Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks Guide - Part 2 - Free lodging
Coyote walking in the snow:
Coyote (Canis latrans) - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA
This is Part 2 of my guide to wildlife Winter Photography in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.
In this part, I will concentrate only on the North Entrance part of the Yellowstone NP, as this is the only part of the park that allows to drive in your own/rental vehicle. I will cover West Entrance and Grand Teton NP / Jackson Hole in separate parts. If you missed the introduction to this free, informal guide, you can find it here: Part 1
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links on which I will earn small commission that helps me with keeping this website running and creating more free content that helps you all!
As previously mentioned, my 2 week long visit to the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks wouldn’t be possible without using points accumulated on my credit cards. Thanks to this free perk, I was able to book free hotel stays during the most expensive time of the year, between Christmas and New Year’s Day. If you would like to learn how to earn and effectively use credit card points, without any extra spending, make sure to read my guide to Free Travel by Leveraging Credit Card Points .
During Winter months, there are only two options for staying inside the park: Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge & Cabins and Old Faithful Snow Lodge & Cabins - official information . - quick note: On the way up to the Mammoth Hot Springs, there is a campground. I’m not sure if it is open during winter but on one night, I saw a car there. It was a rather warm night, low 20s. If you are interested in camping, call visitor center for more information and make sure you are prepared for cold weather. - During my visit, the first option wasn’t available due to the renovations. The second option, the Old Faithful Lodge, requires leaving a vehicle at the Mammoth Hot Springs lodge and getting on the shuttle. This seemed like an expensive proposition without the flexibility of having a vehicle to explore the area on or own. (I will share more information on that lodge in the future post). This is why we opted out for staying outside the park. This added only 20 minutes to our drive, as the town of Gardiner is located right at the North Entrance to the park. At the time of booking, I found the best value for my credit card points to be redeemed for multiple night stays in the largest hotel in town, the Best Western by Mammoth Springs. Here, I was able to book a two bedroom room/suite with a full kitchen and large dining table. Having a kitchen was one of our requirements for this trip as we didn’t have to rely on food offered in the hotel or restaurants in town. My wife prepared food upon our arrival. This allowed us to take our own food with us to the park where we could stay from sunrise until the sunset without a need of leaving for lunch etc. We usually had two thermoses of hot tea with us, warm food and soup. Additionally, we had sandwiches - toaster in the room made all the difference in a quality of those sandwiches, just saying :)
With years of testing, these are the best thermoses that we found to work for us:
best thermoses/coffee mugs - https://amzn.to/2WIwhP3 - my wife tested many of mugs, and this particular model holds warmth the longest
best thermos for large amount of hot beverage - https://amzn.to/33niZu4 - I’ve been using this particular model since 2010!
best food jars/thermoses: https://amzn.to/2JR5nPI
Best Western hotel isn’t the newest but considering all the amenities that come with a stay, proximity to the park and that it didn’t cost us anything, we were happy to stay here. At the end of the long, cold day you can take the advantage of the indoor hot tub or pool. Speaking of hot tub. If you are up for a soak in the natural hot spring, you can do it in the park too at the “Boiling River”. Just keep in mind that this spot requires a half a mile walk from the parking lot. Also, parking fills up pretty quickly too - here is a where the parking spot is located: https://goo.gl/maps/6Auf6ExpoRScYjBZ8 On some mornings, I saw first people arriving at sunrise🙈 Yes, there are some people that stay there for hours or even full day. Here is a quick snapshot of people in this hot spring (temperature that evening was in low 20’s):
People enjoying the hot spring on a cold winter evening in Yellowstone National Park - Boiling River
Along the trail to this hot spring, you may encounter some wildlife too. I had some close encounters with Elk and Bison but I digress…
OK, going back to the hotels 😬 I booked this hotel very early, about 8 months before our arrival, as I anticipated that it will sold out quickly. Even though, it is a very popular hotel, many tours organizing workshops to Yellowstone stay here, I was surprised to find out that this hotel had still some rooms left for the holidays. As of today, 11/5/19, there are still some hotels in the area with rooms available for Christmas Eve that can be booked with Chase Ultimate Rewards:
Hotels available within 50 days from Christmas 2019
Keep in mind that availability for the dates outside the holidays might be larger.
Here is a current (11/5/19) room availability at the Best Western hotel:
The cheapest option - basic room for 8,000 points!
Rooms with a full kitchen
If you don’t need a full kitchen and travel alone, you can easily pick the basic room for 8,000 points. By following my guide, and applying just for the Chase INK card, you will accumulate enough point to book this room for 9 nights! How can you not take advantage of this?!?
If I was to do it again though, I would apply for the Best Western credit card, as I value Chase Ultimate Rewards points much more and can use them for other, most expensive locations or even for a free plane ticket.
If you wish to stay on the other side of the park, there is a limited amount of lodging in the the Cooke City. Besides my limited time in the Summer 2017, when I stayed only one night in one of the cabins there (awesome stay by the way), I don’t have any personal experience with any hotels there. Most of the cabins close for the season and those that are open, quickly fill up. If you prefer to stay here, it is a bit closer/shorter drive to Lamar Valley, make sure to book your stay early. Here, you will find hotel Super 8 that you can book with points. I would also apply for their credit card first, just for this particular stay, use all the points, maybe combine them with Chase points if longer stay is needed, and then close it. But keep in mind that amenities are very limited in this town. If I remember correctly, there is no cellular service here. At least not for AT&T customers. In Gardiner, on the other hand, I had constant 3 bars of LTE service. Don’t expect having here a Walmart or any other huge super markets but the grocery store in Gardiner is very well equipped and prices are kept at very reasonable level. Actually, prices are almost the same as in the bigger towns, like Bozeman. Alcohol was even cheaper here 🙈
So we spent first five nights, of our 14 day long trip, in the Best Western hotel and returned for last 3 nights to stay in the Sage Lodge, in Sage, MT. Even though staying in the Sage required additional 40 minute drive to get to the park, staying here was a real treat. After so many days spent outside in the cold, in the car etc, I felt it was the least I could do to treat my wife for some luxury :) Here, I booked a basic room (+$300 per night) with points accumulated by simply opening a Citi Premier credit card, which I closed right after this trip, saving on paying the annual fee. In other words, I got 3 free nights, that would cost me over $900, in this luxury lodge for free, without paying the annual fee on the credit card either. Even if you don’t stay in the Sage Lodge, if you are up for a great quality dinner with your partner, I would highly recommend on visiting The Grill at Sage Lodge. Just make sure to make a reservation and to check the hours/days of operation. Don’t forget to use your credit card that earns you extra points on dining 😉
As you can see from this post, we were able to spend 8 nights in the northern part of the Yellowstone NP for free. By staying in the room with a full size kitchen, each day, we saved money on 3 meals by preparing our own food. Most importantly, this allowed us to stay in the park longer saving us time and giving us more opportunity to enjoy the park and watch the wildlife. Depending on your needs, you can choose between the simplest hotels to the most luxurious ones, all for free by leveraging credit card points. Points that you earn with your regular spending throughout the year.
In the future posts, I will share information on free hotel stays in the West Yellowstone and Jackson Hole but I believe you already know how we were able to do it 😬
In the Part 3, of this informal guide to Winter Photography at the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, I will share tips and tools on how to find wildlife in the northern part of the YNP.
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