DIY Yellowstone and Grand Teton Vacation

Our Fathom friends and fellow traveling kindred spirits, Anna Petrow and Patrick Mulvihill, just got back from a sensational trip to Wyoming’s Grand Teton. (Anna took the photos, Patrick wrote the words.)

My affinity for motels only grows with each passing stay — it’s the perfect solution for the active traveler, and the new wave of design-minded motels making their debut across the nation fit the bill perfectly. The resurgence of these no-fuss accommodations, bolstered by artists who resurrect these often crumbling spaces with unique, memorable details, has easily become my favorite travel trend.

While planning the penultimate summer trip to two of our nation’s greatest National Parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, the sticker shock of prices in the Jackson area nearly had us scrapping the trip altogether. Then we found Anvil Motel. Booked at a nightly rate of $365 (free parking and morning coffee included), our stay offered all of the creature comforts and none of the unnecessary extras — the embodiment of this new wave of motels. The rooms, while the typical size for a motel, are a world apart from the motels of old, with specially made brass bed frames, lace curtains, a heavy wool blanket on the bed for chilly nights, and stellar storage for gear-heavy hiking trips, with lots of hooks and shelves, and even a large shoe rack, to keep everything organized. The biggest surprise in our room? A life-affirming amount of shower pressure and plentiful, fluffy towels — true bliss after a day in the parks.

Easy walking distance from the square, but far enough that you feel out of the tourist bustle, we enjoyed evenings on the Adirondack chairs playing games like '90s classics Battleship and Connect 4. On-site dining at Glorietta was excellent — handmade pastas and a wine list that screams anything but motel had us feeling pretty smug with our booking decision.

Come happy hour, we leaned into the kitsch at Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, quite literally saddling up to the counter for chili and ice cold beers. On park days, we grabbed picnic provisions at nearby Pearl Street Market, and breakfast burritos from D.O.G.— seemingly the only place in town slinging hot food at 6 a.m. (perfect when hitting the trail early). Other mealtime standouts (dang, do do you work up an appetite hiking all day!) included a bison Massaman curry at Teton Tiger, trout dip with everything-seasoned flatbread at Snake River Brewing, chocolate chip cookies from Persephone Bakery, and an absolutely stellar meal at The Kitchen, which I’m calling out now as Jackson Hole’s best kept fine dining secret, sure to blow up soon. The steelhead trout crudo with carrot and coconut vinaigrette, kaffir lime, marcona almonds, dill, and caviar was by far the most memorable bite of the trip, if not the whole summer.

While we’re letting you in on that secret, here’s the big one: How we beat out the infamous summer park traffic. Spoiler alert: It involves some early wake up calls, but I promise, it’s worth it.

Grand Teton

Rise early — 6 a.m. should do the trick — to beat the lines for the Jenny Lake Ferry. Locals told us our best chance of seeing moose was to take the trail up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, then onward into Cascade Canyon Trail. Sure enough, we saw four of them, feeding on Aspen leaves in the marshland along the river. The valley views as you head in are stunning.

Take a midday break at String Lake, a peaceful spot nearby that doesn’t draw quite the same crowds. Thanks to the shallow waters, it’s one of the lakes in the area that’s comfortable (but still cold!) to take a dip in. Fuel up before your next hike over in Teton Village —Il Villaggio Osteria offers wood-fired pizzas to order, with inventive topping combinations like fig, blue cheese, apples, and Aleppo pepper.

Phelps Lake is another excellent hike, set in the Rockefeller Preserve. Late afternoon is a good time to go, when the parking lot line often subsides — wait times can be upwards of 30 minutes to snag a spot, but even still, it’s worth it. Don’t miss the visitors center, an impressive collection of history, photography and insight into local natural wonders. You can take several different routes to lookout points along the lake, or all the way around it, with beautiful waterfalls and rivers along the way. As the rangers will tell you all throughout any area of the park — be bear aware! This trail is a little less populated than others, so on the stretches where your group is alone, be sure to make noise and/or carry bear spray. We actually saw a grizzly cub on our hike — a thrilling and adorable sight, and one we knew how to back out of safely, thanks to their tips.

Finally, if your feet need a break, the Jenny Lake scenic route drive and Signal Mountain Summit Summit provide views without the legwork.

Yellowstone

Wake up call: 4 a.m. Sorry, but it’s worth it to catch views of the Milky Way Galaxy before watching the sun rise over the Gros Ventre Range to the east, lighting up the 13,776-foot peak of Grand Teton to the west.

Head north on U.S. Route 191 from Jackson to the south gate of Yellowstone, with pit stops at Mormon Row, Schwabacher Landing, Oxbow Bend, and Willow Flats to catch some of the most scenic views in all of Wyoming. Pull over at Jackson Lake Overlook to stretch your legs and watch the sunrise illuminate the rest of the Teton Range.

From here, it’s just 15 minutes along the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway to the south entrance of Yellowstone, then another hour to Yellowstone’s famed Upper Geyser Basin, the largest concentration of geysers in the world.

You can cross Old Faithful off your bucket list to start your day off right. This corner of the park gets busy early, so experiencing it before the other tourists arrive is bliss — walking around the steam vents without the crowds feels a bit like touring another planet.

We were lucky enough to catch Old Faithful’s eruption within minutes of arriving, but keep an eye on the NPS’s geyser activity site to plan accordingly. Luckily, Old Faithful is just one of dozens of geysers, so a short walk will show you some of the largest geysers in the world, including the Castle, Daisy, Grand, and Riverside Geysers. We fortuitously witnessed the Grand Geyser — the tallest predictable geyser in the world — erupt shortly after we began our walk.

Our plan was to knock out a clockwise circumnavigation of the “Lower Loop” of Yellowstone, so we immediately headed north on 191 another ten minutes to the Biscuit Basin, a collection of colorful thermal pools and geysers located adjacent to the Firehole River, where you’ll find the Sapphire Pool just a short walk from the parking lot. Immediately north from here, you’ll find the Grand Prismatic Spring, arguably the most otherworldly spot in Yellowstone.

The Excelsior Geyser Crater’s continuously bubbling bright blue water is as beautiful as it is haunting. From here, you’ll continue onto the United States’s largest hot spring, known for its striking rainbow rings of red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. “Prismatic” is perhaps the best word one could use to describe this oddity, but to take in the full effect, consider stopping off at the Fairy Falls parking lot and walking to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook to take it in from above.

After this stop, we continued onto Gibbon Falls. Our vantage point of the 84-foot waterfall along the Gibbon River seemed striking until the next attraction: the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Not as famous as its Arizona counterpart, the views here were every bit as breathtaking, with 1200-foot drops and a remarkable view of the Yellowstone Falls, two waterfalls measuring 109 feet and 308 feet, respectively. The Lower Falls is the largest volume waterfall in the Rocky Mountains, dropping nearly twice as high as Niagara Falls, spilling out up to 8,400 cubic feet of water each second. You can take in the canyon from Lookout Point of Grand View on the north rim or Artist Point on the south rim, offering stomach-dropping views from the overlooks.

To conclude the Lower Loop of Yellowstone, head south from the canyon through Hayden Valley, perhaps the best location within the park to view wildlife. The nearly 50-square-mile area of plains is the result of an ancient lake bed, offering sweeping views of herds of buffalo and elk, with chances to spot bears, wolves, and coyotes as well. If you hit any traffic in this area, that’s generally a good thing — at least there’s plenty to look at!

Our final stops in the park were the “Mud Volcano,” a hydrothermal mud pot bubbling a gross but mesmerizing clay-ish muck, and the West Thumb Geyser Basin. Both of these geothermal attractions are a bit less trafficked compared to the other geysers, mud pots, and fumaroles, and the drive between them will take you along the 136-square-mile Yellowstone Lake.

With this route, we barely hit any delays. No promises this will be the case for your trip — and there are worse places to be stuck in traffic — but with an early departure from Jackson, you’ll avoid the lines of southbound cars sitting bumper-to-bumper waiting for a view of Old Faithful.

There you have it: Don’t let the crowds or prices scare you off. Make a plan, embrace the motel, set your early alarms, and go explore!