If this is your first trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton I would suggest you cut short your trip to the Badlands to no more than two days. One day around Mount Rushmore and a short trip to Crazy Horse, which is a complete waste of time in my opinion. Then get to Yellowstone for five days of wonderful sightseeing around the loops. You might be able to cut that short if you don't hike much as some of the features do require a little bit of hiking. But, the feature hikes aren't too bad, except for the one down to the lower falls area in Canyon. Great hike down, but a bear coming back up, especially at altitude. As far a Grand Teton, I would extend your stay to three days, if you can get reservations. Take the cruise boat around Jackson Lake for an outstanding adventure, might take the evening dinner cruise to Elk Island that's almost in the shadow of Mt. Moran while you are eating, but take plenty of bug spray. Then go to Jenny Lake, take the boat across and the short hike to Hidden Falls and, possibly, Inspiration Point. Over to Moose Junction and the Craig Thomas Visitor Center, then backtrack a bit and drive over the Moose/Wilson Road to see wildlife and to the Laurance(sp) Rockefeller Preserve, the newest part of Grand Teton. It's also a pretty easy, not short, hike to the Phelps Lake where the family homestead was, but has been reclaimed wonderfully amid some wonderful scenery. This might take up at least one full day but then the next day you can go to Gros Ventre and Slide Lake, site of one of the biggest avalanches in history which created Slide Lake. Along the way you might catch a glimpse of Moose and Big Horn Sheep alongside the road. That day, call ahead of time and go see the Bar J Wranglers. The venue is a working cattle ranch and the venue provides, for a price that's not unreasonable, a pretty good chuckwagon dinner and about two hours of western entertainment that is suitable for every age. We took two grandsons, teenagers, one year and they just about died laughing at the comedy. Also, they are a wonderful singing group with great musicians and singers. That should fill up two or three days pretty easily. Then, when leaving, go down through Dubois and Riverton to Casper and then go through Cheyenne. If you are going to be there during Frontier Days, there is probably no way you can find a campground at which to stay, but once there, or even now, you might google up Curt Gowdy State Park and see if they will take reservations. It's up in the mountains and, from the pictures I have seen, very pretty. Then, take I-80 east and stop in Sydney at Cabelas for a real treat, if you haven't already been in one. As you can guess, I am partial to Grand Teton and Yellowstone to a lesser extent. We spend about three weeks each summer, one week at a time, in Grand Teton fishing on Jackson Lake and sightseeing. We generally take at least one day during this time to drive around Yellowstone as it is really a wonder that has to be seen. Hope you have a great trip.
