Gladys Goes North: Road Trip Route and Tips

A few people have asked for our trip itinerary and tips. So here you go! First I've got a map and a few comments about our route, then some detail about each day, then some overall tips and links.

Route

This map offers a rough approximation of our route. Google Maps limited me to 10 destinations, so I couldn't fit everything on there. :)

In general, if there was a scenic byway in the general vicinity of where we were headed (and sometimes even if it was considerably out of the way) we'd take that instead of the most direct route. Because a major goal of the trip was to enjoy seeing and experiencing parts of the country we'd never seen before ... so if it took an extra hour to get somewhere via a pretty road, great!

An atlas was helpful in this endeavor. It's much easier to open to the Western Montana page of the atlas and see where all the national forests, scenic byways, and other such things are, than it is to see these things on an internet or mobile map. 

We moved around a lot and covered a lot of ground. We stayed only one or two nights in each place. Which seemed like it would've felt stressful or rushed, but somehow our pace still felt relaxed. This worked well for two adults who are generally self-sufficient and responsible.

Itinerary

Day 1 

• Drove to Boulder, CO.
• Dinner at Community.
• Stayed with friends night 1 and night 2.

Day 2 

• Spent the day in Boulder area. 
• Brunch at Snooze. 
• Did some hiking from NCAR and accidentally wound up in Chautauqua Park. Tip: NCAR has lots of parking. Tip: read the trail map more carefully than I did, and do not incorrectly assume that the Mesa Trail is a loop. It is not. Hence, our 3-mile hike turned into 6.
• Afternoon treats at Gelato Boy.
• Dinner at Five on Black.

Day 3 

• Leisurely morning and breakfast. 
• Spent much of the day driving to Badlands National Park (Wall, SD, entrance). We took some scenic byways, including part of Needles Highway, and swung by Mount Rushmore because Josh remembered that the road to get there was really pretty. It was.
• Camped in a free camping area that was basically a field with a canyon on either side. I don't know the name of it. I don't know if it even has a name. Pros: beautiful, free, I drank my morning coffee overlooking a canyon. Cons: very windy (this would probably be the case anywhere in the Badlands area), and privacy was a challenge when nature called since there were no trees. 

Day 4 

• Visited Badlands National Park in SD. 
• We did the Notch Trail hike, which I think was about 3 miles total. It was beautiful. It would not be great for you if you're afraid of heights. At one point there's a big wooden ladder you have to climb. This was fun and no issue, but if you do this trail, go early in the day. By the time we came back down the ladder (around midday) the wooden rungs were hot!
• Also did a couple shorter hikes, some of which were wheelchair accessible.
• Tip: do your hiking earlier in the day. It's pretty hot and desert-like, with limited shade.
• Then we just drove around the park and the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands; the grasslands and the national park kind of weave in and out of each other. It was a lovely drive.
• Headed back west and camped at a little, free, public camping area just across the SD-WY state line.

Day 5 

• Visited Devils Tower National Monument in WY. It was really cool! We spent an hour or two there. I'm glad we did, though if it's not on or near your route, I don't know that it would be worth going way out of your way.
• Drove to Bighorn Canyon National Recreational Area in MT, near the MT-WY state line. 
• Camped overnight in a free camping area inside the park, by the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam. This was our first night with bear lockers at the campsite and warnings to be bear aware. There were a bunch of campsites, but we had the whole place to ourselves, which was kind of awesome.

Day 6 

• Did Bighorn Canyon. We did part of a short hike that turned out to be really blah. Drove around the Bighorn area, we think into the Black Canyon area. 
• Tip: if you visit Bighorn Canyon, go to the more southern part in WY. We did the northern part, because pre-trip research suggested the south part was real touristy and the north part was real chill. That turned out to be true, because there's apparently not much to do in the north part ... and the north and south aren't easily connected by roads because of the whole canyon thing. I mean, there are roads, but they have to go around the canyon. It was still pleasant. No regrets. But we'd do it differently if we had to do it over again.
• Drove farther west into Montana. Camped at Pink Creek campground in Paradise Valley. By far, this was my favorite campsite of the whole trip! Quite possibly my favorite campsite ever. It smelled like pine trees and sounded like happy birds. The ground was grassy and soft, and there were lots of trees, which provided privacy and beauty. It was quiet. It was well-maintained, with an awesome host. Even the pit toilet restroom was super clean and actually more pleasant than a lot of public restrooms with flushing toilets. Highly highly highly recommend Pine Creek!

Day 7

• Took a scenic drive through the Paradise Valley (down 540 South to Emigrant, MT, or thereabouts, then back up 89 North. Almost dipped into WY. Definitely recommend Paradise Valley; it's so pretty.
• Drove farther north and west into Montana. Enjoyed the drive. A nice thing about Montana is that a whole bunch of the state (especially the western part) is national forest, scenic byways, and general beauty.
• Camped at a KOA just outside Glacier National Park (in St. Mary) because that's all we could find. I must say, I wasn't a fan. It was $60 (compared to $20 or $0 nearly everywhere else), and the site was basically just a field. They do have showers that are included, which was nice but not worth an extra $40. They also have other amenities like pool and playground, but we just wanted a quiet, pretty place to pitch our tents.

Day 8

• Glacier National Park!
• Driving down the main road (Road to the Sun) is a treat, simply because Glacier is gorgeous.
• Did the Johns Lake hike, which was about 3 miles (?) and included some wooded areas, some running water and waterfalls, and even a tunnel. Met a random couple at the trailhead and enjoyed their company throughout the hike. My new life goal is to be in half as good a shape now as they are at age 70.
• Also did the Rocky Point trail (2-ish miles), mostly wooded with a massive lake at the end of the trail.
• Camped night 8 and night 9 in Glacier National Park, in the Avalanche campground, which was relatively central. 

Day 9

• More Glacier!
• Did part of the Highline Trail. I highly recommend this one! The trail itself is 7 miles one way (not a loop). The shortest way to do the whole trail is to hike the 7 miles, then connect with another trail that intersects with Highline, and you end up with 10-11 miles total. I am not in good enough shape for that, and neither of us had come prepared for such a lengthy hike. So we hiked for about 3 miles, then turned around and hiked back. It was beautiful and wonderful. It's marked rigorous primarily because it's so long. I thought there was a really nice mix of up, down, and flat, and only in a couple parts was it a very steep incline for very far. 
• Drove out to Many Glacier, another portion of Glacier National Park. We started a hike there but turned back because the clouds looked ominous. It looked like there were a lot of great hikes in Many Glacier, including several with good views of glaciers.
• I loved Glacier and could easily have spent the whole vacation there. It's beautiful. There's tons of hiking with varying levels of rigor. The park was lively with visitors, even crowded at some parts, but still felt relaxing and awesome.

Day 10

• Bid farewell to Glacier.
• Brunch at Jam! in Bozeman, MT.
• Late lunch and internet at Post Creek Steak and Tap House in St. Ignatius, MT. It was in the middle of nowhere, and I had low expectations, but the food was outstanding.
• Camped at Jocko Hollow Campground near Arlee, MT, which was great. It was basically a souped up backyard, with some amenities added (like electricity at each site, very reasonably priced laundry facilities, and super clean and awesome bathrooms), all for just $20. We had been planning to find a laundromat the next day anyway, but suddenly we no longer had to. Win.

Day 11

• Drove to West Yellowstone, MT, and set up camp (Bakers Hole campground) for nights 11 and 12.
• Drove around Yellowstone National Park. Saw some geysers (including Old Faithful), hot springs, and bison.
• Tip: it takes a very long time to make your way through Yellowstone. The park is big, but also the roads get really congested. Most of the roads are just one lane each way, and very often someone will be driving around, then they'll spot an elk or a bear or something else interesting off in the woods. So they'll stop their car in the road (because no shoulder) to watch the animal and take pictures. And then a couple more cars come along, they get interested, too, and stop. And pretty soon you have 20 cars lined up, at a complete stop, and only the front 3-4 cars can see anything, so the rest of you are just sitting there speculating about which animal is being viewed this time. Of all the places we visited, I think Yellowstone is where we would have been wise to be more strategic about planning ahead. Because our normal method of just showing up, looking at the park map and pamphlet(s) for things to catch our eye, and meandering through the park, wasn't as conducive to a park that takes 2-3 hours to get across.

Day 12

• More Yellowstone National Park.
• Saw Mammoth Springs Terrace, which was cool.
• Picnic lunch in the park (curry ramen).
• Drove up Beartooth Highway, a scenic byway that goes from the NE corner of Yellowstone up into Red Lodge, MT. It's 68 miles and took us about 2 hours one way. Hands down, 2 of the most beautiful hours of our trip. The highest point is just shy of 11,000 feet elevation. It's full of crazy hairpin turns. And the views are just sick. I cannot recommend Beartooth Highway enough!
• Dinner at Carbon Fork in Red Lodge, and then we took a rather roundabout way back to West Yellowstone because a storm had dropped a lot of hail and fog onto Beartooth Highway, and we didn't really want to die that night.
• We had planned a hike but ran out of time and chose to prioritize Beartooth Highway. No regrets.
• Yellowstone was really cool and unique, with geothermal formations/activity unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I'm glad we went. I'm also glad we weren't there long. Because of how crowded and touristy the park is, there was a low level of stress and mild frustration while there. Also, the restrooms there are straight-up nasty, especially in the more crowded areas like Old Faithful. 

Day 13

• Moved to Grand Teton National Forest in WY; it's just south of Yellowstone. 
• Drove around the park, stopped and looked at things that seemed interesting.
• Hung out at Schwabacher Landing, which was a lovely, peaceful place to spend a good chunk of the evening.
• Camped in the park (Colter Bay area) for nights 13 and 14.

Day 14

• Did a couple short hikes in Grand Teton--one in the String Lake area, and the other was the Lake Creek/Woodland Trail loop, with Phelps Lake at the far end of the loop.
• This article was helpful in identifying some good hikes and such.
• Pretty chill day.
• Saw a bear ambling through the campground.
• Grand Teton was probably the most relaxing of the parks we visited. Mountains, lakes, and pine trees are my jam, and Grand Teton has plenty to offer. The campground felt energetic and happy without feeling noisy and crowded. The park smells nice, which I especially noticed on our hikes. We did agree that it was nice doing Yellowstone between Glacier and Grand Teton (because we loved Glacier so much, and Yellowstone is so unique, so it served as a sort of palate cleanser). We think we would have enjoyed Grand Teton less if it had come right after Glacier (since they're more similar). Also, Grand Teton was a nice one to go out on, because it's smaller and less touristy and just felt really chill the whole time.

Day 15

• Breakfast at Picnic in Jackson, WY.
• Drove back to the Boulder area. Stayed with the same friend.

Days 16-17

• Breakfast at PJ's Diner in Superior, CO.
• I abandoned Josh in Colorado, spent the night at an Airbnb in Amarillo, and drove home on day 17.

Tips and general observations

• For food, we ate out sometimes and cooked at the campsite sometimes. Fresh Off the Grid and REI have some great camping and backpacking recipes. Backpacking recipes are sometimes more likely to use only shelf-stable ingredients, which was handy because we decided not to bring a cooler. I brought stuff to make this Chicken Marbella twice, an edited version of this Fiver Can Chili twice, and this Coconut Curry Ramen once. 
• I also made a big batch of this basic pancake mix (using rolled oats in place of buckwheat flour) ahead of time, and I also bought some of those little single-serve fruit cups. Each time we made pancakes, we'd scoop out some mix, add cinnamon, dump in some peaches, pears, or mandarin oranges, and add enough water to get it to desired consistency. Once we added a hot chocolate packet along with the orange segments. And one morning we went the savory route with mild green chilies and cumin-type spices.
• When camping in bear country, you'll need to take some precautions. Like, properly store your food, dishwashing stuff, sunblock, lip balm, etc. All the places we camped in bear country provided secure bear boxes at the campground, and in many places it's fine to store smelly stuff in your car. Glacier and Grand Teton also had specific places to dump any gray water (like dirty dish water). Campgrounds were good about providing information about bear safety in general, as well as any specific guidelines for that area. Be sure to watch for those and heed them.
• When hiking in bear country, be sure to brush up on bear safety beforehand, and be sure to carry bear spray with you. The main goal is to avoid encountering a bear in the first place, but also to know how to react if you do meet one. A simple Google search yielded a number of helpful articles and discussion boards, and REI has some helpful videos.
• Also, don't approach the wild bison. Or really any wildlife. We're guests in their home, and they often don't take kindly to pushy visitors.
• If you are someone who menstruates, I found this article about bears and menstrual products to be helpful. Tip: for the most part, if a campground has flush toilets they usually also have trashcans in the restroom, but if they have pit toilets (or composting toilets) they usually don't have trashcans in the restroom, which requires some extra effort to properly dispose of used products. 
• If you're a woman, trans man, or nonbinary person with anatomy similar to mine, a pStyle or similar is awesome when nature calls while on the trail. Also great for nasty bathrooms.
• With each place we visited, we went into it with the mentality that 1) each place was great and had many many things to see, do, and appreciate, 2) we would experience many of these great things, 3) we would come nowhere close to experiencing all the things, and 4) that was perfectly good. We visited each place with the hope of enjoying it but with few (if any) specific goals for that place. I highly recommend this mentality!