Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone

[themenz]

Renting an RT in Jackson, Wyoming for just three days in early Sept. 7, 8, 9. The wife and I would like some suggestions on riding routes, good places to eat, stay. Some nice hot springs suggestions would be appreciated as none of the hotels in the parks have spas (what is up with that?)

[4PawsHacienda]

I enjoyed the riding in the Mammoth region of Yellowstone the most of any section of the park itself. Less crowded and quite pretty. Plenty of side roads in Teton for exploring. Driving along the lake in the evening or morning is stunning. Parks are busy, major attractions are exactly that so expect plenty of company and traffic. Yellowstone has large variety of readily visible wildlife so watch for stopped cars unexpectedly and keep your camera ready.
We spent a couple of nights at Dormans (just outside Jackson) in a cabin, decent - area is popular so numerous choices.Just riding from town to town was time well spent.
For 3 days you can just ride in any direction and enjoy. Tetons are impressive. Never know what you'll see along the banks of the Snake River. Too easy to overplan for the time available.
Good area for riding.

[themenz]

Originally Posted by 4PawsHacienda

I enjoyed the riding in the Mammoth region of Yellowstone the most of any section of the park itself. Less crowded and quite pretty. Plenty of side roads in Teton for exploring. Driving along the lake in the evening or morning is stunning. Parks are busy, major attractions are exactly that so expect plenty of company and traffic. Yellowstone has large variety of readily visible wildlife so watch for stopped cars unexpectedly and keep your camera ready.
We spent a couple of nights at Dormans (just outside Jackson) in a cabin, decent - area is popular so numerous choices.Just riding from town to town was time well spent.
For 3 days you can just ride in any direction and enjoy. Tetons are impressive. Never know what you'll see along the banks of the Snake River. Too easy to overplan for the time available.
Good area for riding.

Thanks, we will be staying for a day in the Mammoth area.

Are there any websites for good motorcycle road recommendations?

Also, looks like internet access is sparse. What about cell phone service? I have ATT so wondering about coverage for my USB data port.

[FotoTEX]

Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Highway on the NE corner of Yellowstone are awesome roads. Llocated close to RED LODGE,MT.

[Northwoods Yeti]

Originally Posted by FotoTEX

Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Highway on the NE corner of Yellowstone are awesome roads. Llocated close to RED LODGE,MT.

+1

.....watch the weather! My brother lives out there and up in those mountain passes snow can come damn early in the season. Beartooth had snow on the ground when I went through a few years ago in mid July.

[Primal Haj]

Chico Hot Springs is just north of Yellowston in the Paradise Valley. It's a unique turn of the century lodge and natural hot spring along with a fine resturant. It's about 50 miles north of Mamoth.

The Pollard hotel in Red Lodge is a nice historic hotel and there are a number of good resturants in Red Lodge.

Craig

[rapidoxidationman]

+1 on Chico Hot Springs. Sitting in a hot pool with a frozen margerita you just got from the walk up bar window? Priceless.

But

If you want to get your freak on, Norris Hot Springs (the water of the Gods) is the place to go. The wooden hot pool is about 30' square, the food is organic and good for you, the beer is cold, and the wine is mostly home brewed. There might be a dude playing tunes in the geo dome by the pool, there might be a coupla chics all over each other in the pool...
If you're going to camp make sure you aren't downrange - yes, you'll be dodging bullets if you are

[kantuckid]

tripadvisor

[samthg]

This may help... http://byways.org/explore/states/WY

[Crash Clay]

I was just there with my girls....but not on the motorcycle. If you are going to Mammoth, check this out...

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/nmammoth.htm There is a hot spring just North of Mammoth, called The Boiling River. Very simple, but close.
The road through the Lamar Valley is not very crowded and you have a high possibility of seeing bison. There is gas in Cooke City not sure about non-ethanol though.

I would check out Grand Teton on the way back from Yellowstone. Take the Teton Park road heading South for some beautiful views of the mountains. There is a one-way road off this route that gives a great view of Jenny Lake.

[rapidoxidationman]

Another nice loop with a hot springs involved: go south of Jackson down the Snake River Canyon to the town of Alpine WY. A longer (better) way to get to Alpine is to follow hwy 22 over Teton Pass into Victor ID, get on hwy 31 over Pine Creek Pass into Swan Valley ID, then follow US 26 around the Palisades Reservoir into Alpine. From Alpine, go south about 10 miles until you see a sign that takes you into Freedom, WY - the home of Freedom Arms (damn fine Shoot'n Irons). From Freedom, head west into the mountains and go over Tin Cup Pass and you'll eventually end up in Soda Springs, ID. Go west some more and you'll end up in Lava Hot Springs, where the public hot pool covers several acres at the head of a small canyon and the natural hot water bubbles up between your toes from the gravel bottom. If you've got the time, spend the night at the Lava Hot Springs Inn and enjoy their private pools. A thai dinner at the Riverwalk Cafe on the west end of town (an old gas station) is good eat'n. Lava is a weird little town where the folks over 30 are into crystals and the folks under 30 are into crystal meth.

Going back to Jackson can be the same way as you came or just shoot up I-15 if you're in a rush.

[Snr Moment]

You'll be in Jackson during the art festival. You'll need reservations early.
I'll be there with Mrs. Moment as she's an artist and will be painting in the gallery her work is in.
Unfortunately, I'm the chauffeur driving the RV and bikeless.
There are some hot springs to the north around Salmon, ID. Not sure if there are any on the Magruder Pass, but worth a ride for sure.

[manfromthestix]

Originally Posted by themenz

Renting an RT in Jackson, Wyoming for just three days in early Sept. 7, 8, 9. The wife and I would like some suggestions on riding routes, good places to eat, stay. Some nice hot springs suggestions would be appreciated as none of the hotels in the parks have spas (what is up with that?)

I lived in Lander, Wyoming for a long time and worked/played in the Jackson Hole and Yellowstone area a lot. If you're only going to be there for three days you kind of need to pick a general location and focus on that area because YNP and the surrounding area is just frigging HUGE. It takes a long time to traverse the park even if you don't stop and visit all the cool features, vistas, and critters. Just to get from Jackson to Red Lodge, Montana via Yellowstone NP, Cooke City, Sunlight Basin, Beartooths, and down to Red Lodge is a VERY long day of riding. Even though the speed limit in the Park is 45, you can't count on being able to average anywhere near that speed even if you don't stop.

You are actually going to be there at the beginning of the quieter season because after school starts following the Labor Day weekend the vast majority of tourists have gone home (it's known locally as the newly wed and nearly dead season). Most of the campgrounds and park facilities are much less crowded, but it might still be tough to find reservations at the in-Park accomodations. If I were going to stay in the Park my first choice would be Lake Lodge, it is fantastic with a huge dining room that looks out over Yellowstone Lake. My second choice would be Mammoth. I agree that Chico is great, it's pretty rustic for accomodations in the main lodge but a great place to stay, and they have regular hotel rooms above the lodge as well. The hot pools are fantastic and they have a four-star restuarant that just can't be beat for food in the area. Chico offers horseback riding, a day spa, fishing, etc. It's ~200 miles to Chico from Jackson through YNP and it's slow going but stunningly beautiful.

Just as I was planning to move to Virginia five years ago the Park Service was finishing repaving every road in YNP and they were GLORIOUS to ride on! If you stay at Lake or Mammoth there are a bunch of natural loops inside the park that make nice day trips. Or you can go out the east entrance to Cody (Fishing Bridge to Cody is my favorite ride in the area), up through Sunlight Basin (one of my favorite areas I've ever ridden), and back in through the NE entrance (that's a nice longer ride). If you make it over the Beartooths to Red Lodge there are lots of nice places to stay. You can go out the West Entrance and visit Big Sky, a gorgeous place. It's a long haul but you can loop up through the Gallatin Valley, Bozeman, Livingston, and come back down through Chico and Gardiner. I think if you look at a map you'll see the natural loops, just keep in mind that it's a huge area to try and see very much of. I think you'll be wishing you had a week or two rather than just a few days, but you can always come back!

Early September will be cool nights (40's) and glorious days (70's) with incredible blue skies, maybe some aspen already starting to turn colors (pretty early though for that). Later in September and October the elk are in the rut and you'll hear bugling all day and night, an incredible primal sound when you're out in the woods.

Now I want to go rent an RT in Jackson and go for a long ride, dammit! I really miss that country... Virginia and the surrounding area is just fabulous, we live just 20 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway, but there are too many people out here for my tastes. I love the wide open-ness of the Rocky Mountain West.

I was going to leave you with some teaser photos, but SmugMug seems to be down at the moment. I'll try to post a few pics tomorrow. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Doug

[DoubleM]

Plus 1 on Bear Tooth, Chico Hot springs is aweome- need to take my wife there some day.
Also if you stay a Jenny Lake lodge ask for a condo might have off season rates. The view and privacy are very nice.