September trip to Yellowstone.

[RuneRider66]

Hello guys,

I need some information and help planning from forum members.

I am planning a (roughly) 2 week trip out west to Yellowstone.
I am in South Carolina, but would like to ship the bike out to somewhere close to Billings Montana. General agenda would include Beartooth Pass, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier National Park and if enough time a trip up to Banff and Lake Louise.

Suggestions please

I need somewhere to ship my bike too. Anyone live out in that area?
I also need suggestions about roads and routes and things that I really shouldn't miss.
Suggestions on where to stay when in and around Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Glacier.

This will be a 2 up trip
We will be flying out late Sunday night or Monday morning September 1st or 2nd or depending when we can get the best air fares. But the first few days of September.

Please feel free to make suggestions. I have never been to the area and would like to rely on some good information.

Thank you

[Cali261]

Sounds like a good time. I have not been to most of the places you mentioned, but I’m sure you are going to enjoy your trip. I recently got back from a trip to Hwy 1 along the coast. I highly recommend you get some Butler maps for your trip. I changed my route based on the map recommendations, and I’m really glad I did. These maps are made for bikers, by bikers and have some very good insights as to roads and scenic routes. It may also help you put into context some of the suggestions you receive from the forum.

[RuneRider66]

Ok
Will look for Butler maps
Thank you

[pdxstriper]

Hi,

Great riding in Montana and Wyoming. Be sure to ride Beartooth Pass which runs along the north end of Yellowstone. I usually ride it from west to east entering from the west entrance to Yellowstone and ending the day in Red Lodge Montana. Spectacular ride. Check the weather as it shuts down due to snow at various times.

Pete

[6gun]

I don't know much about that part of the country. My Nephew lives in Bozeman. I you want, I could try to connect you with him for some advice.

[RuneRider66]

Hey 6gun, Thank you. YES. Is our nephew a motorcyclist? I would enjoy talking with him and picking his brain about the area. You have some good riding up where your at too. Nice area.

[6gun]

He does ride. I don't know if he moved his bike to MT.

[F6Bster]

That will be a great trip. Chief Joseph Highway from Cody WY up to the Beartooth Hwy just NE of Cooke City is a must ride also since you are in that area. two points for consideration.

--Don't try to see too much. Banff and Icefields Parkway to Jasper are awesome, as is Lake Louise, but ensure you have enough time for Yellowstone, Tetons, Beartooth, Chief Joseph Hwy, and Glacier (must ride west>east or east>west all the way up over the pass). Beautiful!!!! Important to watch the weather in September. Beautiful time of the year and should be good weather, but watch for a passing cold front that could dump snow in that whole area. Make adjustments accordingly.

[6gun]

Rune,
I sent you a PM

[adventurous1]

Hey Rune, that's a excellent trip. If you do venture up to L. Louise / Banff, the vistas of the never ending Glaciers are memorizing. If you have an extra cple of takes venture a tad further north to Jasper Nat Prk.

Some tips for ya (and I'm not sure how you travel and /or if your lady rides w/ you often or not), but to see / experience / taking your time, about 275 - 350 ish miles a day w/ 2 lane hwys / rds is a decent barometer. You mite want to call JH Cycle in Jackson Hole and see if you can have your bike shipped there, and fly into Jackson Hole. And start your trip from there. Beleive the 1st or 2nd of Sept is a Holiday.

JACKSON HOLE: Any Hotel is good (or Airbnb). You can stay in town or up in Teton Village. The RUSTIC INN w/ custom cabins are excellent BUT it's a tad pricey. The Wort Hotel has live bands and dancing. Each lady I've taken on my trips has dug the drinks and dancing at WORT. The town square has lots of shops, food, etc. Bunny Bakery for breakfast. Jackson Hole Roasters for coffee. They supply most of the coffee to the local hotels. When you exit Jackson on Hwy 191, turn into Moose (about 10 min up the road) to Teton Park Road. It takes you closer to the Tetons, Jenny Lake, Jackson Lake, and back onto 191.

YELLOWSTONE: Take the 20 around Yellowstone Lake to Tower Junction. There's been times I've had to wait up to 40 min for Buffalo to x the road along this stretch. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is here. Cooke City is cool. Just a few hotels and places to eat. Last year, the town had half the road blocked and shops closed early. A band and dancing in the street all night. It was a blast.

BEARTOOTH: YES, but be prepared for a bite in the air. It was 36 degrees near the top (in August). See pic. Not that you would but they close down the pass in the evenings.

RED LODGE: Lots of hotels, CARBON COUNTY STEAK HOUSE - Whewwwwww daddy are their steaks delicious. Prindy's Place is an old school diner for breakfast. Coffee Factory for coffee. At GLACIER (west side) look at Glacier Inn Motel. Nice little place, mom and pop owned, bike friendly, very clean and not expensive.

Have BIG FUN!!!

6434

[Vandal]

Not that close, but kind of. I am in the Coeur D'alene, Idaho area. Three hour trip to Glacier. Outstanding riding here on the rivers and Palouse area of Eastern Washington and North Idaho. We are doing a Glacier run late summer, looping up into Canada. Bring all weather gear, I have run into snow in Glacier in late summer.

[unsub]

@OP

My wife and I went through Yellowstone and the Tetons last year in July. Overnight the YNP temps were around 45 and the daytime temps were usually above 80.

This trip topic came up earlier in this year or late last year and my comment was anyone visiting the YNP [on a bike] should check first to see what roads are affected by construction. There were sections through the park that were soft gravel road bed with alternating traffic around crews. Not bike friendly but not a deal breaker.

Here is a link to historical temps in the area September last year. You can tinker with the data as you require..mid September appears to be the tipping point for weather change.

https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/@5843642/historic?month=9&year=2018

https://www.yellowstonepark.com/park/national-park-maps

Happy trails..

[oldxtreme]

Did a run last summer to California from Ohio and back. Went a Southern route out and Northern on the way back through the Tetons, Yellowstone, Bear Tooth Pass, Idaho, Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Sturgis, etc.

If you decide to drop down South, on the way back, two real "Don't Miss" areas are Bryce Canyon and Zion! Mind blowing! If you do Zion, ride the roads on the back side of the Park Untraveled, twisties and beautiful.

It is "cool" on the top of Bear Tooth even in July. When I came across, the road at the very top of the mountain was gravel and mud for about 7 miles. If you want some real fun coming down the Pass into Red Lodge, shift into neutral and just coast! Super quiet and not traffic in the evening. You can get from the top into Red Lodge without ever having to hit the throttle; just the brakes.

If you stay in Red Lodge, that little red caboose diner at the end on main street is a nice little local place to grab a quick bite. Do make sure you gas up in Red Lodge if you go back to Yellowstone because there is a lot of road and one little gas station in Cooke.

Be prepared to wait a LOOONG time in Lamar Valley because all traffic is controlled by buffalo. They have fun just standing in the middle of the road and backing up traffic for a hour or until they decide to move on. They figure this is their back yard and you are just passing through. I was surrounded by a heard of them on the bike and they just rolled their eyes toward me and stood there while a calf had a road snack with it's mama! Turned the bike off and just waited and waited. Didn't dare want to "hurry them on", they are massive!

If you have time, Cody is a nice way to get back into Yellowstone from Red Lodge via the Chief Highway.

It is a GREAT ride!

[2wheelsforme]

Last August I found ice, sleet and snow in both Yelowstone and the top of Beartooth Pass. So bad at Beartooth I had to wait a day for the weather to clear a little.

[tenxxx]

Last August I found ice, sleet and snow in both Yelowstone and the top of Beartooth Pass. So bad at Beartooth I had to wait a day for the weather to clear a little.
I left the Smoky Mountain N park on the Parkway in October and it was snowing and blowing at higher altitude.
Sheet of ice on the steps going down to the rest rooms.
When we got back down, 70 and sunshine.

[adventurous1]

Did a run last summer to California from Ohio and back. Went a Southern route out and Northern on the way back through the Tetons, Yellowstone, Bear Tooth Pass, Idaho, Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Sturgis, etc.

If you decide to drop down South, on the way back, two real "Don't Miss" areas are Bryce Canyon and Zion! Mind blowing! If you do Zion, ride the roads on the back side of the Park Untraveled, twisties and beautiful.

Did you also ride hwy 12 in UT? Damn one of my favorite hwys up to Torrey. And yeah, I also put it neutral at the top of beartooth down do the flats coming into Red Lodge. Cool experience.

[oldxtreme]

I had such a great ride out and back and I think I did HW 70 to 24, then down 12 to the 247 to 18 to San Bern. Little traffic and great twisties!

However, once I got to the 10 traffic sucked! I found that if I left more than 8 feet between me and the car in front, some CA driver would dart in and then slam on his brakes! Seemed like I walked the bike for miles on the highway before I finally decided to jump off to some side streets to get to Studio City. I left CA thinking that a MoPed is better suited for LA highways than the F6!


When I coasted down, it was late afternoon and absolutely NO traffic in either direction. As you know, you can see a few curves ahead so I could drift a little wide with the speed and not worry about meeting someone coming in the other direction. The biggest thing about coasting down from the top of Beartooth is going into the switchbacks and then realizing you are coasting at 60+miles per hour and have to climb on the brakes half way into a 20 mph curve!

[TheWalrus]

If you end up going from Jellystone to Glacier I recommend coming in from the West Yellowstone entrance to Butte. This will bring you through Montana's Virginia City following Hwy 287. From Butte go to Anaconda to see the big smelter smoke stack and see the pile of black tailings, this is State Route 1. Then continue on that road to do the Pintler Scenic Loop. You will come back to I-90 close to where you need to head north to Glacier. Take Hwy 83 on the east side of Flathead Lake it's more scenic and less full of summer cabins than going up Hwy 93. The Road to the Sun in Glacier is beautiful.