Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us
Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network
PhotoKB Home
Discussion Groups
Digital Photography
Digital PhotoDSLR CamerasZLR CamerasPoint & Shoot Cameras
Film Photography
35 mmLarge FormatMedium formatDarkroomFilm and LabsOther Equipment
Photo Technique
Nature PhotographyPeople PhotographyTechnique General
General Photo Topics
General TopicsAustralian PhotographyUK Photography
DirectoryPhoto Clubs

Photo Forum / Photo Technique / Nature Photography / July 2005

Tip: Looking for answers? Try searching our database.

Where to stay in Yellowstone - Grand Teton area

Thread view: 
Enable EMail Alerts  Start New Thread
Thread rating: 
gll - 14 Jul 2005 04:21 GMT
Have a 2 week vacation in mid September and the family would like to go to
Yellowstone, we usually go to Rocky Mt NP and stay in a nice cabin with 2
bedrooms and kitchen maybe 2 baths-  4 adults 1 grandbaby. We have stayed at
Flagg ranch years ago, but when I did a search for lodging in the area  no
one has cabins with kitchens for a reasonable price, The price per night
will dictate how long we can stay. So anyone know a good place to stay.
Thanks
Gary

Nature & Wildlife Photography
of
Gary & Debbie Langley
http://www.gllangley.com
Jeroen Wenting - 14 Jul 2005 19:20 GMT
Yellowstone/GT area is too large to stay in one spot for 2 weeks.
You got to move around, stay in different areas for a few days at a time.

Mid september might get problematic though. Most lodging and other
facilities (as well as the first roads) close for the winter by the 2nd week
of september so your choices will be severely limited.

If you can pull the trip forward by a few weeks to the last week of august
and the first week of september.
Still good autumn weather, chance or rain or snow (especially high up) but
not that severe.

It will also be relatively quiet, as it's after the main tourist season.

http://www.usefilm.com/staff/duckman for some of what I shot there first
week of september last year.
We stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge and Canyon Lodge (both are central in the
parks).
Not the cheapest maybe but saves you hours of travel (and thus gas).
Had we stayed longer in Yellowstone we'd likely have taken up lodging in 2
locations for a few days each time to save even more travel time.

Facilities are complete but somewhat basic (especially by the end of the
season, expect some things to be closed already).
Don't expect telephone or television in your cabins (those are available in
common rooms). Hot running water is available though (from a boiler, so you
may have to schedule your baths).
Cellphone coverage is nonexistent (certainly my triple band GSM phone got
its last peep in Jackson village south of Grand Teton and then only came
back alive about a hundred miles northwest of Yellowstone a week later).

Bring some warm clothes, dress in layers.
You will get freezing temperatures at night, while daytime can be well over
20 Celcius.

Bring all the film and other supplies you need (reckon about 2 rolls of film
a day and round up, for 2 weeks that would be 30-35 rolls).
There are few camerastores and those that do exist have steeply inflated
prices (especially for the good stuff like Velvia which I was able to get
from one store in West Yellowstone).

Take a monopod and/or tripod as you'll want to shoot at (pre)dawn and around
dusk for the best light on the mountains and the abundant wildlife.
Flash might come in handy for some macro work but I didn't use any (I abhor
people using flash on wildlife).

Jeroen Wenting
jwenting at hornet dot demon dot nl

> Have a 2 week vacation in mid September and the family would like to go to
> Yellowstone, we usually go to Rocky Mt NP and stay in a nice cabin with 2
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Thanks
> Gary
Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark) - 15 Jul 2005 03:18 GMT
> Have a 2 week vacation in mid September and the family would like to go to
> Yellowstone, we usually go to Rocky Mt NP and stay in a nice cabin with 2
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Gary & Debbie Langley
> http://www.gllangley.com 

Regarding the other poster, I have worked in Yellowstone in
mid-September and found it wonderful: far less crowds (in fact no
crowds), no bear jams, and didn't find any facilities closed.
I stayed in Gardner the times I've been in the park in
September.  The biggest problem is that days are shorter,
so less daylight to do things.
If you are deep in the park, you could get back to
town rather late and have fewer choices for dinner.
If touring and not staying in the park, I would split
it between Gardner, West Yellowstone, and the Tetons
Jackson if you can't get in the park).

In the Tetons, try Signal Mountain Lodge.  The lake front
cabins have a kitchen and 2 rooms (1 bath, 1 bedroom and
one larger kitchen + living room that converts to sleeping).
They have other cabins too (smaller).  Jackson Lake Lodge
also has cabins that are cheaper, some (more like hotel rooms)
have kitchens, though I've only stayed in rooms that were
for 2.

Mid September could be peak fall colors in the Tetons.
Yellowstone does not have much in aspens, or other trees
that turn yellow/orange like in the Tetons.

In Yellowstone, the elk will be abundant and doing their
fall "thing" like you've seen in RMNP.  (Same with the
Tetons, but more elk in Yellowstone.)

Call the park service in Yellowstone and ask when services shut down.
At that time of year, there is always the possibility for snow
and road closures, although I've never experienced any.

In the Tetons, it could be busy as many go to see the fall
colors then.

Roger
Angela M. Cable - 15 Jul 2005 11:24 GMT
> Regarding the other poster, I have worked in Yellowstone in
> mid-September and found it wonderful: far less crowds (in fact no
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> it between Gardner, West Yellowstone, and the Tetons
> Jackson if you can't get in the park).

If a person has to stay in Jackson, the places that people who are from
Wyoming stay at are the Antler and the Rawhide. Both have been there
just about forever and are smaller, mom and pop type motels. 'Course if
a person wants to spend $5K a night, one can do that too.

> In the Tetons, try Signal Mountain Lodge.  The lake front
> cabins have a kitchen and 2 rooms (1 bath, 1 bedroom and
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> have kitchens, though I've only stayed in rooms that were
> for 2.

Last time I looked, Colter Bay had the least expensive cabins for Grand
Teton. A gal I work with went up weekend before last and loved staying
at Colter Bay. The NPS website is being extremely slow right now, you
can go there though, nps.gov, choose the park, go to the park home page
and there will be a "planning your trip" link or something like that.
Click around and you'll eventually land at a reservation site. In
Yellowstone, Canyon, Old Faithful Inn and Roosevelt Lodge will be closed
for the season by mid-September. Some of the others are still open
though. For Grand Teton, I can get this far before the thing times out
on me:
http://www.nps.gov/grte/pphtml/lodging.html
Click on the lodging link on the left.

> Mid September could be peak fall colors in the Tetons.

It's been last weekend in Sept, first in Oct the past couple of years.
High color in Grand Teton is spectacular though.

> Yellowstone does not have much in aspens, or other trees
> that turn yellow/orange like in the Tetons.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> At that time of year, there is always the possibility for snow
> and road closures, although I've never experienced any.

We're on year 9, I believe, of drought. A blizzard might happen though,
heck I've seen it snow in July. The south entrance to Yellowstone does
close mid-October regardless.

> In the Tetons, it could be busy as many go to see the fall
> colors then.

Yeah, they're all photographers and painters though :-) I've had people
come to a stop so that they won't get in my frame. The temperatures will
be much better in fall too. Right now, we're in a heat wave. The high
for Jackson today is forecasted at 90. It's been close to 100 here in
Rock Springs the last couple of days.

Signature

Angela M. Cable
Paint Shop Pro 9 Private Beta Tester
Neocognition, digital scrapbooking source:
http://www.neocognition.com/

PSP Tutorial Links:
http://www.psplinks.com/

5th Street Studio, free graphics, websets and more:
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/alaia/354/

Jeroen Wenting - 18 Jul 2005 16:49 GMT
> Regarding the other poster, I have worked in Yellowstone in
> mid-September and found it wonderful: far less crowds (in fact no
> crowds), no bear jams, and didn't find any facilities closed.

Got that info looking at the closing dates published in the park newspapers
for last year :)
Yellowstone probably remains open longer than does Grand Teton.
http://www.nps.gov/grte/pubs/newspaper/04sumtee.pdf said Signal Mountain
closes mid October, but when we were there the guides and staff were talking
about leaving the park for their winter homes mid September (probably
because they were expecting an early winter, first snow on Mount Moran was
first weekend of September).

> In the Tetons, try Signal Mountain Lodge.  The lake front
> cabins have a kitchen and 2 rooms (1 bath, 1 bedroom and
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> have kitchens, though I've only stayed in rooms that were
> for 2.

yes, that's the one I meant. Signal Mountain is basic but decent.

> Call the park service in Yellowstone and ask when services shut down.
> At that time of year, there is always the possibility for snow
> and road closures, although I've never experienced any.
>
> In the Tetons, it could be busy as many go to see the fall
> colors then.
gll - 20 Jul 2005 04:15 GMT
Thanks to everyone for the help, we didn't find exactly what we were looking
for but I think it will work out better, the cabins are nice but the view
will be all that matters.
we found a place close to the Moulton barn, so I know where a few mornings
will be spent, then into Yellowstone for wildlife, sure would like to
photograph a griz, I know the odds are low. we've been there in late Sept
before and the weather can turn on you fast.
Thanks again
Gary

>> Have a 2 week vacation in mid September and the family would like to go
>> to Yellowstone, we usually go to Rocky Mt NP and stay in a nice cabin
[quoted text clipped - 47 lines]
>
> Roger
 
Sign In
Join
My Latest Posts
My Monitored Threads
My Blog
My Photo Gallery
My Profile
My Homepage

Start New Thread
Enable EMail Alerts
Rate this Thread



©2008 Advenet LLC   Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.