The Grand Trifecta - July 2025

Matthew and I went to Yellowstone in 2020, for our honeymoon. We loved exploring the park. I never had Yellowstone on my bucket list before our visit, but I fell in love, and it made me want to see as many national parks as possible. As I began planning our 50-state journey, it was clear we had to go back to Wyoming to see the Grand Tetons. To celebrate our 5-year anniversary, we planned a trip back to Yellowstone with the goal of visiting Tetons and Glacier at the same time, adding Montana to our list of states visited. This was an aggressive goal, as all three of these parks are packed with incredible experiences, and most recommend a week in each.

Originally, I had planned this to be a family vacation for 9-10 days. Whitney had a camp the same week and it was too late to cancel, so we actually reduced our days to only 7. To do this, we cut out time in Yellowstone, since we had already visited. Our final itinerary included flying into Bozeman and renting a car, then driving to Yellowstone to stay for 3 nights, followed by 3 nights in Glacier.  Since we had already been to Yellowstone and had limited time, we agreed to hit our favorites again as time allowed, focusing on the Grand Tetons and Glacier.

Day 1: Travel Day

We flew into Bozeman Airport on a Sunday, landing in the early afternoon. As we exited the plan, Matthew asked the pilot if he had any trading cards, and the pilot was all too eager to not only give him a card but let him into the cockpit for a photo!

Bozeman is a very small airport and was incredibly busy. The lines for car rental extended all the way into baggage, but luckily, we were able to bypass the lines and head straight to the National Car Rental kiosk and only waited a few minutes for our vehicle.

I booked lodging at The Lake Lodge cabins, right on Yellowstone Lake in the southeast area of Yellowstone National Park. Since we were entering at the north entrance, it was about a 3-hour drive to get to our accommodation.

It was right around 3:30pm when we entered the parks north entrance, and I was surprised at how few cars (meaning basically none) were entering the park, and at how many were already exiting the park.

We stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs to use a restroom. We thought about finding food in the area also, but opted to wait until after we checked into our cabin. We did snap a few pictures of the calcium terraces before heading on our way.

Our next stop was at The Sulphur Caldron. We spent a few minutes walking along, trying to hold our breaths from the overwhelming smell of Sulphur. The heat and steam coming from the pools, paired with the sound of the water groaning makes this area feel almost eerie.

Even though we only stopped at two places for short amounts of time, we had been in the park for several hours already. We went to Lake Village to check in and it was 7pm by the time we got to our cabin. While checking in I booked a reservation at the Lake Hotel Dining Room for the next evening.

We found our cabin, and dropped our bags, then walked back to the main lodge to grab dinner at the Lake Lodge Cafeteria. This is similar to fast food style dining, but the food was decent, and it has great views of the lake.

After dinner we walked down to the lake shore and enjoyed the sunset.

We passed a deer grazing in the field as we walked back to our cabin.

The cabin we rented was connected to several others but was very spacious and had a nice porch area with chairs. It was pretty far back from the lake, so the views were other cabins, but we definitely enjoyed staying here.

Day 2: Grand Tetons and Grand Prismatic Spring

We woke up early, grabbed a quick breakfast and drove toward the Grand Tetons National Park. Yellowstone and Grand Tetons are basically connected, but you have to drive pretty far to get to attractions in either. It took about 2.5 hours of driving before we reached our first destination. Fortunately, the drive is pretty scenic.

The plan for the day was to walk a couple trails and check out some popular viewpoints in the Grand Tetons National Park. It was right around 7am when we started our drive, and there were a few other vehicles on the road with us, but a ton coming into Yellowstone already. Everyone says to get to Yellowstone early if you want to see the popular areas due to crowds, but I highly recommend saving the more popular points of interest to later in the day.

We saw elk on the side of the road and a bison walking close to the lake on our way out of the park.

We stopped for bear spray at Coulter Bay Village, and then stopped at the Grand Tetons sign to snap a picture.

I wanted to start at Jenny Lake and hike to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls. Jenny Lake was already completely full by the time we arrived, and parking was a mile up the main road. So, I continued on past Jenny Lake and took the first turn onto Lupine Meadows Rd. I followed this, turning off onto a dirt road that just basically ended. It wasn't a parking lot, but there were several cars parked here, so we joined them, and we found a trail that connected to Jenny Lake Trail.

Once we found Jenny Lake Trail, we weren't sure where we wanted to go. Skipping the Visitor's Center threw us off, as we didn't bring a trail map with us. We went right and as we passed a few groups hiking were told that we were heading toward the marina and visitor center. We walked until we found an area with a trail down to the lake and stopped there for beautiful views of the lake.

When we got back to the trail, we went back the way we had come, passing our parking area and continuing on toward Hidden Falls. Not far past our parking area is the trail to Moose Pond. There was a ranger led group here, and the ranger informed us that we would reach inspiration point if we continued on Jenny Lake Trail for about a mile, and we were likely to see moose on the way. So, we decided to skip Moose Pond Trail for now and would decide if we wanted to walk it on our way back. We didn't plan to walk the full Jenny Lake Trail, so we would pass it again on our way back.

Just a short walk past the Moose Pond Trailhead, up a short hill, there is an overlook where you can see Moose Pond. Coming down a hill toward the pond was a Moose Cow and a young moose! They were walking toward the water, then stopped to drink. We admired these incredible animals for several minutes, then continued on the trail.

Jenny Lake Trail isn't strenuous, but there are definite areas that get your heart pumping. Lots of elevation changes, rocks and roots lining the trail. It was warm and the trail was busy, but it was a lovely hike.

At one point Matthew found a giant rock coming out from the edge of the lake and hopped up on top for a picture. In doing so, my water bottle fell from his backpack and landed in the lake. We contemplated how we would get it back as we watched it bobbing in the water about 20 feet out from shore. We continued walking with the intention of grabbing it from the shore on our way back.

When we started our walk, the ranger said it is about a mile walk to Inspiration Point. We checked GPS after what felt like hiking forever, and it was still another mile to our destination. It was hot and not having water made my hiking less enjoyable. We continued on until we reached the bottom of hidden falls. The elevation gain past this point was pretty significant. We chose to turn around rather than continuing to Inspiration Point.

On our way back we did find my water bottle floating under the branches of a fallen tree in the water, and Matthew was able to fish it out with a stick.

We stopped again at the overlook to Moose Pond, and there was another moose standing in the water. Was such a fun sight, and this was the only spot we saw moose on the entire trip.

We made our way back to the car and decided to find lunch. We drove to Jackson and had a quick meal, then made our way back north toward Yellowstone.

We stopped at Mormon Row first. You aren't able to walk up to the buildings but we did walk and see them from a distance, and the mountain peeks in the background were beautiful.

Next we stopped at Schwabacher Landing, followed by The Snake River Overlook and Oxbow Bend.

We had dinner reservations at 8pm, and it was right around 2:30, so we decided to check out a few areas in Yellowstone. We stopped at Lewis Falls overlook, and it started to rain almost immediately, so we didn't explore the area, but we did get to see the waterfall from the parking area.

Since everything is so incredibly far apart, we went to our cabin to change, then headed toward The Grand Prismatic Spring. This was one destination in Yellowstone we absolutely wanted to make sure we saw again. We had 3.5 hours before dinner, which sounds like a ton of time, but Grand Prismatic Spring was an hour from our cabin.

On the way we stopped at the Continental Divide. We saw some ducks floating in the water, and watched the ducklings walk across the lily pads. They were so cute, and we watched for longer than we should have.

The Grand Prismatic Springs was busy, but we were able to find parking in the parking lot. This is why I say visit in the evening. Crowds clear out, and there is still so much daylight at this time of year. It was around 6:30pm when we arrived.

We walked the boardwalks and came to the Excelsior Geyser first. It was windy and as the breeze moved the steam from the geyser over us, we became completely enveloped within it. It was thick, warm and made it difficult to breath until it would clear. You couldn't see the water very well within the geyser, just steam, but when it would clear it was an amazing sight.

The Grand Prismatic Spring was similar, with steam blocking the view, but we did get some great pictures of the orange surrounding the spring and the steam rising up. If we ever make it back to Yellowstone, I definitely want to do the trail to the overlook to see the spring from above.

Once we finished at the Grand Prismatic Spring, we had just over an hour to get back for our reservation, so we went straight there. We were a little early, so we enjoyed the lake view from the parking area before heading in.

The Lake Hotel Dining Room was completely packed, even with our late reservation. We were at a table in the back of the restaurant so we didn't have great views, and it was loud with so many people talking in one area. The food was good, but service was slow, and we were underwhelmed with how expensive and hard to get into the restaurant it is.

Day 3: Jackson Hole and Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

We woke early again and made the drive to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. We purchased tickets for the Aerial Tram and Gondola and decided to get there when the Tram started running, so we were on the road at 6:30am.

As we were leaving the Lake Lodge, we saw three elk right on the side of the road.

The drive out of Yellowstone was just as gorgeous as the day before.

We arrived at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort just before 9am. Parking here is very easy, and the area is super cute with shops and restaurants right at the base of the mountains. We were in line a few minutes prior to when the tram started running and were surprised that the line was not very long. We were able to get on the first tram to the Rendezvous Mountain Summit.

The tram ride was standing room only for most, with just a handful of seats but was a relatively smooth ride. The panoramic views on the way up were magnificent. When you started to approach the top, it felt very much like we weren't going to clear the peaks.

Once we got off the tram we walked to Grand Teton Skywalk to admire the views and then went in to use the restroom at Corbet's Cabin. We didn't get any waffles, because I was on a wheat free diet.

Next, we started our hike. We decided to take the Cirque Trail down to the Bridger Gondola. We aren't in the best shape, so walking down felt better than hiking up the mountain. We struggled to find the beginning of the trail. The markers weren't the best, and we are pretty sure the start of this hike was closed off. So, we began by walking on North Ridge Trail, and eventually made our way onto Cirque Trail, though there were never any signs pointing to the start, just eventually a sign on the trail later.

We were so surprised that there weren't others on the trail. We had assumed it would be extremely busy. The entire trail, which was just over 2 miles from the top to the end, including the added time on a connecting trail, we only passed 3 groups total.

The Cirque Trail is considered a difficult trail, but it was very manageable for us, walking down as we were. It is definitely rocky, and there are a few difficult elevation gains, but the trail itself wasn't terribly hard to navigate. It is full of switchbacks and there is a section of it that is on the side of the mountain and a little narrow.

We didn't see any wildlife on our hike, but we did see many wildflowers and amazing views in all directions.

Once we reached the Bridger Gonola, we used the restroom and took the gondola back down to Teton Village.

We grabbed lunch at The Tram Dock. The food was good here and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the views of the mountains and watch bikers on a trail.

After lunch we went to Cowboy Coffee Co, then stopped in a souvenir shop. Once we were done, we drove back to Yellowstone.

We both agreed that we didn't want to miss the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, so we made our way there next.

We stopped for gas at Coulter Bay Village on our way out of the Grand Teton. After driving in Yellowstone for awhile, we pulled over at a pull off close to Yellowstone Lake and walked the shore for a bit to stretch our legs.

We were able to get a few pictures of bison as we drove through Hidden Valley, but we didn't stop for very long here because the wind picked up and a crazy storm rolled through, though luckily it was quick and only rained for a few minutes.

We arrived at Artist Point around 4:30pm. This is such a remarkable area of the park. The waterfall surrounded by canyon walls makes for breathtaking photos.

We enjoyed Artist Point viewing the canyon and waterfall and then made it to other viewpoints and overlooks in the area.

As we made our way back toward our cabin we stopped at Mud Volcano and walked the boardwalk to see all the hot springs.

We arrived back at the Lake Lodge around 7pm, and grabbed a quick dinner, then packed our suitcases. We had decided to add on Bear Tooth Pass to our drive the next day, which meant we were adding at least 3 hours, and would start our day extremely early. So, it was early to bed this night.

Day 4: Bear Tooth Pass and St. Mary Village

We awoke at 3:15am. The sky was pitch black and we were able to see the Milky Way! I had never seen the Milky Way in person before, and the new moon creating an extra dark sky and very little light pollution made it possible.

We were on the road by 4am and making our way north. Our first trip to Yellowstone had road closures leading to Lamar Valley, so I was excited to see this area, even if it was going to be very early.

The drive to Lamar Valley was pitch black, with only a couple of cars passed along the way. It was a more mountainous area of the park and a little nerve wracking in the dark with curvy roads and on the lookout for animals. We only saw one elk on the road, but the possibility of more made me nervous. I can imagine this drive is incredibly beautiful in the daylight, and I do wish we'd had more time so we could have had the full experience.

We arrived in Lamar Valley right around 5:30am. And there was just enough light peeking out from behind the mountains to see herds of buffalo. We stopped at several pull offs, hoping to see additional animals, but we were only lucky enough to see the bison.

Continuing on our drive, we made it to the base of Bear Tooth Pass at 6:15am.

This drive was stunning! Almost immediately the views of mountains and foothills, with slivers of light mixed with shadows took your breath away.

We stopped at almost every viewpoint, watched yellow bellied marmots play, and enjoyed this scenic road we had almost completely to ourselves.

The Montana welcome sign is used as target practice, and we snapped a picture as we drove by.

We stopped at Rock Creek Vista at the end of Bear Tooth Pass, then stopped for coffee in Rock Creek at a coffee truck on the side of the road. It was amazing, and I wish I took a picture of the place so I could remember the name.

We continued on to Red Lodge where we stopped and ate breakfast.

The rest of this day was spent driving. We still had almost 7 hours of driving to reach St. Mary Village. The drive was pretty boring. You could see mountains in the distance occasionally, but most of it was flat and uninspiring. It rained heavily several times through the drive. We stopped to stretch a couple of times and finally arrived at our base for Glacier National Park around 6:30pm.

We booked a room at St. Mary Village West Motel. The room was cute and comfortable, with decent views around the area. The main lodge was located right across the street, and the hotel had great food with no reservations needed.

We checked in, dropped our bags, and had dinner, then bed.

Day 5: Two Medicine and Many Glacier

I woke early and walked across the street to get coffee at Triple Divide Coffee. It was just after 6am, and the sun coming up behind the mountains created a red glow across the peaks. It was a wonderful start to our first day in Glacier National Park.

We had a boat reservation in Many Glacier at 2pm, so we started our day in Two Medicine. The drive here was very scenic. We saw wild horses on the side of the road and drove on a very narrow mountain road.

It is only 30 miles but takes about an hour to get here from St. Mary Village. Since it was very early and we had a lot of time, we were going to drive to Goat Lick Overlook to see if we could spot Mountain Goats before visiting Two Medicine. It was only about 30 miles further, and we figured we had plenty of time. Miles and time are very different in the park. There was major road construction, causing significant delays waiting to be lead down one lane traffic, and we ended up turning around after wasting over an hour.

The Two Medicine area of the park is not very busy. There was ample parking in the lot, and very few people on the trails. We walked along the lakeshore for a while, then took a short hike to Paradise Point.

We were basically the only people on this trail, only passing two couples on the way back.

We walked through the visitor center and gift shop, then went to Running Eagle Falls.

Running Eagle Falls is a very easy trail, and less than a mile there and back. The waterfall has a tall cascading fall coming over the cliff along with a lower fall coming through the rock. It was a nice short walk to a beautiful waterfall.

After our time at Two Medicine, we started our drive to Many Glacier. We stopped at the famous Kyiyo Mercantile for coffee and snacks on our way out of Two Medicine.

The drive took around 1.5 hours. Normally you need a road pass to go to Many Glacier, or a booked excursion such as a boat ride or kayaking reservation. This year however, there is road construction in the area, so they do not issue road passes. You need a reservation or you have to take the shuttle, which is extremely difficult to get a pass for.

Luckily, we had a reservation and were able to drive through to Many Glacier Hotel. There was no one else driving on the road, but there were many cars parked in shuttle pickup areas along the way.

We arrived at Many Glacier Hotel early and had lunch and ice cream, and walked around the historic hotel and hotel grounds. We saw mountain goats walking down the side of the mountain, but they weren't close enough to see well.

We boarded our boat at 1:45 and left the dock at 2pm. The boat takes you across Swift Current Lake followed by a 1/2-mile hike up then down, to Lake Josephine, where you board another boat and cross Lake Josephine. Along the way they talk about the lakes, the area, and you enjoy incredible views. I did spot two bears on the edge of the second lake, but the distance was too great, and they moved too quickly to get a picture. I was very happy that I at least saw bear though!

After we got off the boat, we started the hike to Grinnell Lake. I really wish we would have done the Grinnell Glacier Trail, but it's a pretty strenuous hike and we decided not to. We loved the hike we did, but if I ever go back, I want to do the other.

Once again, we felt alone on our hike. We only saw a handful of other people. The trail to Grinnell Lake is just over 2 miles out and back, and is a fairly easy trail. It is dense forest on either side of you, so thick you can barely see in.

Along the way there are toilets just out there in the middle of nowhere. The outhouses themselves were clean enough, but they don't offer toilet paper. I will say it was a relief to see them though.

Around 3/4 of a mile you come to Cataract Creek. The trail to Hidden Falls is to the left, up a decent hill. The falls are pretty, but the viewing deck was full of bees, so we didn't stay very long.

Back at the Grinnell Lake Trail, there is a rope bridge to cross the creek. You can only cross one at a time, and it did sway quite a bit.

Once across the creek, it is up hill as you continue on the trail. You start to see glimpses of the bright blue waters of Lake Grinnell pretty quickly after you get up the hill, then it opens up and you end up right on the shore of the lake.

Grinnell Creek runs into Grinnell Lake, and it is a decent flow. We took off our shoes and walked across the creek to a rocky area where we could more easily walk out into the lake without the flow of water pushing us. Crossing the creek was almost knee-deep water and the current was strong enough you had to work to stay upright.

The water was cold! Extremely cold. And crystal clear with colorful rocks and water a Caribbean blue-green color. The backdrop of lush green embedded in gray rocky formation and Mt. Grinnell was truly more beautiful than pictures can capture. We hung out here for quite a while, enjoying the calm, watching storm clouds blow in and somehow pass by us without unleashing the rains they held and admiring a chipmunk playing under the boardwalk we were sitting on.

On our way back to the boat, we were once again very much alone on the trail. After we crossed back over Cataract Creek, there was a couple in front of us for just a short time, but that was it for most of the walk.

We had a deer come out of the forest right in front of us and walked ahead for probably 1/4 mile. We never heard it approach; it just suddenly appeared. It didn't seem scared at all and made for a fun stretch of trail.

Once we reached Lake Josephine, we had to sign up for our return ride back to Many Glacier Hotel. Luckily, we were pretty early on the list, because the crowd grew quickly. While we waited, we sat by the lake and enjoyed the blue waters and the bees that thought they were friends.

When we got back to the hotel, we checked out the gift shop and walked around for a short time, then had dinner at the Many Glacier Hotel Restaurant, which is called Ptarmigan Dining Hall. The food and service here were wonderful.

After dinner we made our way back to St. Mary Village. Since it wasn't terribly late, we drove onto Going to the Sun Road and stopped at the visitor center. It was already closed, so we drove a little further up the road and pulled into a pull off and walked down to sit by St. Mary Lake for awhile, before heading back to our hotel for the night.

Day 6: Going to the Sun Road

We had a 9am kayaking reservation on Lake McDonald, departing from Apgar, which is the west end of Going to the Sun Road. Since we were staying on the east side of Going to the Sun Road, we had to leave early.

We started with coffee again, and then we were on the road by 7am. Traffic was not bad at all heading west. We did stop at a couple of overlooks, but mostly just drove straight through. Even though it was early, it did get busy once you got to Logan Pass, and stayed busy the rest of the way, but it was busy in parking areas and traffic heading east, not driving west as we were.

We got to Apgar early, so we did some shopping and walked around before checking in for our kayak. The lake is gorgeous even just looking from the shoreline.

We rented a tandem kayak, and I wish we would have gotten individual kayaks. We kayak often, but this was our first experience with tandem. They are much harder to steer and a lot more work to even move. Regardless, the two hours on the lake were incredible. The views were better than you see in pictures.

When we got off the lake, we went to eat lunch. By this time the town of Apgar was getting busy. Parking was limited and traffic was thick. We ate at a small cafe, which I do not recall the name for. We walked along shopping for a bit after lunch.

When we left Apgar, our plan was to drive Going to the Sun Road back to St. Mary Village, and to stop at all the overlooks, hike to Avalanche Lake or find a trail at Logan Pass depending on parking, and basically spend the day admiring Glacier National Park. However, we couldn't get back on Going to the Sun Road.

You need a road pass to enter Going to the Sun Road from the west, unless you have a reservation on the road. I took this to mean that since we were staying at St. Mary Village, which is literally on Going to the Sun Road, we could drive it from the west. This is not the case, however. So, we had to drive around.

The drive around the park on the Montana Scenic Loop was beautiful. It only takes a few minutes longer than driving across on Going to the Sun Road, and we enjoyed the views immensely. We made it to Goat Lick Overlook, though we didn't see any goats, and we stopped at several viewpoints.

Once we got back to St. Mary Village, we went straight back to Going to the Sun Road and drove to Logan's Pass. The parking lot was beyond full, so we made this our furthest destination and turned around.

We stopped at an overlook and saw Long Horned Sheep! They were close enough to get decent pictures and stayed in the area for a long time.

We drove through the famous tunnel.

And made our way back to St. Mary Lake, where we stopped again to walk the shoreline. We looked for cool rocks and enjoyed the lakeside.

Then we pulled off to take a short walk to the first ranger station in Glacier National Park.

We stopped at the visitor center and did some souvenir shopping, then went to St. Mary Hotel restaurant for dinner.

Day 7: Travel Day

This was our final day, and we had a late afternoon flight. Our drive back to the Bozeman Airport was around 4.5 hours. We stopped in Helena for lunch and really enjoyed our short time in this city. It is a small, quaint city, and we had an incredible lunch.

Bozeman Airport was even busier when we left. The lines for those waiting for cars was insanely long. They had to have waited hours. Luckily security for those taking flights out was quick.

If I were to redo this vacation I would have kept it as originally planned with an additional 3 days. We had an incredible time, and I loved every minute, but one more day in Glacier and one full day in Yellowstone would have made it even better.

We only added one new state on this trip, but a thousand new memories!