Lonely Planet Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks 3rd Ed.: 3rd Edition [Paperback]

If I had to pick a single book for planning a trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons, I'd recommend this one. It has enough information to get you started about any activity you like: backpacking, biking, boating, camping, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, mountaineering and rock climbing, and winter sports. You'll want another book for the more involved of these activities--especially backpacking, mountaineering and rock climbing--but you probably already knew that.

If you're on a family vacation, the book is near indispensable. There is good coverage of a nice range of day hikes. It's also exhaustive in telling you the other opportunities available that you might not have thought of by yourself. Rafting down the Snake or biking on the valley floor of Jackson Hole are two good family activities.

There's also plenty of information here about regulations, places to stay and eat, and suggestions for other excursions in the area. The written material (but not the maps, alas) is organized very effectively into regions that really do follow the natural organization of these parks. Once you sketch out an itinerary, the information you want is grouped together and the information you don't need is elsewhere.

Despite these strengths, I find the organization of the book a little odd and I found that it took a while to get used to using it effectively. For example, the last three chapters are on Greater Yellowstone History, Geology, and Ecosystem. You might think that this information belongs earlier in the book as part of your orientation to the area. The book has a nice collection of maps, but they are in a weird location in the middle of the book that forces you to flip back and forth to use them as trip planners for hotels, activities, and hiking trails. These might go more naturally at the very front or back of the book. There are some nice full-color pictures scattered throughout the book (mostly in the front), but none of them go with the text that surrounds them.

A big thank you to Mr. Mayhew and his compadres for putting this very useful book together. I got several books to help prepare for my family's Yellowstone and Teton trip. This one, along with the Falcon Guides on hiking and the Trails Illustrated map proved the most helpful. That said, this Lonely Planet guide was probably the one book I relied on the most.

Some tips of my own:

Make the hike to Fairy Falls. Especially in the early morning fog, the other side of Midway Geyser Basin (the side NOT on a tourist-tastic boardwalk) is majestic and wonderful. Fairy Falls is the most beautiful of the many falls I saw in the park.

Get the beans at the Roosevelt Lodge. They are the ONLY beans I've ever had that I'd gladly part with $3 for. (Corresponding tip: the beans elsewhere are $3 also--but you can buy your own can of Busch's for half that).

Don't be frightened off by all the Bear talk. The only Bear I saw was halfway up a mountain and about the size of a quarter from where I stood. The Elk on the other hand...

Going to the Tetons will explain the line "Purple Mountains Majesty." Hiking in the Shadow of Moran or the Grand Teton = instant perspective on life.

Driving through the Big Horn Mountains on the way to Yellowstone is every bit as breathtaking as anything I saw in either park. Its "wow" factor led me to even buy a hat as a souvenir.

Wyoming has to have the highest concentration per square mile of what Patrick McManus calls "Old Men" in his classic A Fine and Pleasant Misery story The Theory and Application of Old Men. This was great for my son. I enjoyed it too.

Probably my biggest tip:

Go to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. (If you're coming the way I came, Badlands NP is well worth it too).

My second biggest tip:

Get this book for all the tips it contains. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Too bad I did not have a copy of Lonely Planet's "Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks" by Bradley Mayhew and Carolyn McCarthy when my husband and I visited a few years ago. I loved the color pictures and descriptions of the top 20 best places to visit in Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks. Highlights include: Wildlife-spotting in the Lamar Valley. Because the valley is home to the densest collection of animals it's also known as the Serengeti of North America. Old Faithful and Upper Geyser Basin, The Teton's Alpine lakes, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest, deepest and most beautiful spring in the park. (Best seen from above), Bechler Basin's spectacular collection of waterfalls, Mammoth Terraces and Norris Geyser Basin that has the hottest, most active and tallest geyser in the park.
To make planning a trip simpler the book has included great maps and itineraries and routes to suite every time-frame. To help understand Yellowstone and the Grand Teton's there are chapters about best hikes, places to eat and stay and when to go. Also sections about the history, geology, wildlife, conservation, parks today, a survival guide, transportation, health, safety, clothing and equipment.
I found the maps, charts and comprehensive planning tools easy-to-use. The sections about the month by month activities and the travel with children and pets are also helpful.
Bradley Mayhew's quote sums up my feelings, "There 's nowhere in the world quite like Greater Yellowstone. From its raging geysers to howling wolf packs, the land stands alone as one last pocket of a wild, primeval America."