Wyoming: Grand Teton & Yellowstone

Scenic River Float

Your guide(s) will meet you at the Lodge at Jackson Hole at 1:00 p.m. in the lobby. Your guide(s) will be wearing a Country Walkers shirt. Please be dressed for walking.

Your tour begins at 1:00 p.m. at The Lodge at Jackson Hole, in Jackson. Please plan to have a snack before you meet. You will start the trip with a float along the scenic Snake River, including a late picnic lunch. Come dressed for your float! Be sure to wear shoes that can get wet. A rain poncho will be provided. You will depart the lodge at 1:30 p.m.

If you are arriving after 1:00 p.m. or if your flight is delayed, you must make your own arrangements to reach The Lodge at Jackson Hole. Please note that our river float excursion departs the hotel at 1:30 p.m. sharp. If you arrive after this time, plan to meet your guides at approximately 5:30 p.m. at the lodge.

Guests driving to the tour should park their cars at The Lodge at Jackson Hole for the week (no charge; leave keys with the hotel front desk).

Your scenic float trip on the Snake River is guide-powered so you can relax and enjoy the scenery all around you, so cameras and binoculars are welcome. Your late afternoon float takes you approximately 13 miles downriver, with breathtaking panoramic views of the Teton Range. This stretch of the braided river is home to an array of wildlife and is especially rich in bird life including bald eagles, osprey, herons, kingfishers, and mergansers.

After you disembark your rafts, you’ll return to The Lodge at Jackson Hole in time to check in. Dinner tonight will be at a favorite local restaurant.

*Please note: Each day presents the possibility that alternative trails of comparable terrain will be used in the event of trail closing due to wildlife activity or other circumstances.

Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: The Lodge at Jackson Hole, Jackson

3 - 7 miles, easy to moderate

After breakfast at your lodge, you’ll travel by van to Grand Teton National Park and Jenny Lake, the main hub in the heart of Grand Teton. Board the Jenny Lake ferry. The Teton Range towers above you as you make your way across the pristine waters to start the day. Multiple walking route options await upon disembarking the ferry. From here, trails range from flat walks around the lake to expeditions to the heights of the Grand Teton. You’ll stay close to Jenny Lake, where you can enjoy incredible views of the Teton Range from the trail. Stop along the way at one of the many scenic overlooks to enjoy your packed lunch. Keep an eye out for wildlife in and around the lake as you make your way to the String Lake.

Next, you will transfer to the Grand Teton National Park Visitor and Discovery Center in Moose, Wyoming. Get acquainted with the park at the Visitor Center, where you can get your National Park Passport stamped and pick up souvenirs. The center offers natural history exhibits, a relief map of the park and an informational 22-minute film on the park.

Later in the afternoon, you’ll return to the lodge where you may swim in the all season indoor-outdoor heated pool, enjoy the hot tubs and sauna, or go for a stroll in town. The lodge is located just over a one-mile walk to the Jackson, Wyoming town square.

The evening dinner is included at a local restaurant.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation:The Lodge at Jackson Hole, Jackson

1 mile, easy; Storm Point Loop Trail, 3 miles, easy

Wake up early this morning for a hot gourmet breakfast at the lodge. You’ll depart The Lodge at Jackson Hole and Jackson this morning and make your way into Yellowstone.

Your transfer takes you north across the park border into Yellowstone. You’ll pause along the way to view wildlife or learn about the park’s fire ecosystem. Your destination is West Thumb Geyser Basin, which offers a short interpretive walk and excellent opportunities to see a variety of thermal features including colorful hot springs and hissing steam vents. You’ll picnic under the canopy of the evergreen forest back in West Thumb.

Gather this afternoon with your guides for a loop walk to Storm Point through a varying landscape of meadow, forest, and coastal dunes. On this easy hike you’ll pass by Indian Pond and be rewarded with magnificent views of the mountains over Yellowstone Lake.

You continue your journey via Hayden Valley, home to a variety of wildlife, to Canyon Lodge located on the east side of the park only half a mile from the famous Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and its Lower Falls. After checking into your room and enjoying your surroundings, dine on your own at your lodge this evening.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Canyon Lodge, Yellowstone National Park

5 miles, easy to moderate; 1,384-ft. elevation gain

Today you venture farther into the park for a walk through lush forests and blooming meadows that give way to the otherworldly landscapes of thick mud pots and hot springs created by Yellowstone’s subterranean geothermal activity. Soon, you arrive at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This 1,200-foot deep chasm is layered with the bright red, yellow, and orange colors of volcanic rhyolite, hydrothermally altered and cooled some 600,000 years ago. In fact, the name Yellowstone is thought to have evolved from a French translation of the native Minnetaree “Rock Yellow River” by 18th-century French trappers, roche jaune, which was later translated by American trappers into its English name. The canyon is approximately 24 miles in total length, and you follow a trail along the rim as the Yellowstone River rushes below. You pause at a lunch spot overlooking the spectacular Hayden Valley, famous for its congregations of big game. This valley, actually an old lakebed formed by glaciers in the last Ice Age, is home to swans, great blue herons, Canada geese, elk, deer, bison, and, occasionally, wolves, as well as both grizzly and black bear.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Old Faithful Snow Lodge, Yellowstone National Park

1 mile, easy; Fairy Falls Trail, 3 miles, easy; Upper Geyser Basin, 2 miles, easy

You’ll depart after breakfast and shuttle along the scenic Grand Loop to the Midway Geyser Basin. Your footsteps take you along the trail to view the magnificent Grand Prismatic Spring. The surrounding hillsides are still recovering from the famous forest fires of 1988.

After visiting the Midway Geyser Basin, you’ll shuttle to Old Faithful. Arrive at Black Sand Basin and traverse an off the beaten path to the main boardwalks. Stroll around the Geyser Basin to learn about and witness some of nature’s grandest spectacles. Yellowstone National Park is home to nearly 50 percent of the world’s geothermal features.

Break in the afternoon for lunch on your own at one of the variety of restaurants in Old Faithful Village. After lunch, choose to take a flat walk through the Geyser Basin or challenge yourself with a hike to the top of Observation Point for a view overlooking the vast Upper Geyser Basin. No matter which trail you choose, be sure to pause for an Old Faithful eruption, which occurs every 90 minutes or so.

Afterward, you might peruse the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, which opened in 2010. Or visit Old Faithful Inn – with its heavy timber construction, it is a significant example of classic “parkitecture.”

Tonight, you’ll toast your discoveries of Grand Teton and Yellowstone during a farewell dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodation: Old Faithful Snow Lodge, Yellowstone National Park

Shortly after breakfast, say goodbye and depart the lodge by shuttle, arriving at the Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) at 11:30 a.m. Flights departing before 1:30 p.m. are not recommended. Country Walkers will offer a second drop off at The Lodge at Jackson Hole arriving at 12:00 p.m.

Meals: Breakfast