Wednesday, June 14

Everyone is to meet in front of the High School at 10:30pm. We will leave Shepherd at 11 pm and head west!

Thursday, June 15

We will drive until 6pm and travel about 1000 miles to Chamberlin, SD. Here we will stay in a hotel on the Missouri River. The hotel has a swimming pool, so bring your swimsuit in your carry-on. On this day breakfast and lunch will be provided, dinner will be on you at a fast food restaurant on the road. We gained an hour on the clock today and tomorrow we will be about 50 miles away from the next time change.

Friday, June 16

We will leave early (6am) and travel to Mt Rushmore. We will travel a total of about 330 miles today. On the way, we will travel through Badlands National Park. Be sure to bring your NPS Passports with you, you will be able to get them stamped here . Lunch will be at your expense in Wall Drugs (they have great buffalo burgers here!). We will travel from Wall Drugs in the afternoon to Custer State Park located south of Rapid and Mt Rushmore. We will camp here for the night. After setting up camp and eating dinner (and maybe some exploring) we will travel to Mt Rushmore. We will stay here till after dark to watch the night lighting of the monument. Bring your passports and get them stamped again.

Saturday, June 17

You get to sleep in this morning, we won’t leave till about 9am. We travel into Wyoming to see Devil’s Tower National Monument today. We will be camping at a KOA just outside the park tonight. We will set up camp and eat lunch in view of the monument. After lunch we will travel into the park. Here you can climb up the base of the monument, watch people technical climb 800 feet up the face of the monument. There are also several hikes that can be taken in the area, along with prairie dogs to watch. Get your passport stamped before you leave. Back at camp they show a free movie there every night (Close Encounters of the Third Kind – that’s because the monument is featured in the movie).

Sunday, June 18

We will travel through the BigHorn Mts today. After eating breakfast and packing up the tents, we travel to Cody, Wyoming today, about a total of 275 miles away. We will be staying at hotel. Traveling through the Big Horns may give us several opportunities for pictures and short hikes. You will be provided with breakfast and lunch. Dinner you will buy in Cody, WY .

Monday, June 19

We leave early today (7am). We will leave early again to guarantee that we will not view the mountains and the valleys from behind a line of cars will be entering Yellowstone at it’s East Entrance. Today we will hike up Avalanche Peak just inside of Yellowstone. You will hike 2.5 miles to the peak and gain 1800 feet! It offers some awesome views of the park. We will set up camp on the east side of Yellowstone at Bridge Bay Campgrounds for our stay in the park.

Tuesday, June 20

First full day in Yellowstone. We may get up early and travel up to Mammoth to view the Terraces at the hot springs. Next we will leave there and travel over to Lamar Valley.

Wednesday, June 21

Today we will travel to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (early so we can view the canyon without hundreds of people in front of us). We will hike about 3 miles along the canyon and then walk down several hundred steps to the bottom of the falls. Oh yeah, guess what, we get to walk back up the stairs! In the afternoon we will visit Old Faithful and the Geyer Basin. If it's warm we hope to swim in Fire Hole Canyon.

Thursday, June 22

Today we will sleep in and then travel to the village of West Yellowstone. Here we will go to the Imax theater to view Yellowstone on the big screen. We will shop and eat here. Tonight we will Kamp at the KOA just outside the town.

Friday, June 23

This morning we break camp and travel through southern Yellowstone into the Grand Teton National Park. We will stop often on our drive past these majestic mountains. We will end up at the KOA at the southern end of the chain.

Saturday, June 24

Today we hike 6 miles up into the Tetons (called the Paintbrush Canyon Hike). We will be crossing snow, so wear layers! Oh yeah, it’s 6 miles back also. Tonight we will eat dinner in Jackson Hole…great food and great shopping – hold on to your money!

Sunday, June 25

Today we get to get wet! We're going white water rafting on the Snake River. It will take about a half a day, so the other half is yours to rest!

Monday, June 26

Unfortunately, today we will spend the whole day driving from the Tetons to Rocky Mountain National Park. But the drive will be worth it - RMNP is beautiful!

Tuesday, June 27

We will be climbing up the mountains today, so we'll get up early and climb 3 miles up to an alpine lake called Emerald Lake. If you want to go rock scrambling, we can go higher from here!

Wednesday, June 28

Today's hike will depend on the weather and the snow. Our options include 3 possible hikes; Long's Peak (probably not due to snow), Estes Cone or Lake Isabella in Indian Peaks. We will make the decision once we get to RMNP.

Thursday, June 29

Whatever hike we didn't do yesterday, we will do today! We will probably spend much of the afternoon walking around and eating in Estes Park. Oh yeah, probably do some shopping too.

Friday, June 30

We head out for home today. It will probably take two days (traveling about 600 miles a day). Tonight we will probably stay in a hotel somewhere in Nebraska or Iowa.