min drive each way to get there. Just depends on what you want to do.

In Jackson:
Bunnery for breakfast
Snake River Brewing dinner/lunch
Roadhouse Brewing/Eatery (towards the resort)
Snake River Grille - at the bar has steak tartare pizza. Absolutely incredible but might be a bit of a circus with a 4 mo old.
Silver Dollar - it’s ok, nothing special but by the square and easy in/out
Go get a beer at Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. It’s touristy, but it’s something you need to do in JH to get the picture on the saddle.

On the way up - Capulin Volcano is neat, but... the best way I’d put it: if you’re running late and decide to skip it, I wouldn’t say you missed anything critical.

Just NW of Fort Worth on 287 is Bowie, TX - we met people from Bowie the other day and when they said they were from Bowie they said “ya know, the place where you get a speeding ticket on your way to go skiing”. They aren’t joking.

The New Mexico State Police watch the heck out of Clayton-Raton US87 section. Speed at your risk.

If you haven’t been to the Big Texan in Amarillo... don’t waste your time. Instead go to Tyler’s BBQ.

The drive to Breck via Westcliffe, CO is shockingly slow. Very pretty drive but especially north of Westcliff it gets very windey and twisty. I think it’s still faster than going through Pueblo and Canon City and far more scenic.

In the overall Colorado to Jackson Hole drive: going through Rock Springs and US189 is BRUTALLY dull but ultimately faster. Going through Rawlins, Lander, and Togwotee Pass is marginally longer but far FAR prettier. The Wyoming State Patrol doesn’t mess around either, especially around Elk Mountain on I-80.

Hope this random smattering of information gets you in the right direction.

 

[Dan Higgins]

I will pretty much echo what @mooneywa says regarding Jackson (Hole), the surrounding area, GTNP and Yellowstone. I really need to commit at least one full day to both NPs and possibly 2 days to Yellowstone. If you can I would suggest a couple nights in Jackson (Hole) and then see if there are decent accommodations in Yellowstone or just outside Yellowstone. Trying to do Yellowstone from Jackson is going likely be too much for one day. Especially with a 4 month old. Maybe a couple nights in the Jackson area. Arrive/night 1, explore GTNP/day 2, drive to Yellowstone (seeing GTNP again along the way) and stay somewhere near Yellowstone for 2 nights, spend a day exploring Yellowstone returning to the hotel. Then head home or wherever.

Think of this as a "scouting trip" as you will certainly want to return once your child is old enough to appreciate/remember the area.

 

[ryanCA]

We stayed 2 days in Jackson Hole.

One day outside west Yellowstone.

One day outside North Yellowstone.

This allowed to see as much as Yellowstone as possible.

 

[LALC]

Thanks guys, very helpful!

 

[indycole]

We spent about a week covering Yellowstone and GTNP the summer before last after the LCDC in Ouray and had a fantastic time. I'd echo others' thoughts about Yellowstone as a day trip from GTNP not being worth it. Also, both parks to be quite busy that time of year so I'd consider some kind of strategy where you spend most of your outdoor sightseeing time in the mornings and dusk/evenings (which also usually coincides with better lighting for photography and more animal activity) in both parks. We found that to work well and positioned our hotels / campsites in areas that were convenient for mid-day relaxing/napping.

Also, there's a nice dirt road in GTNP that runs along the Snake River. Nothing technical but there are some great views of the Tetons.

 

[LALC]

Hey I'm thinking about spending two nights in Breckenridge so we can hit one trail. The pics from last LCDC looked amazing. Which trail would be best given I'd be solo with just the wife and baby? I remember that most of them were fine for stock suspension.