Yellowstone National Park Travel Forum

My husband and I are going to Yellowstone in August 09. Since it's late, I can't find good lodging in the park, but have located a cabin at Sleepy Hollow Lodge in W. Yellowstone for 4 nights. Is W. Yellowstone a good location to stay for the entire stay? Can I drive comfortably to all areas of the park and get back there without spending hours in the car?

West Yellowstone is in a pretty good position from which to explore the park by car. The main park road is essentially a figure of 8 shape, and West Yellowstone is close to the centre of the figure of 8.

See the map on

http://www.yellowstonenationalpark.com/maps.htm

West Yellowstone is by far the most touristy entrance but somewhat convenient.
As above poster stated, the roads are a figure 8. It would probably take 6-8 hours to drive the entire outer edge depending on traffic, even bison traffic :) and that is without stops.

Think of the western side of Yellowstone as the geothermal part of the park,
geysers, mud pots, etc. The Eastern side is more wildlife and open meadows.
And of course the Grand Can. of YNP is there!

See my Yellowstone tips for more info. if you like, I heart YNP!

I have stayed at the Holiday Inn in West Yellowstone a couple of times and can recommend the hotel.

West Yellowstone is quite close to the west entrance of Yellowstone. As far as your driving distances, anyone who comes to Yellowstone, and only stays in one location, will have to do a lot of driving, as the park road is 142-miles in size. You can minimize this by planning what you want to see, then doing every thing on one side of the park on one day, then drive to the other side on another day, and do everything you wish to do there, etc. I would suggest one or two days on the west side, which is the closest to W. Yellowstone, and has the most geyser and hot pool areas in the park. Take the next day on the east side to view the impressive and not to be missed canyon, and one day on the north to visit Lamar Valley, which runs from Mammoth to the NW entrance, to look for wildlife. If you see a lot of folks out with scopes, stop and find out what they are watching. There may be a wolf or bear in the distance that you missed seeing. These folks can point it out to you, and you can get a look with your binoculars, if you have them. If you don't have a scope, sometimes tourists or locals that do, will offer you a view through theirs. We went up last week-end with our local Natural History Museum Curator to specifically spend time in Lamar Valley looking for wildlife. I would also recommend visiting Tower Falls on your Lamar Valley Day, as it lies along this northern road.

The Mammoth area is in the NW and can be visited on your days on the west side if you take two days there, or on your Lamar Valley day.

Visit this interactive map, where you can run the cursor over the map and click to enlarge the area. http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/interactivemap

I have lived 50 miles east of Yellowstone for 33 years, and try to get up to the park at least once a year, so I have been able to build an extensive page on Yellowstone. You may get some ideas of what you want to see the most by checking out my page at: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/3d935/dc5a0/

Hi:-)

My husband and I are booked at Sleepy Hollow Cabins in West Yellowstone as well. We have not been able to find out any info re. the cabins. A couple of reviews on Trip Advisor and we did speak to the owner, who seemed quite nice. This will be our second trip to Yellowstone and last time we stayed at the 320 Guest Ranch. This was a 45 minute drive everyday to the West Entrance. We decided to stay closer as to drive less. The West Entrance was great, a lot of good restaurants and a great location to see all of park. We even went to the Grand Tetons. We did'nt experience much traffic except for the Bison road blocks lol... It truly is something to see. We saw 3 Grizzlies, a sow with her cubs, Moose, Elk, coyote, etc... There were a few traffic jams in Hayden Valley due to the Sow and her 2 cubs but it was well worth the wait. But this year we are quite concerned because of the construction. I will email you when we get back July 26th and let you know how the cabins were and how the construction was. We hope we can still maneuver through the park like we did in 2007.
Anymore questions, feel free to email back:-)

Thanks, Suzanne