I could do 9 days...or less. I would be driving up from Denver. I'm flexible. I would prefer later in the year (not spring or early summer). July could be fun due to high wildflower season, but I have some work commitments that month that I would have to work around. September after kids are back to school sounds divine.

I love the idea of listening to Richard's advice, too.

OK... all this makes sense. I wonder if we should have TWO group Yellowstone trips. One spring and one summer...

in my experience this "on the ground" experience is really valuable.

so to recap, there (as yet) doesn't seem to be much interest in Alaska/Denali but significant interest in Yellowstone with some pressure to have an August/September time frame.

We have PLENTY of time here so perhaps create dedicated threads for each trip and see how the evolve.

We're also going to have to apply for the permits/camps.

How many of you are hammock campers? We weren't able to find a few of our camps in the outer sections of the park so having a hammock and improvising was required a few nights.

I generally HATE not following the rules but we literally COULD NOT find the camp site a few nights.

The outer sections of the park we were in literally were not marked and the trail vanished into nothing. We had to pull out the compass and orienteer a few times over about 7 miles until we got to the other end of the valley.

I'm in for a later in the year Yellowstone trip. would prefer Sept.

I'm not a hammock camper- I'm a wanna-be tarp camper.

I'm not a fisher person, but I'm happy to eat wild fish if it is presented to me. I'm also happy to sit in the sun and meditate while others fish.

As far as daily mileage- I could go 5-20 a day. No preference there.

I'm eating Paleo now, so I would bring my own food.

I'm happy to be involved in the backcountry permit process as needed.

I'm happy to carpool with anyone in the Denver area that is interested.

Let's do this!

I'm in for earlier Yellowstone trip. would prefer June.

I'm not a hammock camper- I'm a wanna-be tent camper.

I'm a fisher person, but I'm not sure if I can catch one, but will graciously accept and eat wild fish if it is presented to me.

As far as daily mileage- I could go 5-15 a day..

I'm happy for a group cooking plan and carry provisions for the group.

I can do some paper work too.
I have driven from Portland to YNP last year, its not bad if you have 2 drivers or break the journey into 2 parts. Heck I drove non-stop straight from YNP Portland on my return. But if there are no fellow Portlander's on the trip, I will fly to YNP (if the west YNP airport is open) or drive from Salt Lake City.

Let's do this!

Cracking me up...


my only reservation with a June trip is a lot of wet, muddy trails from snow melt. I've done a lot of postholing in my day and would prefer to avoid that. Also, wildflower peak in July, correct?

My trip last year was during July 4th Holidays, and boy it was already dry and dusty. I also drove up to beartooth pass and there was no snow at all at 12K feet.

Edited by mamamia on 01/07/2013 15:48:50 MST.

last year was the drought too. Hopefully we will get more snow.

Geez, the last time that I drove over Beartooth Pass, I couldn't even see over the snow walls of the road. Some poor marmot had come out of its burrow to find eight feet of snow, and it was running along the highway pavement trying to figure out how to climb an eight-foot snow wall before it became roadkill.

--B.G.--

I could be really interested in a Thorofare trip later in the season. I will be in the Winds beginning of Aug, and would love a serious fishing trip..
I'm a serious fisherman, and I'm up for wahtever mileage you come up with. I will be using a tarp, or I have a Lunar Duo that I can share with someone if that helps.
please, keep me posted!

Also, I'd drive over from Idaho, so could help with folks needing transportation or with help for a loop shuttle.

Edited by idahosteve on 01/07/2013 18:22:19 MST.

Hey gang.

So I went over all the replies and here's the current status update:

- There seems to be significant interest in Yellowstone in the Summer (Aug/Sep)

- Glacier National Park also has significant interest (5-6 people)

- The Thorofare route seems to be the leader in terms of routes for Yellowstone.

- I created a spreadsheet which we can edit to decide on routes, etc.. It has RSVP , date suggestions, etc. I also want to record personal information eventually (email , phone) so that we can collaborate as the time approaches.

- If we are going to go in the spring we're going to need to pick a route. It would also be nice to get people to commit and RSVP for the spring so that we know it's worth planning.

We should also figure out if anyone has any special gear and avoid bringing duplicate gear (weight savings).

There's a lot of redundancy in cooking equipment for example.

What is the upper limit for our party do you think. 5-6 is a healthy size. Anything greater than 10 would be difficult. We could perhaps break it into two trips.

If you guys PM me your email address I will invite you to the Google Spreadsheet and you can enter your info and RSVP your slot.

I'd love to join the group. Let me know....

PM me your email... I'll invite you to the spreadsheet.

It's a LONG way off for all of this stuff so we should just try to make steady progress.

Looks like Kevin got busy or something, any updates on this trip.

If you can PM me I can invite you to the spreadsheet. I need update threads for each trip.

We've been collaborating a bit via email.

Sent a PM to add my email.

I sent couple of PM to Burtonator to add my email ID to whatever spreadsheet he is talking about, but still haven't got any response. So is the trip dead?

We started an e-mail discussion and threw some ideas around. PM me with your personal e-mail and I'll add you.