Day 1: Denver
Saturday - Denver
Arrival into Denver and independent transfer to the hotel. This gateway to the Rocky Mountains and capital of Colorado is a modern city which serves as the commercial, financial and transportation center for the surrounding Rocky Mountain and Plain States. It is often referred to as the “Mile High City” because of its location of 5,280 feet or 1,609 meters above sea level, which equals 1 mile.
Day 2: Cheyenne
Sunday - Denver > Rocky Mountain National Park > Cheyenne (221 mi / 355 km)
Continental Breakfast. Board the motor coach to start the day with a short city tour of Denver including the State Capitol, 16th Street Mall, and Larimer Square. Upon leaving the city, head towards Rocky Mountain National Park to take in awe-inspiring vistas of the Rockies while climbing the “highway to the sky”, Trail Ridge Road, to an elevation of 12,000 ft /3,650 m, making it the highest continuous paved highway in America. Continue to Cheyenne, capital of Wyoming and the embodiment of many iconic images of the Old West: cowboys, rodeos and railroads.
Day 3: Deadwood
Monday - Cheyenne > Fort Laramie > Crazy Horse Memorial > Mt. Rushmore > Deadwood (333 mi / 536 km)
Continental Breakfast. Depart Cheyenne to head north for a visit to Fort Laramie, a fur trading post which became a popular stop for migrants on their trek to find land and fortune on the West Coast. After entering South Dakota, drive through the Black Hills to stop at Crazy Horse Memorial, a mountain monument which has been under construction since 1948.
Once completed, the sculpture will be the largest in the world, measuring 641 feet (195 m) long and 563 feet (172 m) tall. From here, it is just a short drive to a smaller but therefore not lesser epic rock carving: Mount Rushmore National Memorial. This iconic sculpture commemorates U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Overnight stay will be in Deadwood, famous for its gold rush history and burial place for Wild West figures such as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.
Day 4: Cody
Tuesday - Deadwood > Devils Tower National Monument > Big Horn National Forest > Cody (392 mi / 630 km)
Continental Breakfast. This morning, return to Wyoming to come to a stop at Devils Tower National Monument, a 867 ft (265 m) tall monolith towering out over the surrounding prairie, which was featured in the 1977 film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Further west into Wyoming lies Bighorn National Forest, which straddles the Bighorn Mountains, a spur of the Rocky Mountains in northern Wyoming and southern Montana. Once on the other side of the mountain range, continue to Cody, named for Colonel William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody.
Day 5: Yellowstone Area
Wednesday - Cody > Yellowstone (99 m / 159 km)
Continental Breakfast. Start the day with a visit of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a complex of five museums dedicated to the American West (admission included). Mid-morning continue west to America’s first national park: Yellowstone, where the rest of the day will be spent exploring this natural wonder. The park has many special features such as geysers, mud volcanoes, bald eagles and herds of bison roaming freely on the prairies.
Day 6: Jackson Hole
Thursday - Yellowstone > Grand Teton National Park > Jackson Hole (80 m / 129 km)
Continental Breakfast. Early morning departure for a visit to Grand Teton National Park, where snow-capped jagged granite peaks reflect into a myriad of alpine lakes.
Its lush forests are home to antelope, mule, deer, chipmunks and colorful blue jays. The tour continues to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a picturesque valley between the Grand Teton and Gross Ventre mountain ranges. Spend the night in Jackson, the town that epitomizes the true Wild West.
Day 7: Salt Lake City
Friday - Jackson Hole > Antelope Island > Salt Lake City (343 m / 552 km)
Continental Breakfast. The tour continues south through Idaho and Utah to arrive on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. This island with an area of 42 square miles (109 square km) is the largest of 10 islands in the lake and renowned for its natural scenic beauty and wildlife, including bison which were introduced to the island in 1893. Afterwards proceed to Utah’s State Capital and host of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Salt Lake City, for an overnight stop.
Day 8:
Saturday - Salt Lake City
Continental Breakfast. End of the tour.
