Michigan to Yellowstone, Tetons, Fort Robinson

[michigansandzil]

This August, we'll be heading from Michigan to the Badlands, Custer State park, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Fort Robinson state park, then home to Michigan.

Any suggestions for best routes or must avoid areas? We went to New Orleans last spring and accidentally went up the side of a mountain in Alabama.... we'd like to avoid that if possible.
Thanks in advance.

[Mike_Taverniti]

Not sure how you want to get to I-80. After you do ,you can stay 0n 80 until Rock Springs, WY. Take US 191 north into Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Very scenic and an easy drive. Leave Yellowstone via US 89 until I-90. Take 90 into the Badlands. From there you can go south to Fort Robinson and across the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Work your back to I-80 and home. With your limited time this gives you a lot of interstate driving, so you can make good time. Many thing to see along the way. You'll have to decide what you have time for. Nebraska 2 is a good road and will take you to Grand Island and I-80. Hard to avoid some mountain driving , but this way is an easy drive. Have a great trip.

[vjstangelo]

while the route from Buffalo to Cody over the Bighorn Mountains is beautiful it is also winding with grades. If you want to avoid, go North through Billings and enter from the north entrance via Gardner. This is almost all interstate and fairly level running.

[kyteacher]

bondo228 wrote:
kyteacher-------------

This coming summer I plan on taking the same route across Wyoming as you did, and I too am a little nervous as I have not driven through mountains like this. How difficult was this drive? Anything in particular to be aware of, tips, advice, etc.?? I will be driving a Class C, not towing anything. Thanks in advance, appreciate it!

We gassed up in Buffalo. Took our time going up. It never really got too steep going up, but just wound around quite a bit. I think I was doing 45mph for a lot of the time. We pulled over and let people by when needed, but mainly just worried about keeping my engine from revving up too high.

Coming down was a little trickier. I had never really geared down to drive down a hill before, but that was the best tip I could give you. If the signs warn you for a steep grade, gear down to 2nd and stay at about 40-45 until it levels off. Only put your foot on the brakes when you must.

Quick story, at the toughest down hill section of this drive, I was in 2nd cruising down and a F150 with a hybrid tow rode up on my back. I pulled over and let him by. He was riding his brakes the whole time. Two turns later we came around and saw him pulled over with smoke coming from his brakes and his lady friend outside of his window giving him an earful. As a rookie I slapped my wife a high five and continued on with a great deal of pride.

When the road got busier behind us, we pulled over and got a snack. Safety over speed. We made it from devil's tower to yellowstone with a stop at walmart in Cody, and still had time to see the Lower Falls before dark.

[bondo228]

kyteacher-------------

This coming summer I plan on taking the same route across Wyoming as you did, and I too am a little nervous as I have not driven through mountains like this. How difficult was this drive? Anything in particular to be aware of, tips, advice, etc.?? I will be driving a Class C, not towing anything. Thanks in advance, appreciate it!

[kyteacher]

michigansandzilla wrote:

jlrmfc21 wrote:

michigansandzilla wrote:

jlrmfc21 wrote:
Sounds like a great trip! How much time are you giving yourself? Make sure you see Jackson hole as well.

16 days

Would love to see your itinerary specifics. I plan to do the same route next summer and we live in Detroit.

Here is our itinerary. We typically drive 650 miles/day to get to our destinations. This is not fun, but it is not new for us, we do it annually for family vacations. I have firm campgrounds planned out, but we keep our days pretty loose because we've found it is more enjoyable to be flexible and discover things on our own, rather than having every detail of every day planned out in advance.


Day 1 and 2: Drive 1150 miles from home to KOA near the Badlands.

Day 3: Tour Badlands and Minute Man National Historic Site at leisure. Drive 120 miles to Custer state park Game Lodge Campground.

Day 4 and 5: Visit Wind Cave and/or Jewel Cave, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Mammoth Site at Hot Springs, and Custer state park.

Day 6: Drive 430 miles to Fishing Bridge campground in Yellowstone.

Day 7-9: Visit Yellowstone.

Day 10: Visit lower area of Yellowstone/upper area of Tetons and move 60 miles to Colter Bay campground in Grand Tetons.

Day 11-12: Visit Grand Tetons.

Day 13: Drive 420 miles to Fort Robinson campground in Nebraska. It surprised me that of all the campgrounds I booked, this one filled first.

Day 14: Visit Fort Robinson.

Day 15-16: Drive 1160 miles home to Michigan.

Day 17: Go to work exhausted with no food in the house or clean clothes.....but we'll have some great stories and experiences!

We did nearly the same trip, but from Kentucky, summer. Louisville to Badlands, to Rapid city, to devil's tower, to fishing bridge, to colter bay. We went south to Rocky mtn NP though and then home. LOVED THIS TRIP! We still talk about it nearly everyday.

Around rapid city we did Custer to iron hwy to rushmore. Loved the drive in on the iron hwy. Then day 2 we did jewel cave, crazy horse, and over to wind cave. Jewel cave was hard to get into. We got there first thing and had to wait a couple hours for our tour. I wasn't a huge fan of crazy horse either, plus you can see it from the road. Wind cave was nice, but about an hour south of rapid city.

I was nervous about driving across WY. I had not driven through mountains with my TT. We stayed over at Devil's Tower and went to buffalo and took 16 over the Bighorn mountains to Worland, then up 20 to Greybull, and then 14 through cody and into the east entrance of Yellowstone.

All and all a fantastic trip. We have had so many people back home ask us about where we went, because they want to do an out west trip. It hasn't even been a year and I am ready to go back.

[jlrmfc21]

Awesome! Thanks for sharinf

[Mortimer_Brewst]

A couple of suggestions - if you have to choose between Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, I’d go for Wind Cave. IMO, Crazy Horse isn’t worth it, but others feel differently. On another trip, consider a visit to Devil’s Tower, Wy. Hopefully you won’t be in the Black Hills early in the month. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is Aug 3rd - 12th.
For Yellowstone be sure to bring a good pair of binoculars or a camera with a big zoom lens. You’ll want them for viewing wildlife.

[michigansandzil]

jlrmfc21 wrote:

michigansandzilla wrote:

jlrmfc21 wrote:
Sounds like a great trip! How much time are you giving yourself? Make sure you see Jackson hole as well.

16 days

Would love to see your itinerary specifics. I plan to do the same route next summer and we live in Detroit.

Here is our itinerary. We typically drive 650 miles/day to get to our destinations. This is not fun, but it is not new for us, we do it annually for family vacations. I have firm campgrounds planned out, but we keep our days pretty loose because we've found it is more enjoyable to be flexible and discover things on our own, rather than having every detail of every day planned out in advance.


Day 1 and 2: Drive 1150 miles from home to KOA near the Badlands.

Day 3: Tour Badlands and Minute Man National Historic Site at leisure. Drive 120 miles to Custer state park Game Lodge Campground.

Day 4 and 5: Visit Wind Cave and/or Jewel Cave, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Mammoth Site at Hot Springs, and Custer state park.

Day 6: Drive 430 miles to Fishing Bridge campground in Yellowstone.

Day 7-9: Visit Yellowstone.

Day 10: Visit lower area of Yellowstone/upper area of Tetons and move 60 miles to Colter Bay campground in Grand Tetons.

Day 11-12: Visit Grand Tetons.

Day 13: Drive 420 miles to Fort Robinson campground in Nebraska. It surprised me that of all the campgrounds I booked, this one filled first.

Day 14: Visit Fort Robinson.

Day 15-16: Drive 1160 miles home to Michigan.

Day 17: Go to work exhausted with no food in the house or clean clothes.....but we'll have some great stories and experiences!

[Mortimer_Brewst]

michigansandzilla wrote:

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Assuming that you are going around the south end of Lake Michigan, the only part of the route that is problematic is how to navigate the Chicago area. Do you have either an IPass or E-ZPass for tolls? The best route will vary depending on the day of the week and time of day. Do not go through Chicago! Traffic is usually bad and even when good can go downhill quickly. Expect a lot of trucks on I-80.
Best routes through Illinois are either I-80 to I-294 to I-290 to I-90; or I-80 to I-355 to I-290 to I-90.
To avoid most, but not all tolls, you could take I-80 to I-39. This route is significantly longer.
I’d advise using Google Maps with the traffic feature turned on to find the best route.
In southern Minnesota fuel stations are a little scarce unless you get off the interstate.
Have a good trip!

We should hit Chicago about 11 am on Saturday, provided we're on schedule.

We're looking for the fastest and easiest routes. Toll roads are not our favorite but it will be worth spending $50 if it saves us a couple of hours driving.

Taking I-355 will add roughly 20 minutes to your trip, but it’s less stressful. I-294 usually backs up in the area where I-88 and I-290 meet up. It’s usually a short delay, but you need to be in the far right lane and look for an exit going to Rockford (I-290). If you don’t already have one, I strongly recommend getting an I-Pass. It will save a lot of time.

[jlrmfc21]

michigansandzilla wrote:

jlrmfc21 wrote:
Sounds like a great trip! How much time are you giving yourself? Make sure you see Jackson hole as well.

16 days

Would love to see your itinerary specifics. I plan to do the same route next summer and we live in Detroit.

[michigansandzil]

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Assuming that you are going around the south end of Lake Michigan, the only part of the route that is problematic is how to navigate the Chicago area. Do you have either an IPass or E-ZPass for tolls? The best route will vary depending on the day of the week and time of day. Do not go through Chicago! Traffic is usually bad and even when good can go downhill quickly. Expect a lot of trucks on I-80.
Best routes through Illinois are either I-80 to I-294 to I-290 to I-90; or I-80 to I-355 to I-290 to I-90.
To avoid most, but not all tolls, you could take I-80 to I-39. This route is significantly longer.
I’d advise using Google Maps with the traffic feature turned on to find the best route.
In southern Minnesota fuel stations are a little scarce unless you get off the interstate.
Have a good trip!

We should hit Chicago about 11 am on Saturday, provided we're on schedule.

We're looking for the fastest and easiest routes. Toll roads are not our favorite but it will be worth spending $50 if it saves us a couple of hours driving.

[michigansandzil]

2gypsies wrote:
Northern or southern Michigan? If northern, we enjoy going across the Plains via the Upper Peninsula and Hwy 2. We always avoid interstates if we can.

Southern Michigan. We are looking for the fastest and easiest ways to get there and back due to time limitations.

[michigansandzil]

jlrmfc21 wrote:
Sounds like a great trip! How much time are you giving yourself? Make sure you see Jackson hole as well.

16 days

[jlrmfc21]

Sounds like a great trip! How much time are you giving yourself? Make sure you see Jackson hole as well.