Billings to Yellowstone via the Beartooth Scenic Byway
Key Takeaway: Where you stay in Yellowstone matters a lot and staying in two different hotels/lodges is a good strategy; i.e., 2 nights in one and then 2 nights in a different one on the other side of the park.
We entered Yellowstone through the northeast gate and drove through the Lamar Valley to Lake Yellowstone. We were there 3 nights.

[/url][/img]

Within Yellowstone there are 6 different areas that have hotels or lodges. And by lodge, they mean a cabin some of which do not have indoor plumbing and are heated with a wood stove. Or that is what we were told.

[/url][/img]
On the map the red icons are lodging locations and the blue ones are just some of the key locations.
If you want to see the most wildlife you need to get up early and the Lamar Valley is the best place for that so the Roosevelt Lodge would be the best place to stay. But, those are cabins without bathrooms. the SO is not keen on that idea, if we ever go back.
From the Lake Yellowstone Hotel it is about an hour drive to the turn to Lamar Valley but we did not want to leave before daylight from fear of hitting a large mammal.
If you're going, I recommend splitting your nights between the Old Faithful location and then either Roosevelt, Canyon, or Mammoth in that order. The Lake YS hotel was very nice and I would stay there again but it is a relatively long way to Lamar Valley.
There is lodging in the town of West Yellowstone but that's a time consuming drive also.
Food in YS: Not very good, even at the "better" restaurants. And, none of them including the convenience stores open early so if you are getting up at day break to see wildlife you need to plan ahead for breakfast.

Bearthooth Scenic Byway

[/url][/img]
Near the beginning of Beartooth, just west of Red Lodge. From here we will climb above the treeline to almost 11,000 feet.

[/url][/img]
View from one of the many overlooks, this is Rock Creek Vista Point.

[/url][/img]
This is near the sumit; ~ 11,000 feet elevation.

[/url][/img]
Looking into the valley, that road leads to Silver Gate and then the northeast entrance to Yellowstone.

[/url][/img]
We stopped in Silver Gate and had lunch at this place; the last good meal for a couple of days until we drove over to West Yellowstone for lunch.

Yellowstone images

[/url][/img]
Bison in the Lamar Valley as we were driving in.

[/url][/img]
Lake Yellowstone Hotel as seen from across a cove in the lake.

[/url][/img]
View of the Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of YS as seen from the south rim; near artist point I believe. A painting was in the Buffalo Bill museum from many years ago, 1800s I think, of this same view.

[/url][/img]
The brink of the lower falls; the walk to there was `1/3 mile and a 600 foot change in elevation if I remember correctly. The path to the upper falls brink was closed due to repairs.

The canyon is on the east side of the park and Firehole Falls and swimming area are on the west side, not too far from Old Faithful.

[/url][/img]
Firehole Falls, I first heard about his on the TB.

[/url][/img]
The Firehole swimming area, which is near the falls.

[/url][/img]
And right next to the No Diving or Jumping sign was this guy.

[/url][/img]
This is Kepler Cascades which is a little south of Firehole and Old Faithful.

[/url][/img]
This is near Old Faithful, about 8:30 am. We hung around here almost 3 hours waiting for several different geysers to erupt, and they all did.

[/url][/img]
They post signs with a time range of when they may erupt. There are boardwalks that cover a large area so you can see lot safely.

[/url][/img]
Castle Geyser erupting.

[/url][/img]
View along the road west of the Canyon Village area, before 7:00 am.

[/url][/img]
View of Lake Yellowstone from the lounge area of the hotel. They do have a nice bar and lounge area and live entertainment; a lady was playing the piano while we were there. It is a nice place to stay.

Yellowstone to Green River, WY through Grand Teton

[/url][/img]
We're headed south out of Yellowstone into Grand Teton.

[/url][/img]
We stopped at the visitor center/ranger desk at Lake Jackson where we took this picture. The ranger explained that there are two roads through the Jackson Hole valley to Jackson; we decided to take the west route as it went by Jenny Lake.

We drove up Signal Mountain which has two places to view the valley and the mountains. It had been closed just before we were there due to visitors feeding bears and I heard it was closed again after we left.