Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone Park

Suggested Itinerary:

Day 1 – Depart Colorado Springs. Pick up Denver passengers. Lunch in Cheyenne. Proceed to Casper, Wyoming, on the North Platte River and the crossroads for the historic Oregon, California, Mormon, and Pony Express Trails.

Visit the new National Trails Interpretive Center to see what life was like for the pioneers who traveled these trails in the mid-1800s. Enjoy a welcome dinner (included.) Overnight in Casper at the Holiday Inn or similar.

Day 2 – Visit Independence Rock State Historic Park, called the “register of the desert” due to the fact so many pioneers carved their names into the rock. Experience also Devil's Gate and Split Rock, two other important landmarks on the emigrant trail.

Lunch in Lander. Travel over the rugged Wind River Range and visit the National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Center. View the Grand Teton Mountains from the summit of Togwotee Pass. Drop into Jackson Hole and enter spectacular Grand Teton National Park.

Overnight at Flagg Ranch Resort for four nights in your own recently built cozy log cabin in the pines. Flagg Ranch is ideally situated between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks on the scenic John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway. It will be our base for exploring the two parks, saving you the inconvenience of packing and unpacking every day.

Day 3 – Tour Grand Teton National Park with stops at Schwabacher’s landing for the reflection of the Tetons, the Snake River Overlook made famous by Ansel Adams, Mormon Row for cabins and barns from the 1890s and the Cathedral Group Overlook.

Grand Teton National Park is a photographer's paradise!

Lunch will be in the historic town of Jackson. After lunch options include strolling Jackson Town Square to see art galleries and shops or enjoy a visit to the world-class National Museum of Wildlife Art.

This afternoon enjoy easy walks to look for moose, elk, bison, bear, coyotes, swans, ospreys and eagles. See Jenny Lake, Signal Mountain and Jackson Lake. Return to Flagg Ranch.

Day 4 – This morning enjoy a scenic float trip on the Snake River to view and photograph wildlife including moose, beaver, osprey, otters and bald eagles. Lunch in the park at one of the historic lodges. 

This afternoon take an optional ferry ride across Jenny Lake and hike 2 miles round-trip to Hidden Falls. Another half-mile further is Inspiration Point for an outstanding overlook of Jenny Lake. Non-walkers can relax at the lodge where we had lunch and enjoy the view.

On the way back to Flagg Ranch stop at Oxbow Bend to enjoy the reflection of Mount Moran, named after the famed painter Thomas Moran.

Day 5 – Travel north into Yellowstone this morning. Stop at Lewis Falls and drive along the shore of Lewis Lake. See evidence of the 1988 Yellowstone fire. View geysers, hot springs and boiling mud pots. Lunch at the wonderfully historic Old Faithful Inn.

Tour the west side of Yellowstone National Park with stops at Old Faithful Geyser, Grand Prismatic Spring, Geyser Basin, the Firehole River, Sheep Cliff, and Mammoth Hot Springs. Look for moose, elk, bear, bighorn sheep and eagles. Return to Flagg Ranch.

Day 6 – Explore the east side of the park and visit the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Yellowstone Falls, Hayden Valley for Bison and Bear, and Yellowstone Lake. Lunch at the Canyon Lodge Dining Room, home of the world's best Huckleberry Ice Cream!

Exit the east side of the park and travel the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway to Cody, Wyoming. President Teddy Roosevelt called this road the most scenic in all of America. Overnight in historic Cody at the new Cody Cowboy Village or similar.

Day 7 – Cody is home to one of the country’s supreme cultural attractions—the five museum complex of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Its third of a million square feet of exhibition space certainly makes it one of America’s largest museum complexes. Spend the morning visiting your favorite displays.

The Whitney Gallery of Western Art presents an outstanding collection of masterworks of the American West. Original paintings, sculptures and prints trace artistic interpretations of the West from the early 19th century to today.

The Buffalo Bill Museum examines both the personal and public lives of W.F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, and tells his story in the context of the history and myth of the American West.

The Plains Indian Museum features one of the country's largest and finest collections of Plains Indian art and artifacts. Explore the cultural histories, artistry and living traditions of Plains Indian peoples, including the Arapaho, Crow, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Blackfeet, Sioux, Gros Ventre, Shoshone and Pawnee.

The Cody Firearms Museum contains the world's most comprehensive assemblage of American arms, as well as European arms dating to the 16th century.

The Draper Museum of Natural History integrates the humanities with natural sciences to interpret the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and adjacent intermountain basins.

Lunch at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. This afternoon travel south through the scenic Wind River Canyon. Return to Casper for a farewell dinner. Overnight in Casper at the Holiday Inn or similar.

Day 8 – Continue to Denver or Colorado Springs and bid farewell to your guide and new friends until the next trip.

Reserve your tour today!

Price includes your group's own private ranger-guide, 7 nights lodging in unique, three-star properties where available, ground transportation, all breakfasts, all lunches, two dinners, all activities, park entrance fees, taxes, luggage handling and maid gratuities. Guide tip and airfare are not included.

A deposit of $500 per person is required to hold space with balance due 45 days prior to departure.

For more information and reservations, please contact the National Park Society at info@nationalparksociety.com. Or call 719-322-5694.

Yellowstone & Grand Tetons 
with Kent Taylor

8 days, 7 nights

Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is America's first national park. Located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, it is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, moose, elk and bald eagles.

Preserved within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world's most extraordinary geysers and hot springs.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River cuts a spectacular chasm in the colorful rock and is anchored on the west end by 308-foot tall Yellowstone Falls, an icon of the national park system.

Grand Teton National Park preserves a spectacular landscape rich with majestic mountains, pristine lakes and diverse wildlife.

The abrupt vertical rise of the jagged Teton Range contrasts with the horizontal sage-covered valley and glacial lakes at their base, creating world-renowned scenery.

Your Guide - Ranger Kent Taylor

Kent Taylor is a park ranger and former college professor and is the founder and director of the National Park Society.

He also works for the Colorado Division of Wildlife monitoring the health of deer, elk, moose and bighorn sheep.

Kent worked as a ranger for the National Park Service in Grand Teton National Park and for the U.S. Forest Service. He is a member of the Association of National Park Rangers. 

Kent has been guiding small-group national park tours in the United States and Canada since 1984 and leads yearly tours to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

On this vacation you will learn about the dynamic geology and colorful history of the area as well as the fascinating animals and plants that live here.

Highlights include:

Grand Teton National Park

Pioneer History in Jackson Hole



Mount Moran Reflected in Jackson Lake



Wildflowers in Grand Teton National Park

Floating Below Grand Teton Peak

Yellowstone Falls



Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone

   

Grizzly Bears and Wolves Share Yellowstone