Trip Report: We ended up with 19 people overall between 4 families coming from Houston, Chicago, Denver and Norfolk. The 1st three nights were spent on the west side. My family rented a cabin on Henry's Lake (Island Park, ID.) The rest of our group stayed at Under Canvas (glamping) between Island Park and West Yellowstone.
United jacked with our flights weeks before we even left so we didn't get into Jackson until 9:00. By the time we got our luggage/rental it was around 10:00 and we had a 2 hours drive up to the cabin. Someone in my party forgot to tell us that the whole group was going on a tour the next day (July 2) and we were meeting at 6:30 a.m.
Very glad that we did the tour because 2 vans instead of 3-4 of our own vehicles was the way to do it. Jack and Jackson from Casanova Tours were really great. We saw a lot of the "touristy" stuff like Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic (from the Fairy Falls overlook), Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, etc. Traffic on the 2nd was pretty nuts but that was to be expected for a holiday week/weekend. We lunched by the Madison River (part of the tour cost.) If you have never been to Yellowstone, I recommend spending the money and doing a tour. It is worth it.
On the 3rd, my car load headed south from Island Park and checked out Mesa Falls down near Ashton. Those falls (Upper and Lower) are pretty cool and there are some paths in/around that get you out into the wild. We stopped at Harriman Ranch State Park but didn't spend much time there.
The 4th was a travel day as we moved from Island Park to Gardiner. We went up through Big Sky/Bozeman instead of driving throught the park. Traffic and speed limits made that an easy decision. It helps that the drive between West Yellowstone and Bozeman is scenic. Bozeman has a decent (but also a tourist trap) downtown. We had lunch and stretched our legs. My family and one of the others stayed together in a rental off of Jardine Road in Gardiner. It was walkable to Main Street and a great location. There were 4 bedrooms and 9 of us had plenty of space. We fed all 19 each night we were there (4 nights). The other two familes stayed elsewhere in Gardiner.
On the 5th we met back up with Jack and Jackson at Mammoth Hot Springs (5:00 a.m. this time) to go back into the park on a wildlife spotting tour. We headed toward the Lamar Valley and saw 5-6 grizzlies, 1 wollf, one black bear and obviously a shit ton of bison. Again, this was worth it. These guys know where the wildlife will be and had spotting scopes. We got "close" to 2 grizzlies and the black bear. By close I mean 100 yards or so. We didn't do any fucking around and finding out. We ended that day with a picnic lunch at Mammoth (also part of the tour cost.)
On the 6th the whole group rented e-bikes and rode over to Yellowstone Hot Springs. This is about a 20 mile round trip on the Old Yellowstone Trail (gravel). Fairly easy e-bike ride but it is a bit bumpy. One of our group got about a mile out from the rental place and decided it was not for them. She and I rode back to the rental shop and just drove over to Springs. The hot springs is kind of a misnomer as the water is piped into pools that are plastered. They have a cool spring (around 60-65 degrees), a warmer one at around 100 degrees and then a hot one at 104 degrees. It was overall worth it and everyone enjoyed the ride and the springs.
On the 7th, 9 of us went back to the Upper/Lower Falls of the Yellowstone. The plan was to take the South Rim trail along the Yellowstone from Chittenden Bridge to Artist's Point. Weather interfered so we only got around a mile in before heading back to the cars. We ended up just driving down to Artist's Point. That is a spectacular view back to up the valley.
The 8th was another travel day for my group. We were flying back out of Jackson the 10th. We went back through Bozeman, West Yellowstone and Island Park. Got to Jackson around 5:00 and tooled around the Square and ate dinner.
On the 9th, I got up around 5:00 a.m. and drove up to the Mormon Row and took pictures as the sun came up on the Tetons. After everybody got up and moving, we headed over to Teton Village. There's not a whole lot going on over there and it's relatively small but we ate a late lunch and then took the Bridger Gondola up for the view. Drove the Inner Park Road through the N.P. and stopped at Jenny Lake for a bit. Overall, we just didn't have much time to do anything else in that park.
Obviously taking that many people really changes the travel dynamic. Grocery stores in/near Island Park/West Yellowstone were hit and miss/expensive but that was to be expected. Sam Patch Grocery in Island Park was the nicest in that area. Gardiner's grocery store was very well stocked (food and booze). I definitely want to go back to Jackson and use that as a home base for Grand Tetons. The whole area is just amazing.