Yellowstone and Grand Teton in early May

[Mussgrass]

We will be in Yellowstone and Grand Teton a month from now. Looking for ideas on things to do. I realize a lot of things and even some roads will not be open. How many days total would be reasonable to spend in the area? Why will probably not do much hiking, just hitting places we can drive to.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jimh406]

Very few roads will be open. Gardiner to Cooke City should be. That means you can go to Lamar Valley.

Tetons to Gardiner is a long way. You might consider a snow coach or snowmobile tour.

 

[Southern Elk]

You will be able to see Old Faithful, Yellowstone Falls, and Mammoth Hot Springs. Probably too much snow to do much hiking or exploring away from the roads.

 

[packsaddle]

Very few roads will be open. Gardiner to Cooke City should be. That means you can go to Lamar Valley.

Tetons to Gardiner is a long way. You might consider a snow coach or snowmobile

anything over the snow ends march 15 every year. As stated, you wont be able to do much, still lots of snow up high, and its not melting quickly at all. I usually am snowmobiling through end of may on a normal year here in western wy. About all you can do is drive the main roads, see some animals etc, but there wont be much for hiking or otherwise to be done.

 

[Straight Arrow]

We will be in Yellowstone and Grand Teton a month from now. Looking for ideas on things to do. I realize a lot of things and even some roads will not be open. How many days total would be reasonable to spend in the area? Why will probably not do much hiking, just hitting places we can drive to.

Thanks in advance!

Depending on snow conditions, you can hike or snowshoe many trails out of Mammoth and in the Lamar Valley where the road to Cooke City is open year around.
Other roads may be open then as well, depending on spring temps and snow. There are many boardwalks and prominent trails open for hiking regardless. Contact the Park a week prior and you will be able to develop a good plan.

 

[Bigjay73]

Grab some snowshoes

 

[Bryerific]

There’s going to be a lot of snow in a lot of places, but early May is actually when most of the roads open (unless the Park gets hit with a late major storm or two). If you can wait until May 9th, then everything except Dunraven Pass should be open. This would make it much quicker to head down to Grand Teton because you can go through the South Entrance. Otherwise you will need to go out from West and around, which is a nice drive but it takes a while.

Unless there is fresh snow, the Lamar valley should be pretty melted out but it may be very muddy and most of the higher country should still have a lot of snow. So it really isn’t a good time to get off the roads and hike but at least it sounds like that isn’t your primary goal.

I assume the Grand Prismatic boardwalk will be open and I’d prioritize doing it on a sunny day. It is my favorite thermal feature in the Park but it isn’t nearly as colorful when it’s cloudy. The other two big ones you should hit are Old Faithful and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Lake Yellowstone will still be frozen but it will still be beautiful and worth stopping to view.

Wildlife wise, it’s about the worst time to come look at deer, moose, and elk since they are in the worst body condition of the year, their winter coats look rough, and they haven’t started regrowing antlers. However, it can be one of the best time to see wolves and it is definitely the best time of year to see bears. I like mid-May the best, but by driving the roads all day I would predict you’ll see quite few a black bears and grizzlies. Early May is still more likely to be boars but you may see a few little cubs. You’ll also likely get to see some ‘red dogs’ or bison calves as they start popping in early May. The nice thing about driving for bears in May is the Park has minimal traffic but a lot of the folks are looking for bears and wolves so there are a lot of helpful spotters. I would recommend bringing your best optics as the wolf and bear viewing can often be at a long distance. The two main areas to check are the Lamar valley and Hayden Valley.

Overall, if you are going to stay on the roads, check out some of the close/popular thermal features, and do some wildlife viewing, 2-3 days in Yellowstone and a day in Grand Teton would be about right. You’d probably feel rushed doing all of Yellowstone in a day. Plus, you may get a spring storm that ruins a day.

And a final note, be prepared for winter weather in early May. I remember a few ago when we had a snowstorm on April 29th that came in while I was photographing bighorns in the Lamar valley and it snowed so much over just a few hours that my SUV was pushing snow with my bumper when going through the drifts on the way back midday. Thankfully at Tower Junction, I got to where the plows had made it but that storm was a beast!

Here is a map of the predicted road opening dates from the website. They’ll make updates if their plowing efforts fall behind.

 

[Mussgrass]

@Bryerific Thanks, I did see this map on the NPS website.

 

[Mussgrass]

Another question, can we buy the one year national parks pass in person?

 

[Bryerific]

Another question, can we buy the one year national parks pass in person?

yep!

 

[Goodfish]

Have a great meal at Chico Hot Springs!