I did a trip for college credit through the local juco that took us all over the West including Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. Drive there is a piece of cake, but I remember some part of a drive in the Rockies that was SO scary to me. And I wasn’t driving.
I was, however, the driver when we went up PCH, and my dh was oohing and aahing the whole time, and I was terrified. Sorry, locals who are used to whipping around those curves. I’d pull over occasionally as I knew I was holding people up.
These mountain road stories are making me sweat. Nrdsb4 - I’m working to get over my fear of heights also. Have been watching YouTube videos of drives down mountain roads and hikes along mountain ridges.
I am the same way and am filing this information for future reference. I’ve only been West once and thought it was so beautiful (drove Denver to Santa Fe through Taos) but have a huge fear of heights and drop offs. I’m also now very glad that I didn’t give in to my husband’s suggestion that we drive up Pikes Peak. I hadn’t researched that ahead of time and was afraid I wasn’t going to like it – or that I would be so focused on the drive that I didn’t appreciate the beauty.
This is where I tell others to take a picture for me!
FYI the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway is back in operation! No need to drive! We did it last year and it was great. Very comfortable, can enjoy the view. I’m fine with heights if I am not in control of the possible fall/death (e.g., planes, glass elevators, trains). Maybe this will help others enjoy. Just be careful of the quick elevation if you are from a sea-level type place! It’s high and shouldn’t be done on your first day visiting the area, lol.
One time I flew from Boston to Denver, rented a car, drove to Rocky Mountain National Park, and went hiking. I happened to run into a colleague on the flight who went with me. We “hiked” about 20 yards and collapsed. Oddly enough, there was a park bench right there which I figured was put there for the purpose of allowing “flatlanders” to collapse with some dignity. Then we drove back to our hotel.
At the end of the same week we went for a short hike again. This time we were fine.
People from anywhere near sea level should take a couple of days before they do anything physically taxing at a high altitude. The higher you are above this level, the more careful you should be. The Jackson Hole airport is at 6,451 feet in elevation. Yellowstone is more like 8,000 feet (but varies a bit depending where you are). Rocky Mountain National Park is a bit over 14,000 feet.
In Yellowstone there were quite a few spots where it is worth walking around a bit. At the time I did not even think about the fact that we were wise (or perhaps lucky) that we didn’t try to go to Yellowstone on the first day of the trip.
Totally agree, DadTwoGirls. My daughter wanted to visit Pike’s Peak on our first full day in CO. She was fine but at the top of the mountain my husband and I got dizzy, shaky, and our lips were blue. I think of myself as pretty fit (exercise 5x a week, etc.). Altitude is a whole other thing! An elderly couple near us on the train was even in worse shape (hard to breathe, etc.). Something to keep in mind!
Good advise about high altitude cautions.
Per Pikes Peak (and other very high altitude visits) do have extra layers, regardless of the temps at the base. It is always colder and windier on top. When we rode the cog rail up in July years ago, hot and sunny in town, I was soooo happy a friend had given us the tip. Even with long pants and jackets we were cold. Bet I could have made a tidy profit selling blankets on the way down.
Good to know. We are starting out in Jackson Hole for 2 days, then on to Yellowstone, then to Bozeman MT. I hope we can handle it!
Only Longs Peak in RMNP is above 14000 feet (and you don’t want to be climbing a 14er without a lot of preparation). The trails in RMNP start at 7800 and go up (and down, and up and down) from there. Most of it is below timberline. It just feels like your lungs are exploding but they aren’t.
You are right, be prepared. People fly in and drive to the ski hills and take to the slopes. Not such a good idea. Drink lots of water, no alcohol, and be well rested. My sister lives in Denver at 5280 and still gets altitude sickness at Copper, which is a high mountain. I always suggest flatlanders ski at Steamboat because it is a lower elevation. at the base.
Take the Cog railroad to the top of Pike’s Peak. Eat the donuts. Buy a sweatshirt because you didn’t know it was going to be 40 degrees colder at the top (even though we just told you!). Everyone does.
I just got this from a Google search, and I admit that it did not seem to me that it it was that high. However, I had climbed to the top of Mount Jefferson and been fine (5,700 feet) two weeks before running out of air in Rocky Mountain National Park. It did seem to me that Rocky Mountain National Park is somewhat variable in altitude (and beautiful), and I have no idea where in the park we actually were at the time.
Taking it easy the first day does seem like a good plan. I quite liked Jackson when we visited.
Well, we just got back from our trip.
We stayed 2 nights in Jackson Hole, one night in West Yellowstone, and one night in Big Sky, MT. Flew home out of Bozeman.
This area of the country is so beautiful. We are talking about going back next year and making it a much longer trip.
We spent two days in Yellowstone NP even though we spent only one night in the area. While it was beautiful, it was really disappointing that we saw almost NO wildlife. The first day, I didn’t see so much as a squirrel! The second day, we saw a few bison-I would have sworn that was a buffalo. This animal is always portrayed as a buffalo in movies and TV shows, but the locals corrected me that these are actually bison. As we were leaving the park, we pulled over when we saw a bunch of people pointing up at something and getting all excited. There was a very small bear foraging for berries or something. It took me a LONG time to find it-one lady kept exclaiming “It’s RIGHT THERE!” but giving no landmarks to tell me where “right there” was. Finally I saw it-it was so far away, it just looked like a small brown blob.
We saw not a single deer, elk, wolf. No hawks. No eagles. No birds of any note other than a few black crows. No moose. Nada. Not even a rabbit.
I’m thinking that maybe the heat wave could explain the lack of wildlife. Otherwise, I have no clue, but it was almost surreal, driving around the park and seeing nothing where you would expect to see herds of animals.
I was stunned as we drove next to Lake Jackson. It is COMPLELTELY DRY. No lake exists at his time. I read up on it and apparently every 20-25 years it dries up. The literature said it seems to be happening a little more often than usual, and there is no way to predict when it will fill up again. That area also had huge swaths of obvious wildfires, with many dead trees consumed by a past fire. That was a sad drive for a while.
DH wanted to drive the Beartooth pass, but I refused after someone here commented it was scary. I even looked it up online and saw a comment that it is a dangerous road with sharp dropoffs. DH actually got mad at me-no raising of his voice or anything, but it was obvious he thought I was being ridiculous. He has traveled that road before and said it was not scary AT ALL and I was missing out on one of the most beautiful roads in the country. I will consider it for next trip, but I just wasn’t going to be swayed. I don’t know if he has just forgotten how scary it is (since he doesn’t look at roads with the same lens I do), or if it really isn’t all that bad.
We did take an aerial tram in Jackson Hole to the summit, which gave me extremely sweaty palms. I’m glad I did it, but can’t say it was necessarily enjoyable given my fear of heights.
The drive from Big Sky to Bozeman was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I really want to go back to Montana and explore it more.
This trip was rather spontaneous, so we didn’t really have much time to see and do much. In the future, I’d probably skip Jackson Hole (nice, but more of a ski resort imo) and just focus on Yellowstone and Montana.
Thanks to all for the comments. Oh, we had no issues with the elevations, though we had a couple of brief moments of light headedness a couple of times. We didn’t do any hiking, however, so that may have been deceptive.
ETA: On the day we drove from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone, there was a thick haze obscuring the mountains for a good while. Learned it was from some wildfires in Idaho. The next day was better.
My summer vacation was full of wildlife…at the beach! There were sharks, jellyfish, stingrays, and one day driving to the beach a 12+ foot alligator crossing the road. A huge owl hung out with us on the patio one night.
We saw a lot of wildlife when we went to Yellowstone in February of 2020, but it was winter and the park was closed unless you go in on a special tour. We loved the funky little town of West Yellowstone where we stayed. During the winter they don’t plow the streets and there are snowmobiles everywhere as this is a big area they come to. We are big skiers so we loved Jackson Hole and Big Sky.
Your best chance to see wildlife in Yellowstone is in the northeast portion, much of which was affected by the floods. Don’t know if it is even accessible yet. Haven’t been paying attention.
We tried to get in, but it was by permit only, and all permits were sold out. Even with permits, only 6 miles was accessible, and then you had to turn around. I think the ranger told DH that as of today, that area is closed. Yes, flood related. Two park entrances were closed when we arrived.
Nrdsb4 - good for you on sticking to your guns and avoiding the scary, steep-dropoff road. Interesting that your husband thought you were ‘missing out’ - I can totally relate to that fear of heights and wanting to make your vacation pleasant, not full of height terror!! I’ve always wanted to go to Montana - glad to hear it’s beautiful and hope to go sometime.