Yellowstone Backpacking Trip

Your tour includes:

• Immersive days in the backcountry with your local naturalist guide
• Transportation to and from the trailheads
• Custom-designed hiking route to meet your abilities and interests
• Education on backcountry skills and ethics, including how to travel and camp safely in bear country
• Healthy and hearty backcountry meals
• Cooking gear, stoves, and water filtration equipment for group use
• Dynamic and engaging discussions to interpret the wildlife and scenery you’ll observe

Gratuity is NOT included in the price of the tour. Tipping your guide is a common practice in North America, and tips are an important part of their income.

Can you expect to see all the wildlife you hope for?

It is important to remember that the wild animals we seek to observe are exactly that, WILD free-ranging animals that can roam across all of Yellowstone’s vast and rugged 2.2 million acres. The probability of locating and observing them is greatly elevated due to your guide’s intimate personal familiarity with the landscape and the animals themselves. We do not guarantee any wildlife sightings on our tours; however, we will guarantee that your guide will use their knowledge, skills, and network of other guides, wildlife watchers and photographers to do everything we can to find you the animals you’d like to see. We are in the park nearly every day searching for and watching wildlife, and that consistent experience pays off in finding the animals you’ve traveled to see.

Clothing:

• Sturdy hiking boots (broken in)
• gloves and hats (sun and beenie)
• rain gear/Gore-Tex outer layer (top and bottom)
• down jacket
• down pants (optional)
• sandals/crocs
• fleece layer(s)
• pants and shirts (at least one change of each)
• socks and extra socks (several pairs)
• thermal tops and bottoms (wool or synthetic)
• dry bag for cloths

Note: “cotton kills” please avoid cotton clothing. Wool Socks and wool or synthetic layering are absolutely crucial.  If you don’t have several pairs of good wool socks upon arrival, your trip may be canceled on the spot before we hit the trail.

Personal Gear:

• sun glasses
• sunscreen
• head net/bug spray
• toiletries (any meds you need)
• personal hygiene items (TP, wet wipes, etc.)
• headlamp
• spare batteries
• small pocket knife
• toothbrush/paste

General Gear

• Backpack (sized for your body)
• sleeping bag
• tent/bivy sack
• sleeping pad
• water bottles
• plastic bags (ziplock and garbage bags)
• coffee mug
• Spoon/fork

Weather

Yellowstone National Park is a very large place divided by mountain ranges, deep valleys and a massive lake. The weather within the 2.2 million acres can vary widely, so checking the weather in the park can be a difficult task. We recommend checking several different NOAA weather stations around the park, and working an average of those if you’re planning to travel around the entirety of the park.

In general, during the summer months you can expect daytime highs in the 60s-80s (Fahrenheit) and nighttime lows in the 20s-40s.  Afternoon thunderstorms are common, and we can get snow and freezing temperatures any month of the year.

• Gardiner MT
• Tower Junction, WY
• Cooke City, WY

Park Rules and the Yellowstone Wild Code of Ethics

As a licensed Commercial Use Permit holder with Yellowstone National Park, we must follow all park rules and regulations. Additionally, as life-long proponents of wildlife and wild places, we will also follow our own ethical wildlife viewing practices. We will take this opportunity to teach you about how we can have the very best backcountry experience while leaving as little impact as possible.

While on tour with Yellowstone Wild LLC, we will observe the following park rules (subject to law enforcement):

• Keep at least 25 yards from all wildlife
• Keep at least 100 yards from wolves and bears
• Avoid remaining near or approaching wildlife, including birds, at any distance that disturbs or displaces
  the animal.
• Avoid allowing any wildlife to obtain human food.  This means we will properly store all food, cooking gear, toiletries, etc. at all times.

Additionally, we will follow (and teach) all Leave No Trace ethics:

1. Plan ahead and prepare.
2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces: We will stay on trails when possible, or travel respectfully off-trail when appropriate, and we will select durable camping locations to minimize our environmental impacts.
3. Dispose of waste properly:  We will pack out all trash and food waste, and we will dispose of human waste properly.
4. Leave what you find:  We will not remove any natural objects from the backcountry.
5. Minimize campfire impacts:  We will build small campfires in existing fire rings, burn fuels completely, and extinguish fires completely.
6. Respect wildlife:  We will maintain legal and ethical distances from all wildlife, and we will do our best to not disturb them.
7. Be respectful of other visitors.