Tour Code: 458-404

7-Day San Francisco to Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore tour from San Francisco

Our trip begins out of the San Francisco Bay Area, heading from the coast toward the breadth of the desert. Before we make our escape, we’ll take a stop in Sacramento, California’s capital city, to briefly tour this pioneer town, once the heart of the Gold Rush, Pony Express, and Continental Railroad. In the afternoon we’ll head through the infamous Denver Pass on our way through the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the town of Elko in northeast Nevada.

This morning, we’ll visit the Great Salt Lake which covers roughly 1,700 miles of area and is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere. Moving through Emigration Canyon, we’ll follow the original trail used by Mormon Settlers led by Brigham Young to colonize the Salt Lake area of Utah. Branching off into Wyoming, we’ll travel along the original Oregon Trail, once the only travel corridor to the west, visiting natural sites that helped mark the way. The history written on Independence Rock carries many stories of the travelers that once reached it, stopping to carve their names in a sort of memorial upon the granite. And then there is Devil’s Gate, the dark and narrow gorge that marked points on both the Mormon and Oregon Trails; its mere presence seems symbolic of the dangers that travelers faced. We’ll it make to Casper by nightfall to bed down for the evening.

Bright and early on our third morning, we’ll head off toward South Dakota to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, until we are standing beneath the imposing sculpted heads of four of the most prominent Presidents in United States history. Meet a 60-foot granite bust of George Washington, heroically fronting a line formed by Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, respectively. Attracting over 2 million tourists a year, the sculptures of these colossal men are a totem to America’s rich history. Next, we’ll make our way roughly 130 miles to the northwest to visit the Devil’s Tower, a remnant of an ancient volcano, which rises 1,200 feet above the surrounding area. After admiring this natural wonder (and the climbers brave enough to scale its surface) we’ll head to our hotel in Gillette for the night.

Today, we’ll visit Yellowstone National Park, the nation’s oldest national park. Here, you will be captivated by the beauty of the Yellowstone Canyon, punctuated at either end by waterfalls fed by the Yellowstone River. We’ll see rumbling mud volcanoes barely containing the energy below, as well as the geothermal pools at Mammoth Hot Springs. All the while, the finest preserved ecosystem of the lower 48 states will play out around us as it has done for centuries, giving us the opportunity to see wildlife such as elk, bears, moose, and even rare buffalo.

Yellowstone National Park is rife with geothermal energy thundering beneath the ground, and at its most famous attractions, this energy breaches the earth’s surface; in some cases, it even flies high into the air. Perhaps the park’s most explosive attraction is the Old Faithful Geyser, which erupts every two hours, spewing upwards of 8,000 gallons of boiling water 180 feet into the sky. Sitting not far away is the Rainbow Pool, a natural funnel to the hot spring water of Yellowstone’s Upper Geyser Basin. The water, heated to 175 degrees, turns a brilliant fluorescent shimmer, creating what seems to be a rainbow around the pool’s outer edge. We’ll then depart Yellowstone and ride south ten miles to Grand Teton National Park to gaze upon the Teton Mountain Range, the tallest of which, Grand Teton, towers 13,775 feet above sea level. Afterwards, we’ll stop at the nearby Jackson, Wyoming, for a rest before setting out to Salt Lake City to spend the evening.

This morning we’ll explore the Utah State Capitol Building and the center of Salt Lake City, Temple Square. Seated within the 10 acre compound are the Salt Lake Temple, Tabernacle, Assembly Hall, and the Seagull Monument, each a historic symbol of the society founded here by Brigham Young and his Mormon pioneers. We’ll leave Salt Lake City to arrive in Reno, Nevada by the afternoon. Often called “The Biggest Little City in the World”, Reno, which was the birthplace of the gaming corporation, Harrah’s Entertainment, offers many of the same attractions as her showier sister city, Las Vegas, just without the crowds!

Leaving Reno for the journey back to California, we’ll spend the height of the day on the dazzling waters of Lake Tahoe. At a depth of 1,645 feet and at almost 200 square miles in size, it is the second deepest lake in the United States and the largest alpine lake in North America. The expanse of Lake Tahoe’s crystalline water is framed by mountain tops still peaked white with snow. A boat ride* on the lake will feel like soaring on top of glass as the unbreakable reflection from the lake’s depths perfectly mirrors the sky. In the afternoon we’ll return to the Bay Area where our voyage – and tour - ends.

*Optional activity; fee not included in tour price. See “Exclusions” for cost details.