Best west mountain travel guides according to redditors

Molly's cool. She has my dream job and I'm not even mad. She made better life decisions, she's beautiful, and she seems fairly knowledgeable. No one knows their shit like Dei but that HD is a killer.

She wrote a book. You should read it. Let me know.

Zumoff calls her Mols all the time like they're BFF but in a perfect world I like to think Molly Sullivan and Sheena Parveen get drunk on wine coolers and watch Katherine Heigl movies and relive their experimental college days.

I love my home but shit gets pretty bleak in Philly sometimes. Sheena's ass & Molly's rack are straight beacons of hope.
Show ya luv.

Absolutely!

Here's the website for the trailhead\campground (no fees for backpackers).

I think the best resource for hiking the area is a book by someone named Margaret Fuller. It provides in-depth info regarding the trails and destinations, as well as some great ideas for the different loops you can do.

Get this guide book. It's the best. It gives you a mile by mile break down of all the sites in the park.

https://www.amazon.com/Yellowstone-Treasures-Travelers-Companion-National/dp/0970687389

That sounds good. I think Billings is usually the sweet spot for price/time. When we went a decade ago we actually flew into Salt Lake City, but that's a really long drive.

Yellowstone is amazing - you'll have a great time. If you haven't come across it yet, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park. The sheer scale of Yellowstone can be a bit intimidating and I found this book to be the best way to get a handle on things - far better than any of the other guides out there.

There is the official BaD Tour from the ABQ Trolly Co. that is pretty good. Informative guides with anecdotes and fun facts from personal experience on and around set. They have trivia contests with goofy little BrBa or ABQ themed prizes. They also show some clips from the show that pertain to the set you are at.

There is also the Breaking Bad Experience tour that is run by The Candy Lady, the independent candy shop that made the original rock candy used for the meth in the show. They go to the same locations, however the major differences is that that tour is done in an RV that looks nearly identical to the one on the show. Weather you take that tour or not, be sure to stop by the shop to buy your meth as well as to look at the selection of unique shirts and BrBa merchandise only available there.

If you're not looking for an official tour and just want to do your own, Marc Valdez maintained a high detailed blog that maps out every location from small time placement shots to big event scenes. If you are feeling generous, or want a physical guide that doesn't require the internet, he also published a book of the locations.

Personally, if you are a extremely devoted fan, the self-tour is the best option. The official tours are fun, but they can get expensive for big groups and only take you to the convenient main stops. You also spend almost all of the time driving by in the trolly and not stopping. So if you want nice pictures that dont have blurry backgrounds and heads in the way, you'll have to stop yourself.

I really liked this book for my trip. It cuts the park up into segments along the grand loop and made it VERY easy to plan exactly what we saw and did each day.

http://www.amazon.com/Yellowstone-Expedition-Guide-Modern-National/dp/1933763000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452694990&sr=8-1&keywords=travel+brains+yellowstone

It's got an audio guide that's nice too.

Plan on LOTS of driving within the park. We did 187 miles in one day (@ 45mph) and only left the park by a few feet when we went up to Gardner MT for lunch. Make your most important things you want to see the FIRST visit of the day. Get there before the tour buses show up and unload.

Make sure you check http://geysertimes.org/ to see when predictable geysers are in their windows to go off. And then find the Geyser Gazers and hang out with them. You'll learn TONS about the park from those veterans.

I'd plan on spending the last bits of daylight in the Hayden or Lamar valleys. Those are just such magical places.

Take your bear spray. Take your bear spray. Take your bear spray.

Pretty good resources:

http://www.amazon.com/Trails-Sawtooth-White-Cloud-Mountains/dp/0966423380/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Trails-Western-Idaho-Expanded-Updated/dp/096642333X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

It's not just bears you have to worry about. You also don't want little critters chewing through your expensive gear to get at interesting-smelling stuff. It's always a good idea to hang food, toothpaste, etc:
http://www.backpacker.com/skills/how-to-hang-a-bear-bag/

You can find hiking and backpacking groups on Meetup.com

If a gun gives you peace of mind, by all means take it. However, it's definitely not a necessity and I've never seen a backpacker carrying a gun in Idaho.

Good luck!

Sorry it took me 2 days to see this post- Bad Mod.. bad!

One of my personal favorite can-do-in-stock-form-and-still-challenge-yourself trails (also a bit of proving grounds for any new mods I do as it is so close to Denver- Yankee Hill Road

I would also pick up a copy of this book for future reference.. This one has a lot to do with trails in Southern/ Central CO- but there is a version 2 of it that has trails that are a bit more northern.
I have used these books religiously since highschool for leading trails around CO, and even Moab. It is a great resource. For everything else- there is Traildamage.com- You can use the map to drill into trails closest to you or where you are looking to go out and the descriptions are pretty good most of the time (i.e. written by users... so think of Yelp reviews.)

Finally, It is a bit late for me this weekend, and I am travelling next weekend, but if I remember I will hit you up next time I am headed out/ up- would be happy to show you around.

It seems like you have a good grasp on what to expect on your trip which is great. I would suggest going to the hotel and saving the GTNP visit on your way to the airport.

Lamar Valley is a pretty big area and it's best to visit it early in the morning or at dusk as bears and wolves are most active at that time of day. If you see a bunch of people with spotting scopes and large camera lenses standing by the side of the road they are most likely observing one of those big animals.

If you want some books to help you with your trip, Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park is a very detailed one. For day hikes A Ranger's Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes book is good and Trail Guides Yellowstone web site is an excellent source for all things Yellowstone.

Check out "Out From Las Vegas" (http://www.amazon.com/Out-Las-Vegas-Adventures-Away/dp/1893343073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371946366&sr=8-1&keywords=out+from+las+vegas) My wife and I have done a few of these and they are generally very good.

(I am not affiliated with the author or the publisher, just a satisfied buyer of it)