Van Trip Out West

July 14, 2021 0 Comments

10 Nights 11 Days Including Travel

(This is just how we did it. I will put in

parentheses what I would change if I could)

Day One: Fly into Salt Lake City Airport and spend the night for one night in SLC. We stayed at a hotel near the airport. This was the only day that didn’t go as planned. Tyler and I ended up getting split up with flights, so I ended up landing super late. We went to I-n-Out burger when I landed.

** NOTE: If I could go back and change it, I would spend the extra money to fly into Jackson, WY from the get-go instead of SLC. It would’ve saved a lot of time in the car with more time to explore. Unless there are things you specifically want to see in SLC this might be the way to go!

Day Two: Drove to Victor, ID and stayed at the Moose Creek Ranch. Victor is the cutest little town about 3 hours from SLC and the drive in was beautiful. We loved this spot! The ranch was absolutely gorgeous. Tyler and I stayed in one of their “Glamping Cabins.” These don’t included bathrooms, but the ranch has full facilities in their lodge and it’s more of a spa feel than camping. It’s definitely upscale camping.

Where to go in Victor:

Day Three: Drove to Jackson, WY to pick up the camper van. Victor is about a 45 minute drive from Jackson. We could pick up our van at 2:00 so we went to breakfast in town before picking it up.

What to do during a morning in Jackson:

  • Breakfast at Cultivate Café (SO GOOD)
  • Shopping for things you might need in the van at the plethora of outdoor stores in the area (MUST HAVES: Bug spray!!!!, High quality Chapstick, Sunscreen, Propane for cooking. Everyone is going to try to sell you bear spray, but it comes with the van.)

After breakfast and shopping we dropped our rental car off at the Jackson airport and ubered to Moterra Campervans https://gomoterra.com/ After picking up the van and getting the run down from the amazing staff there we headed to Albertsons for groceries. We bought WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. We planned to cook every meal. This just wasn’t realistic for us and I’ll explain why as I go through this guide. If you are committed to cooking every meal than definitely stock up but it just didn’t happen for us.

The grocery must haves I would buy after doing the trip (the simpler the better):

  • Two loaves of whatever bread you like (I like sourdough bakery bread)
  • 1 Pound of boars head chicken breast
  • ½ Pound boars head ham
  • Sliced sandwich cheese
  • (sandwich condiments)

** We ate sandwiches every day. It was so easy to just pull over to a little spot in the parks and just whip up a sandwich instead of having to cook.

  • Granola Bars
  • Bananas
  • Chips/Crackers/Etc.
  • Snackable fruit like grapes
  • Hot dogs/brats/sausages anything that you can roast over the fire and pop into a bun
  • Cookies
  • Salsa/Guac
  • Tortilla chips
  • BEER/Seltzers
  • A couple gallons of water (you’ll use these for all kinds of things, and you can always refill them which makes them more useful than individual bottles.)

** These were just must haves for us. I would do more research on recipes for next trip.

After grocery shopping, we headed into Yellowstone for our first campsite. Camping in Yellowstone is a whole beast in itself, but this is the schedule we followed:

CAMPING SCHEDULE:

Night Three: Madison Campground https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/madisoncg.htm

Madison is about a 36 minute drive from Ole Faithful. I would stop on your way in, get gas and stock up on anything you may need at the little stores in that area, watch Ole Faithful erupt (there’s a sign with times on it near the eruption site) and head towards your campsite for the night. Ole Faithful is so beautiful in the evening and there was a lot less people here during this time.

Day Four/Night Four: Bridge Bay https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/bridgebaycg.htm

We woke up on day 2, packed up, and headed to Grand Prismatic. We wanted to beat the crowds. MISTAKE. It was too cold to see the actual features of the pools because there was too much steam erupting from them. We ended up going to get coffee at Ole Faithful Inn and coming back around 9:00. This was perfect. We took a nice little hike up to the lookout points to get really good views of the pools. Then headed to the fountain paint pots. These are so cool! After these two features (and lots of stops for bison photos,) we drove onto our next campsite at Bridge Bay. After arriving at our campsite and checking in we went to the Yellowstone Lake and put our feet in the water. We literally just pulled off on the side of the road and scaled down the little cliff side to get to the lake. After we went on a short hike to the “natural bridge.” This trail head is right inside the campsite. WATCH OUT FOR GROUNDHOGS!!!! THEY’RE MEAN!!!!For dinner that night we ate at the lodge that was near this campsite.

Day Five/Night Five: **I’m not going to even tell you what we did because we regret it. Do it like this instead:**

Drive to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone EARLY and do the hike! It’s about an hour from the Bridge Bay campground. You’ll find everything is really spread out in Yellowstone but it’s easy to navigate with a park map! Do the Grand Canyon hike and head up to Lamar Valley to see all the wild-life. Stop at Mammoth Hot Springs on the way up. You’ll pass right by it.

Try and get a spot at Slough Valley Campground https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/sloughcreekcg.htm After a long day of driving it will be so nice to hangout by one of the many creeks in this area and watch all the wild-life. If you can’t get a spot at Slough Creek you can keep driving out of the park and camp in the national Forrest.

Day Six/Night Six: Head back through Yellowstone and exit through the East entrance. This will take you right into the Tetons. Make sure to get an early start this day (like really early) so you can fully enjoy your day in the Tetons.

 Stay in Signal Mountain Campground!! https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/signalmountaincg.htm once we got here and got settled in, we walked right down to the lake and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening here. This is a perfect spot to just relax/swim/rent paddle boards. Literally whatever you want to do, and you have a perfect view of the Tetons from the lake. The pictures here are amazing.

Day Seven/Night Seven: We couldn’t get another night here, we stayed at Gros Ventre Campground https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/gros-ventre-campground.htm but if you can, stay at Signal Mountain again and drive over to Jenny Lake (super short drive) or stay at Jenny Lake Campground. We took the ferry across the lake and did the hike to Inspire Point. It was hard! Bring snacks and water and maybe a couple beers. You’ll be tired after this one.

Day Eight/Night Eight: We did another hike at Jenny Lake today and it was my favorite hike of the trip. It was about a 5-mile round-trip hike around half of the lake. It was gorgeous.

Day Nine/Night Nine: We turned our van in today L, picked up our Turo rental car, and headed into Jackson Hole, WY. We ate at D.O.G. and had coffee at Cowboy Coffee. Both amazing. Then headed white water rafting. We went with  https://www.sandswhitewater.com/ and Kallie our guide was awesome! We did the 14-person raft but next time we’ll do the 8 people raft I think for a crazier experience. After rafting we went to check in to the Anvil Hotel downtown. Just full disclosure EVERYTHING is going to be expensive in Jackson in the summer. We loved the Anvil. They have daily free happy hour and free espresso drinks all day for guests.

This night we had dinner at the Glorietta which is basically like the restaurant the hotel suggests. It’s literally 5 steps from the hotel. The convenience factor was great, but I thought it was expensive for the quality. Super cute spot though and great cocktails! I would go sit on their little patio and have a cocktail again! The Local down the street looked like a great Steak house.

After dinner we went to the Million Dollar Cowboy which is a must! So much fun!!

Day Ten/Night Ten: My favorite part of the whole trip was finally here! We went on a half day horseback riding tour with Willow Creek Horseback Ride. https://www.willowcreekhorsebackrides.com/ we did the tour that left at 8 AM and I HIGHLY recommend this. It was amazing. They provide lunch. It was seriously such a highlight of the trip for me. Our guide Taylor was awesome.

After Horseback Riding, we went and explored Jackson a little bit. We went to a couple different breweries and Persephone bakery for coffee which came highly recommended.

That night we went to the Jackson Rodeo. https://www.ticketsonsale.com/venues/jackson-hole-rodeo?gclid=CjwKCAjwlrqHBhByEiwAnLmYUCEanAy7gVj8WfDc7Kbx0G-H1pHiZCmn3g_JBrSzx3-zb3ySu6SjzhoCKikQAvD_BwE Another amazing experience. Highly recommend.

Day Eleven: Fly out of Jackson airport.

Things to remember/advice I wish I had before this trip:

1. You will have NO CELL SERVICE IN THE PARKS. Like hardly ever. Download movies/tv shows before you go on the trip, so you have something to do in the van in case of rain/just needing a break.

2. Take the map offered to you at the park entrance. You WILL use them all the time.

3. Consider buying a pop up chair cover for bugs Tyler said this is so nerdy but I WILL be purchasing one before we camp next time. Some nights the mosquitos were AWFUL. Like couldn’t be outside. https://www.amazon.com/Under-the-Weather-MeshPod-Black/dp/B0728LCSW9/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=bug+screen+for+chair&qid=1626295986&s=home-garden&sr=1-5

4. If you’re a souvenir buyer like we are (plus we just like to shop) account for that. I ended up buying a new bag to check on the way home because I only brought carry-ons to begin with.

5. BRING BINOCULARS!!!!!!!! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! You will want to see animals that are up on hills and far away!!!!!!

6. Map out features before you go on an actual Yellowstone map and narrow down your MUST sees. There are so many it can be very overwhelming.

7. Look up recipes/grocery lists prior to the trip. We bought so much food we didn’t even end up using.

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