In June, three of my friends and I embarked on a long, ambitious, and, at times, tiring road trip from Wyoming to Seattle. We had planned to stop at four national parks in six days, spending a few hours in each.
We knew from the start that we wouldn’t be able to see everything in any of the parks, and we were fine with that. When else were we going to fly to Montana or Wyoming?
We wanted our trip to include a mix of national parks, state parks, urban exploration, and open roads.
When we went to Yosemite National Park last October, we wished we could have stayed forever, but we had no regrets about spending one night there, so we assumed the same would be fine this time around.
Seeing four of the most stunning national parks in one week — Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Mount Rainier — was hard to put into words.
However, I felt overwhelmed by how much there was to see and knew I would likely have to return to get the full experience.
We didn’t have enough time to explore each place
We spent the most time in Grand Teton National Park, staying two nights in Jackson, Wyoming, at a motel. We spent plenty of time at Jenny Lake, went horseback riding with the mountains in the background, and viewed Grand Teton’s snowy peak for hours.
When it came time to go to Yellowstone, though, we calculated we could spend only five hours there, since we had to drive another hour north to Livingston, Montana, to reach our hotel.
As soon as we arrived, we headed straight for Thumb Geyser. It was less crowded than but not as stunning as Old Faithful, which we rushed to 15 minutes later. Then, we bolted to Grand Prismatic Spring.
By then, we were hungry and knew we had to find an open restaurant on the Montana side of the park, so we drove out and stopped for a few pictures along the border.
I was so enamored by Grand Teton that I definitely did not give Yellowstone enough of my enthusiasm and time.
For the next two days, we drove through Montana’s major cities, stopping in Bozeman, Helena, Butte, Missoula, and Kalispell en route to Glacier National Park.
Given our tight schedule and an added delay from getting lunch at a restaurant with very slow service, Glacier somehow felt more rushed.
We had time for about an hour of kayaking on Lake McDonald before heading up Going-to-the-Sun Road to Avalanche Lake, where the road had closed due to ice. I left wishing I could have done much more in what many consider America’s prettiest national park.
Though we only spent about three hours in Mount Rainier, I was more satisfied with what we saw. The mountain was stunning from every angle, and I didn’t feel the longer hikes would have been as fulfilling as staring at Mount Rainier’s reflection on the lake.
As the trip progressed, all of the nature seemed to blend together
Every park had its unique beauty, and the mind-bending geysers of Yellowstone complemented the tranquil, deer-filled trails of Glacier.
By the time we got to Mount Rainier, though, I had felt natured-out. We had seen so many waterfalls, valleys, mountains, and wildlife that I almost felt numb to the views at the latter two parks.
On one occasion, we passed by an overlook that I was convinced we had seen before, only to realize it was an entirely different viewpoint.
Aside from the major distinguishing sites, many of the trails and roads in the latter parks felt like repeats of those in the earlier ones we visited, which I’m confident would not have been the case if I had visited them on separate trips.
I know I missed much of the nuance in each park; every moose or bison I saw on the side of the road was just “another bison.”
Since our schedule was so tight, we were stuck with whatever weather we got
Given that we only had a few hours in each park except Grand Teton, we had to deal with whatever the weather turned out to be.
We were lucky overall, with mostly clear skies, though we got stuck in a storm at Grand Teton that prevented us from doing more ambitious hikes.
The mountains disappeared behind heavy clouds, and visibility was low. This was also the case in part at Mount Rainier, where clouds blocked most of the mountain at a few viewpoints.
Of course, if we had stayed longer at any of these parks during a rainy week, the outcome could have been worse. Still, our tight schedule left too little of a cushion for adverse weather.
I have no regrets, but I wouldn’t do this trip again
After a few weeks of reflection, I have no regrets about how we planned this trip. Every park visit worked out, the road trip was smooth, and everywhere we went was beautiful.
My friends and I paid only $80 combined to get into the parks because we had America the Beautiful annual passes that covered parking, plus entrance and standard-amenity fees. It felt like a great deal, and we can still use our passes until they expire to visit other parks and federal recreational lands around the US.
As much as I wish we’d spent more time at each stop, the reality is we all have limited vacation days, travel budgets, and so much else we want to see in the world.
We probably wouldn’t have been able to see all four of these parks in the next few years if we had broken the trip into two or three parts.
Still, I likely would have been able to enjoy the national parks more if I divided the trip into Grand Teton and Yellowstone, then a separate trip doing Glacier, Mount Rainier, and Olympic National Park outside Seattle.
To get the full experience of most of these places, though, I do feel I need to plan some return trips.
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