- May - October
- Full Day
Get the best wildlife watching activity in the early morning hours, then hit the trail for a hike through Yellowstone’s stunning mountains and valleys.
Quick Details
Duration: 1 – 7 days
Ages: Ages 8+
Further information: Private and fully customizable (just your goup)
Backpacking Highlights
- Experience the magic of Yellowstone in the backcountry
- Your own local, experienced, backcountry naturalist guide
- Fully custom-designed hike
- Difficulty level to match your fitness level
- Away from the crowds and into the wild
- Vast wide open spaces and clean mountain air
- Wilderness and bear safety practices
- Learn important backcountry skills such as fording rivers, water filtration, waste disposal/storage, and recreating in bear
- Practice “Leave No Trace” principles
- Safe, fun and educational
Backpack through Yellowstone National Park
If you’re looking for a break from the everyday grind or wanting to connect with Nature, there is nothing better for the soul than a good hike through Yellowstone’s wild country, followed by an evening around the campfire and a good night’s sleep alongside a mountain stream.
Yellowstone National Park contains more than 2.2 million acres of beautiful, pristine wilderness with nearly 1,000 miles of excellent hiking trails to explore. We custom-design small, single-party backpacking trips around your schedule, your physical abilities, and your personal interests.
Hiking with our naturalist guides is an interpretative natural history lesson, literally walking through the core of Yellowstone’s wilderness. You will experience wildlife, geology and breathtaking landscapes and you will learn how interconnected this ecosystem is. Additionally, you will learn about wilderness navigation, setting up a primitive camp, safe cooking and cleaning practices in bear country and “leave no trace” wilderness ethics. Our backpacking trips are often somewhat physically challenging, and overcoming those challenges in a place like Yellowstone is extremely rewarding.
Please call so we can discuss what the ideal backpacking trip for you looks like.
Please note: Our backpacking trips are custom-designed around your specific desires, level of difficulty, and schedule; therefore, rates can vary somewhat.
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Your tour includes:
- Immersive days in the backcountry with a local naturalist backpacking guide
- Guide will have an emergency satellite communication device (Garmin InReach) with them at all times
- All backpacking guides are trained and certified in Wilderness First Aid or higher and CPR/AED
- Transportation to and from the trailheads
- All backcountry designated site fees and reservations (Park Entrance fees not included)
- 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
- Fuel for backcountry cooking
- Use of trekking poles
- Backpacking tents may be available. Please inquire if needed
- Bug spray and/or head nets
- Canister of bear spray/adult – including training on how to safely and correctly use it
- Rope for hanging food
- Use of binoculars upon request
- 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.
- Immersive days in the backcountry with a local naturalist backpacking guide
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In order to reserve your tour, a deposit in the amount of 30% of the trip total is due at the time of booking. The balance due will be charged to the card on file 45 days prior to your tour departure date.
Should you need to cancel your tour with us **more than** 45 days prior to your tour departure date, your deposit is fully refundable minus a $200.00 administrative fee. Should you need to cancel your tour **within** 45 days of your tour departure date, your payment is non-refundable. We strongly recommend that you purchase third-party travel insurance that will protect you in case of unforeseen cancellations or changes to your travel plans (for suggested travel insurance companies, see [Forbes Advisor](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/best-travel-insurance/)).
Should your tour need to be canceled due to factors beyond our control, including (but not limited to) extreme weather conditions, wildfire, natural disaster, park closure, airline cancellations, or an “Act of God” we are unable to offer a cash refund.
As a small business, we regret that we are rarely able to make exceptions to our cancellation policy.
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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
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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.
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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:
- Plan ahead and prepare.
- 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.
- Dispose of waste properly: We will pack out all trash and food waste, and we will dispose of human waste properly.
- Leave what you find: We will not remove any natural objects from the backcountry.
- Minimize campfire impacts: We will build small campfires in existing fire rings, burn fuels completely, and extinguish fires completely.
- Respect wildlife: We will maintain legal and ethical distances from all wildlife, and we will do our best to not disturb them.
- Be respectful of other visitors.