Winter in Wyoming

DizMagic

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 15, 2004
I notice that the Winter in Wyoming trip drives right past Grand Teton National Park - but it's not included in the itinerary. Anyone know why? Is it really not as close as it looks on the map? We may add a day to include that - would hate to go all that way and not see it too. (We are trying to visit all the USNPs).
 
It is right near there. Grand Teton is basically in Jackson hole. We did it as a pre day
 
It is right near there. Grand Teton is basically in Jackson hole. We did it as a pre day
Thank you. That is what it looked like from the map. DId you have any issues with it being winter while you were there? Was the park more difficult to visit?
 


We did a very different version of this trip over Christmas shortly after it first came out that wasn't very good; our guides were not engaged and there were many other issues. Strongly recommend some pre and post days. The Wort hotel is terrific, as are the things to do in and around Jackson Hole. The concierge at the hotel helped us arrange a full day of snowmobiling, the dinner show at the playhouse (fabulous - the show, the meal was awful), and private wildlife tracking tour (Wow oh Wow!) and a day trip to Grand Tetons. None of these things should be done totally on your own - you'll want a guide. It's extremely cold.

We could have comfortably spent much more time also at the Snow Lodge. Very accommodating hotel. Get up early and you'll have Old Faithful to yourself as it erupts. So yes, winter is very different. In the park you get around on a snow cat. You aren't driving yourself anywhere, and mobility is either a snow cat or a snowmobile. Very few people, but the park is open (with warming huts for snowmobilers!) Plan accordingly as it gets extremely cold.

Jackson Hole is also a booming locale in the winter. We did not try the skiing or snowtubing, as there was too much else to do.
 
I am super excited about this trip. It will be our 3rd ABD (Alaska, Arizona & Utah) and is honestly the last one really on our bucket list. I have been wanting to do it for years but my wife HATES cold weather. For some reason she finally gave in!!!!! A bonus is that it is $200 per person cheaper than the prices I looked at in 2016. Now, let's just hope it doesn't cancel for some silly reason.
 


As someone who lives 271-391 miles (5 hours 32 minutes to 6 hours 32 minutes) to the Northeast depending on the exact route you take I can say that there has been an increase of avalanches in both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks over the past 2-3 years.
There are not a lot of roads as Grand Teton National Park is more of a back country park and the main one Teton Park Road which runs from Moose Junction off US 191 going North out of Jackson Hole and Jackson Lake Junction with joins up with US 89/191/287 is closed from November 1 to April 30. Rule number 1 about road closures in the winter months around this part of the country is these dates can be extended. Personally I have seen enough snow to close a road in early October and roads not to open till the first to mid parts of June due to late snows.

My personal recommendation being from the general area would be to fly in 1-2 days early in order to get used to the elevation especially if you are from closer to sea level for elevation. The air is thinner and it will feel even more so in the winter due to the cold of the air. I would just relax or go to a museum in the area. Most of them tend to be small but they do have some of the local history and geology in them. At the end of the trip if you wanted to stay longer in the area I would suggest renting a vehicle and driving N on US 191 out of Jackson Hole to the Junction of US 26 where you will head East and will go through the Wind River Reservation eventually joining up with US 20 at Shoshoni (Show shon ee) where you will again head North. Stop for the Night at Thermopolis and enjoy the hot springs. The next day sometime between mid morning to mid afternoon continue N on US 20 to the Junction of US 14 where you will head West to Cody. There you will want to enjoy the Buffalo Bill Historical Center which is 5 different Musuems. In order to really see things you need at least a good day and a half. As you leave Cody take Alt US 14 towards Powell stopping at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center. This is one of the locations of the Japanese Internment Camps during World War 2.
For those with more time there are plenty of things to do in Both the Red Lodge and Billings areas including Skiing at Red Lodge Mountain, the Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary, Zoo Montana, Yellowstone Art Museum, Yellowstone County Museum, Western Heritage Center. Most of Montana has no sales tax though there is a bed tax for motels and hotels across the state as well as a resort sales tax in a few areas such as West Yellowstone and Red Lodge along with Big Sky and Whitefish have up to a 3% rate.
You can also take Alt US 14, US 14 or US 16 over to meet up with Interstate 90 and go into the Black Hills of South Dakota where there is plenty more to do outside of just going to Mount Rushmore. There is Chapel in the Hills, Custer State Park (some roads are closed in winter. Trust me driving the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road is enough of a challenge in the warmer months though it is fun to watch people driving huge motor homes through some of the tunnels especially the ones that have height restrictions. The fun game to play is will they fit and then to laugh at them when they take their ceiling vents off as they are raised enough that they don't fit. To date I have been lucky every time I have been behind one of these and not had to turn around due to them getting stuck though I am always prepared for that possibility), mammoth site at Mammoth Hot Springs, and more.
 
Good Report,
What is the better month to travel ( Not on a tour ... but on a family group ) between April & October
 
Good Report,
What is the better month to travel ( Not on a tour ... but on a family group ) between April & October

Weather wise while you can have snow in the mountains 365 366 on leap years out of the year generally after Memorial Day and before Labor Day are going to be your best bet. To give you an idea on the weather in the general area (If you read my post earlier in this thread you can see a general idea of how far I am from Jackson Hole) yesterday it was in the low to mid 90s in my community with an afternoon/evening thunderstorm. Today it never got above 65 F and that was for only a short period of time and we had 2 thunderstorms between 3:30 and 8:30 PM local time with 40 plus MPH winds and depending on where you were tiny pea sized to nickle sized hail (at my place we got the soft tiny pea ones-the little ones just forming when you open a pea pod fresh out of the garden and there are a few little tiny ones along with the full sized peas) but I have friends that live a 20-30 minute drive away and they were getting hail the size of nickles.

There are so many other things to do in the general area including Custer's Last Stand Reinactment, Crow Fair, A Bison Round Up in Custer State Park, SD, Indian Pow Wows at Wounded Knee, ect that are part of the history of the region. These will have specific dates so if you wanted to see one of these events you would need to plan your trip around those dates. There are also various homesteader days in the area especially for the smaller communities that share the period of homesteading and ranching in the area. Some of these events if you have kids who have studied them in school it might be worth looking into or if you know that certain things are studied in certain years such as if the next year they will be studying the western expansion of US history taking the time to see some of the sites even if there is not an event going on will give them something neat to be able to share in the I have been there and seen that and here are some pictures.
 

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