Yellowstone and Glacier in May

YNP and Glacier will be snowed in, Glacier may not fully open until mid-July.

Badlands,
Rushmore,
Both do-able in May. May be darned cold tho depending on the current weather.

Custer,
Wind cave,

See above

Tetons,
Jackson,

Since you don't actually drive into the mountains these should be OK, don't know if the ferry across the lake will be running.

Crater lake,

Was mostly snowed in with 10-15 foot snow banks in July when we were last there.

Yosemite, and
Sequoia.

Will be partly open from the west but Tioga Pass and Toulumne will be snowed in in Yosemite. The Valley will be open but may be snow covered. You do know about the Yosemite lottery? You are already too late for May valley reservations, that ran on Jan 15th.

May is just too early for the high altitude parks especially since this is shaping up to be a snowy winter.

You left Devils Tower off your list which is just a 4 hour stop to hike around the Tower and visit the prairie dogs. Unless you are a photographer and want to catch the sunset and early morning light. There is a KOA right there but it is very expensive. Custer Battlefield in south west Montana right off I-15 is actually a lot more interesting than I expected so maybe a couple of hours there. Oh and have you done Mammoth Cave?

I'd go south if your time frame is set. There are a number of parks in New Mexico and Arizona, there is Great Sand Dunes in CO which would be very popular with the girls, Rocky Mountains will be snowed in probably at least partially.

When we were sailors we figured the weather in Chicago area would not be warm enough until after Memorial Day.
Ditto too much too soon. There is so much to see/do in the area where you live to put your family thru that trip.
For suggestions do a Google search for `______ tourism' and put the city, state, or area in the blank space.
Then follow the `Northeast Trip Help' post in this Forum.

Heavenbound wrote:
I've been doing a lot of reading and searching but I'm not finding the answers I'm looking for. (maybe I'm just not finding the answers I want)

My family (4 kids wife and I) are planning a trip from SE PA to Yellowstone and beyond. We have set aside a little over 3 weeks (5-4 to 5-27) for the trip.

This time works well for us because we homeschool so our kids finish early and we can travel and avoid all the crowds.

My concern is being so early in the season what in Yellowstone and Glacier will we be able to see or do?

YNP and GNP are the "main" parks we have on our list

but also on the list are
Badlands,
Rushmore,
Custer,
Wind cave,
Tetons,
Jackson,
Crater lake,
Yosemite, and
Sequoia.

Yes I know that some of those are in Cali.

One of my thoughts is to do the southern part of the trip first and then head north for the other parks? maybe catch better conditions?

I know its a lot of driving and miles,

we did a 3 week 6300 mile trip last May to
Texas then
Grand Canyon, up into
Utah for the mighty five, into
Colorado, and across back home.

Did numerous 700 mile days.

Not looking to do that everyday but we can handle a few.

Nothing is set in stone, just a basic idea of what we would like to see.

We prefer not to make reservations ahead of time.

We find campgrounds along the way.

thanks in advance for you input, you guys really are a wealth of knowledge!

I used this site a lot for our last trip.

We are traveling in a 1990 Coachmen Catalina 28' class C

Simply Put - Too Early and Too Much

Rockies, Yellowstone and Glacier - if you want to enjoy without crowds and when they are Beautiful you should think about September first Week of October - JMHO.

Cali is a whole separate trip - IMHO - you could easily spend next year there, and just there.

Lets just see if you've already done a few of the things that are often missed on these trips;

Beartooth
Chief Joseph Hwy
Wind River Canyon
Cody
Thermopolis
Shoshoni
Flaming Gorge
Dino NM
Steamboat
West Side of RMNP

Glacier if you want to see and enjoy it is still frozen over till 4th of July - and - you will want to add the Canadian side when you go - so a few more days along with all the lakes and other sights in the Area.

Not try to "Preach to You" but you did ask.

If you could ID the kids - ages and sex it might help - I had two Boys and now have 6 Granddaughters, so while they are similar they are truly very different in what THEY ENJOY, doing and seeing. :)

Here are a couple of sites that might help in the planning -

Family that did this every year and now has moved to the West Coast.

Stan Parker's Album is great in exposing locations you never knew were there.

Why September and first week of October are the time to be in the Rockies.

Yes you can Do It - and Yes more time would be Great BUT not likely to Happen, so Divide it into more manageable pieces and then GO.

You will be a Hero to your Kids forever - they will not remember the Long days in the Car/Truck/Coach but they will remember the Water the Rocks and the Sky.

Post more - argue some - share your itinerary - Maybe even post on irv2.com - and I'm sure you will get info that will help,

Best of Luck,

Well, there will not be any crowds in Ystone or Glacier...might be a reason besides most kids still being in school. The south entrance between the Tetons and Ystone will not be open and possibly the East. Even at the end of May many CGs will still be closed...again for a reason. Unless you can go later I would head to CA as that would be much warmer.

Glacier NP is generally still closed due to the snowfall that occurs during the winter and won't be fully open until late June or early July. Going to the Sun Road is the main road through the park and they are busy snowplowing it until late June or early July; suggest you contact the NPS folks to get a better schedule of opening dates, etc. You can see the park from the south if you travel US 2 and can probably get to the east side of the park at an earlier date but won't be able to travel the Sun road.
You will be able to visit parts of Yellowstone in May, but some areas will usually still be closed until late in the month; again I suggest you contact the NPS folks to get the best info on conditions.