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Yellowstone and Great Plains road trip: 14-day itinerary

Bison of the Badlands, granite presidents, the geysers of the world's first national park, and the loop closing back on Seattle.

Sequenced by Kylian Updated on 23 August 2026

The Yellowstone National Park entrance sign among the pines
  • 14 days
  • 34 places
  • 13 nights
  • sustained pace
Start
Estes Park, Colorado
End
Seattle (Seattle-Tacoma airport)
Main transport
Car, with three crossings of more than 500 km
Recommended season
Late May to September: the roads and lodges of Yellowstone and Grand Teton only open in the warm season, and the North Cascades Highway closes under snow

What you get

  • The complete itinerary: 14 days sequenced Morning / Afternoon / Evening / Hotel
  • The card of every hotel, with the address and a direct booking link
  • Quota tickets, fixed-date tickets and surcharges flagged in advance
  • The country quick guide: weather, transport, formalities, budget
  • A PDF file of 21 pages

What the price does not include

  • Flights
  • Hotel nights
  • Tickets and admission fees
  • Travel insurance
  • On-the-ground assistance during your trip

The travel book preview

The free day in full, with its hotel card. This is the sample.

Day 6

Jenny Lake and the barns of Mormon Row

Morning

Jenny Lake, Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and Cascade Canyon

The shuttle boat crosses the glacial lake in ten minutes and drops you at the foot of the mountains: Hidden Falls (30 m), then Inspiration Point on its promontory, and the walk up Cascade Canyon between two 1,200 m granite walls, in a perfect U-shaped valley (13 km, about 3 hr). Moose in the willows and pikas in the scree. Without the boat, allow 4 km more around the lake.

Afternoon

Mormon Row, Schwabacher Landing, Snake River Overlook and Signal Mountain

The Moulton brothers' barns, built by Mormon settlers between 1908 and the 1950s, have become the most reproduced image in Wyoming: grey timber, meadow, and the Tetons behind. Then Schwabacher Landing and its beaver dams that make the water perfectly still, the Snake River Overlook (Ansel Adams's viewpoint in 1942), and the switchback road up Signal Mountain for a bird's-eye view over the whole Jackson Hole valley.

Evening

Wildlife watching on the Moose-Wilson Road

A narrow, slow road at dusk, the best in the park for moose in the willows and black bears in the chokeberries at the end of summer. Stay in the car, at least 100 metres from bears.

Hotel · Night 6

Signal Mountain Lodge

The only accommodation on the shore of Jackson Lake, inside the park: log cabins scattered under the pines, a restaurant at the water's edge facing the Tetons, and direct access to the Signal Mountain scenic road. No television, wildlife passing through.

Address
· Teton Park Road, Grand Teton National Park, WY 83013
Website
· signalmountainlodge.com (new tab)
Check-in
4:00 PM · Check-out 11:00 AM
Book this hotel (new tab)

Buy this itinerary

€39 incl. tax

that is €2.79 per day of travel

The buy button becomes active once the box is ticked.

  • Secure payment through Stripe, bank card, Apple Pay and Google Pay
  • Available immediately in your customer account: online reading with clickable booking links, downloadable PDF for offline use
  • Method: what is checked, and when

A hotel in the itinerary closed or impossible to find, a place to visit permanently closed?

Within 12 months of purchase, email contact@etaperia.com

Itinerary corrected within 7 days, or refunded in full. Terms in article 12 of the T&Cs, on top of the legal warranty (new tab)

€39 incl. tax · 14 days

Buy

A question before buying? Email Kylian, reply within 48 working hours.

The day-by-day rundown

13 stops, 2,070 km as the crow flies

  1. Day 1 On to the Great Plains The road from Estes Park to Wall, and the Wall Drug Store Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  2. Day 2 The Badlands, from west to east The Badlands Loop Road Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  3. Day 3 The Black Hills, granite and bison Mount Rushmore Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  4. Day 4 Devils Tower and cowboy Wyoming Devils Tower and the Tower Trail Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  5. Day 5 The Bighorns and the arrival at Grand Teton Powder River Pass, Ten Sleep Canyon, Thermopolis and Wind River Canyon Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  6. Day 6 Jenny Lake and the barns of Mormon Row Jenny Lake, Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and Cascade Canyon Free
  7. Day 7 Yellowstone, the land of geysers West Thumb, Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  8. Day 8 Norris and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Norris Geyser Basin, Artists Paintpots and Gibbon Falls Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  9. Day 9 Lamar Valley and Mammoth Hot Springs Lamar Valley at dawn Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  10. Day 10 The long road across Montana From Gardiner to Spokane by Bozeman, Butte and Missoula Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  11. Day 11 Winthrop and the North Cascades Winthrop and the Washington Pass Overlook Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  12. Day 12 Whidbey Island and the return to Seattle Deception Pass Bridge, Whidbey Island and the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  13. Day 13 Last day in Seattle Woodland Park Zoo and Green Lake Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  14. Day 14 Flight home Flight home Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF

Found an error in this itinerary? Report an error

Country quick guide and logistics

The essentials of the country, scannable in ten seconds.

Weather and when to go

  • Late May to September: the roads and lodges of Yellowstone and Grand Teton only open in the warm season, and the North Cascades Highway closes under snow at the end of the route.
  • Yellowstone is a plateau at 2,400 m: it can freeze at night even in midsummer, and the four camping nights there call for a warm sleeping bag.
  • The wildlife shows itself at dawn and dusk: Lamar Valley before daybreak for the wolves, the Moose-Wilson Road at sunset for the moose and the bears.

Transport and permits

  • This is the longest stage of the route by distance: about 4,150 km, with three crossings of more than 500 km (Estes Park-Wall, Buffalo-Grand Teton, Gardiner-Spokane).
  • No signal in much of the Badlands and Yellowstone: offline maps and booking slots downloaded before entering.
  • The Badlands' Sage Creek Rim Road is an unpaved track: check its state the day before, it becomes impassable after rain.
  • The Clinton-Mukilteo ferry links Whidbey Island to Seattle's northern suburbs on the second-to-last day.

Formalities and safety

  • Short tourist stay under ESTA: $40.27 per person, only on esta.cbp.dhs.gov, at least 30 days before departure.
  • Sensitive bookings: the lodges and campgrounds of Yellowstone (Madison, Canyon, Mammoth) and Grand Teton (Signal Mountain Lodge) are the most contested of the whole route and open 13 months ahead on yellowstonenationalparklodges.com.
  • Never step off the boardwalks in Yellowstone: the silica crust is sometimes a few centimetres above water at 90 °C, and visitors die there.
  • Wildlife: 100 metres from bears and wolves, 25 metres from bison and elk. In Yellowstone, bison injure more visitors than bears. All food in the bear boxes provided, never in the tent or in the car.

Budget and meals

  • America the Beautiful annual pass at $80, valid for the whole vehicle. Without the pass, Yellowstone's entry alone costs $35 per vehicle.
  • Meals: $15 to $25 at lunch, $30 to $50 in the evening, plus tax and an 18 to 20% tip.
  • Four camping nights out of the thirteen, including Sage Creek, free, primitive and waterless, with bison in the camp.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly do I receive?

Your Étaperia itinerary, available immediately in your customer account after payment: readable online with clickable booking links, and downloadable as a PDF for the trip. Every day is sequenced Morning / Afternoon / Evening, with the hotel for each night, its address and its booking link, and timed-entry tickets flagged in advance.

How is this better than what an AI gives me?

A generative AI composes a plausible list in seconds, without saying what was checked or when. At Étaperia, every itinerary is sequenced by hand, place by place, with the booking constraints spotted before it is too late to get them. The Method page says what is checked, against which source and on what date.

Can I adapt it to my dates and my pace?

Yes. The days are self-contained blocks: you can shift the departure, stretch a stage or skip a day without breaking what follows. Only timed-entry tickets require adjusting the dates accordingly, and they are all flagged.

What if a hotel or a place in the itinerary has closed?

Email contact@etaperia.com within 12 months of your purchase. If a hotel in the itinerary is closed or can no longer be found, or a place to visit has closed permanently, the itinerary is corrected in your customer account within 7 days, or you are refunded in full. A hotel fully booked on your dates, a seasonal closure or a change in opening hours or prices is not covered. This guarantee comes on top of the legal warranty of conformity; details in article 12 of the terms and conditions of sale.

Who is selling you this itinerary

  • Kylian, sole trader, SIRET 927 587 709 00035
  • Consumer mediator: ANM Consommation
  • Payment handled by Stripe: Étaperia never sees your card number
  • Publisher, not a travel agency: you book flights, hotels and tickets yourself

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