Day 1: Salt Lake City, Utah
There has been one thing on my bucket list and it has been to visit the National Parks on the west coast. It took me about six months to plan ahead of time to do the ultimate road trip starting from Utah and end in Montana. I planned this trip between the months of June & July, which was the best for the weather! It never got higher than 85 degrees during the day, and got as low as 40 degrees at night. We started the trip in Salt Lake City, and booked an early flight so we had a whole day to visit the city. I also reserved the rental car months ahead of time, which we picked up right at the Salt Lake City International Airport. The car rental company upgraded us for free from a Toyota Camry to a Nissan Pathfinder. We felt a lot safer in a SUV driving into the mountains. It made us so happy!
Once we landed, we went straight to Antelope Island. It was about a thirty minute drive and on the way we stopped at The Bird. It was a southern fast food restaurant and it was so delicious! As we arrived to the park, the road was very simple to follow. We were handed a map, and went straight to The Great Salt Lake. We got into the water at the Bridger Bay Beach area. You definitely need to make sure you wear tennis shoes on the way down to the lake. The surface is very rocky and tough to walk in while wearing sandals. This island is a great place to view wildlife. There are antelope, deer, bobcats, coyotes, many varieties of birds and waterfowl that call the island home. The most famous residence of Antelope Island is the American Bison, and now numbering some 600 animals. Wild animals are often seen by people driving the park roads and hiking or biking the park’s trails. We drove around the whole island, and saw tons of Bison towards the southern point. I would definitely go back one day. You can read more about the island here.
Once we were done exploring, we went straight to check into the hotel. Before our arrival, we made a stop to get snacks, water and drinks for the week. For any road trip, you must always be stocked up for a trip! We checked into The Kimball in downtown Salt Lake City. I have to say I was so amazed by the cute boutique hotel and we also got upgraded! Make sure to check out the video of the room we stayed in, and I highly recommend this hotel since it was only 15 minutes walking distance to downtown. After checking in, we headed to hike a peak right near the hotel. Ensign Peak is a small mountain peak at the north end of the Salt Lake Valley, above the State Capitol building with amazing city views. There was free side street parking and the hike up was super easy! Absolutely gorgeous! We ended the night at a nearby sushi restaurant for dinner.
Day 2: Craters of The Moon, Idaho
After a wonderful time in Salt Lake City, we left at 6am to head to Craters of The Moon in Arco, Idaho. It was about a three and a half hour drive. Luckily my friend had bought The America The Beautiful yearly national park pass, so we could get into all the national parks on our trip. Craters of The Moon was an unique experience. The park was created to protect a vast landscape of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. Starting 15,000 years ago, the landscape was created by molten lava fountains and flows. You felt like you were walking on a real volcano. You drive around the park, and it has many stops to get out and walk trails. It is definitely worth a visit, you can read more about it here.
On our way out we found Wild Rose Hot Springs. It was such a beautiful and refreshing hot spring. It is super hard to find but on the way out of Craters of The Moon, it’s 15 mins away on your right if you are going west. The water was warm, but the experience was very cool. I am so glad we found it!
Next we took our two hour drive to check into our hotel in Idaho Falls. We stayed at a Tru by Hilton and absolutely loved it! Super cute and boutique. So many places around the area to walk for dinner and drinks. Be advised you will need reservations at most places. We just went to Chili’s before they closed, but we weren’t picky especially when the walking distance was only five minutes.
Day 3: Grand Teton National Park
The following morning we left Idaho at 5am so we could arrive at Grand Teton National Park around 7am. We planned it right, because we got the last parking spot once we arrived at Jenny Lake. The Tetons were absolutely gorgeous! You definitely have to spend more than one day exploring the park but we picked the best two things to do all day. We started a Jenny Lake, and walked around about three miles until we reached the shuttle on the other side. You can either take the shuttle ($18 roundtrip) or walk. If you decide to take the shuttle one way, it is only $10. Next we hiked Lupine Meadows Trailhead, which leads to Delta Lake. The total roundtrip was eight miles for the trail, and we did a total of six miles. We never made it to the lake, but we did have a exciting and scary experience with a baby grizzly bear!
We didn’t see momma nearby but it definitely made us walk faster on the trail! Tip: Make a lot of noise when you are by yourself so the animals know you are nearby. The area we stopped at on the trail before heading down was absolutely gorgeous! You can see all the lakes and hundreds of miles away of nature! I definitely would do the trail again and make sure it was the only trail for the day so we could make it to Delta Lake!
After the exhausting but amazing time in The Tetons, we headed on our three hour trip to our next hotel in West Yellowstone. It was about 4pm once we left the park, and definitely had an amazing drive! I guess I have never seen so many deer in my life, but they are everywhere in these states! The drives to each destination are big and wide open roads, and I loved every minute of it. We arrived at Lake View Suites, which I had a great opportunity to partner with for my trip. The hotel is about 20 mins from the West Yellowstone downtown area where you would go for the entrance of the Yellowstone National Park. It’s right on a lake, and there is a restaurant and bar right across the street! It was open until 11pm every night which was so convenient for us every night. Every morning there was free breakfast, and parking was free! Make sure to check out my video on how the rooms are laid out, they were super cute!!
Day 4: Yellowstone National Park
We were excited that this was the day we just had to explore Yellowstone National Park in our car since we were so sore from hiking eleven miles in Grand Teton. We filled our car up with gas that morning before entering the park and got into the park by 730am. We did almost everything in Yellowstone within five hours. If you are like us and just want to explore while driving and get out with only a few spots then the whole park should take you eight hours. If you want to hike and explore deeper into the park, then definitely need at least three days in Yellowstone. There are four different entrances into the park, and we stayed by the West Entrance. We got stuck in traffic one time but it was to allow a bison to cross the road, which only took about fifteen minutes. I think we were in luck since we got to see everything and still be able to relax in our car. Some of our stops were: Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin, Old Faithful, Hayden Valley, and The Canyon!
After an eventful morning, we stopped for lunch in downtown West Yellowstone. Nothing too fancy, just a delicious Chinese restaurant called Red Lotus. Then we headed to Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, which is a non-for-profit wildlife park and educational facility opened in 1993 and is open 365 days a year. The admission is good for two consecutive days and can spend a good hour in the park watching the wolves and bears. If you wanted to do something different while visiting Yellowstone, definitely suggest this place! After an amazing day, we went back to the hotel to eat dinner right on the lake to end our night.
Day 5: Big Sky, Montana
After an amazing time exploring Grand Teton & Yellowstone for the last two days, we headed an hour away to Big Sky, Montana. Big Sky Resort was generous enough to partner with me for my blog. We did an amazing two hour expedition on Lone Peak, Montana’s highest scenic overlook at 11,166 ft. You get to ride their expedition vehicle to the bottom terminal of the famed Lone Peak Tram. The views from the Lone Peak Tram are spectacular and only surpassed by those at the very top. Once you offload the Tram, you will be standing at the summit of Lone Peak. On a clear day, you can see across three states, two national parks, and many mountain ranges. If you’re lucky, you may catch a glimpse of the mountain goats that call Lone Peak home. If you want more info, make sure you check out their website here. I definitely want to go back one day to stay at the resort!! Absolutely took my breath away! It was a little scary, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience!
After an amazing afternoon, we headed to our very last stay in Kalispell, MT. It was exactly six hours away, so this was our longest drive. Thankfully it was a beautiful drive, and it didn’t seem that long. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express & Suites which was only a thirty minute drive to Glacier National Park. We planned to spend our last day there, and went straight to bed for our 4am wake up call!
Day 6: Glacier National Park
For Glacier National Park, you have to reserve a ticket for your car if you want to drive on Going To The Sun Road. It’s the best spot in Glacier since it goes straight down the middle of the gorgeous park. Since we couldn’t get a ticket, we decided to go before 6am to get in the park for free. We got there at 5:30am and there was no lines, and no ticket attendant to see our yearly pass either! It was so perfect! You can either go before 6am or after 5pm. The road is exactly 51 miles long, and will take you two hours with no stops. We actually did a roundtrip with several stops in four hours! We didn’t have any specific stops, whatever scenery we thought was pretty, we would stop and get out of the car. We saw a big grizzly bear, a beaver and ton of deer. If you want to see more animals, I definitely would suggest going early morning or late at night. The drive was definitely scary since it was only a two lane road, and the cliff was just on the other side of us. We even drove through the clouds at one point. I highly recommend visiting this amazing park! This was our favorite because the scenery was different in every spot, but it was just gorgeous! Since we finished super early, we went straight back to our hotel and took a nap since our whole trip was exhausting!
Day 7: Departure
The last six days was the one of best experiences in the United States ever! We didn’t want to say goodbye, but at the same time we were ready to get home. We dropped off the car by the Amtrak because the Glacier International Airport had only a few car rental offices. There is Uber in that small town, just make sure to order it ahead of time, and we used it to take us to the airport. Once we checked into our flight, the gate was just right there. We can’t wait for our next adventure! Make sure you follow me on Instagram to follow my future travels. Also, I link my outfit details on the free app called Like To Know It. You can shop directly on the app.