Quick Details
Fun and Educational Yellowstone National Park Tours for Families
Family Adventure Tour Highlights:
- Hands-on experiential learning
- Experience the magic of Yellowstone’s natural wonders
- Private tour- just your family
- Your own local guide
- Child-friendly and child-focused
- Breakfast, snacks, and lunch – picnic style
- Binoculars and spotting scopes provided for seeing wildlife
- Safe, fun and educational
- Work on your Junior Ranger badge with us!
Yellowstone is for family trips. Children have a natural fascination with nature, and we passionately explore the wonders of Yellowstone with them to create memories and learning experiences to last a lifetime.
We love guiding families through the wilds of Yellowstone. Our Family Adventure tours are fun and educational for children and adults alike, showcasing the magic of nature in Yellowstone National Park!
We start our morning by heading out in search of wildlife in and around the Lamar Valley, looking for bison, pronghorn, birds of prey, and more*. Binoculars and spotting scopes give us a closer look at these animals, and when searching for wildlife we never know what we might find. Later in the morning we have a chance to venture out into the wilds on a nature walk. While exploring, we might find animal tracks and scat (poop!), or even bones and antlers left behind by previous inhabitants! Work on your Junior Ranger badge with us and learn some of the stories and facts about Yellowstone!
*If your family’s top priority is observing Yellowstone’s bears and wolves, we suggest the Bear and Wolf Watching Tour, which is suitable for ages 5 and up and has an earlier start time (5AM) to better see these animals.
We can accommodate up to 10 people per vehicle/guide. This is perfectly suited for large groups and family reunions, as well as for small families.
How does the Family Adventure differ from our Bear and Wolf Watching Tour?
- Later start ensures kids (and parents!) are well rested
- Plenty of time to engage in exploratory learning in nature
- Less time searching through spotting scopes for far away animals, which can be difficult for younger kids
- NOT focused on wolves and bears, though we will take advantage of sightings that we might happen upon
- Children ages 2-5 allowed and encouraged on this tour. Bear and Wolf Tour is for ages 5 and ups
For more information please visit our FAQ page!
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May 1st – October 31st: 7:00am for all pickup locations
- Gardiner, MT.
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Tower Junction
- Sage Lodge
- Canyon Visitor Center (when Dunraven Pass is open)
December 10th – March 31st: 8:00am for all pickup locations
- Gardiner, MT.
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Tower Junction
- Sage Lodge
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Your tour includes:
• Full-day (8 hour) private guided tour
• Local naturalist guide
• Transportation in our fully equipped touring vehicle (we drive, you enjoy the scenery)
• Plenty of space for your extra clothing – please bring warm clothing (see “What to Bring” list)
• Optics for everyone- top-of-the-line binoculars and high-powered spotting scopes for all
• Fresh-baked breakfast pastries
• Hot drinks (coffee, tea, hot cocoa)
• Healthy and hearty snacks (various bars and trail mix, etc.)
• Healthy fruit juice soft drinks and water
• Full picnic lunch spread (GF and vegetarian options available)
• Dynamic and engaging discussions interpret the wildlife activity and behavior observed
• Informed and accurate information on the biology and conservation issues surrounding the wildlife you will observeGratuity 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.
What to bring:
- Warm clothes for cooler early morning hours
- Dress warmly so that you can comfortably stand out in the elements during the cold hours of the dawn. Expect the best wildlife sightings to be in the early morning hours when the temperatures are the lowest. You will be at high elevations in the Rocky Mountains, and temperatures will be unseasonably cold. Be prepared!
- Close-toed shoes/hiking boots
- Long pants
- Sweater/sweatshirt
- Windbreaker/rain jacket
- Hat and gloves
- Duffle/backpack to store warm clothing as the day warms up
- Water bottle (reusable) *please remember to drink plenty of water at this high altitude
- Sun hat
- Sun glasses
- Sunscreen
- Child seats for vehicle
- Lots of questions and curiosity!
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.
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.
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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 viewing and photography opportunities possible without having negative impacts on wildlife by respecting the animals’ space and movements as they go about their lives.
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.
It is our ethical responsibility as visitors to the park to make sure that our actions do not inflict undue stress or hardship upon the animals that we are observing. Wild animals in a natural setting do not have easy lives, and the last thing we want to do is make their lives any more difficult. Your guide is an expert at reading animal behavior, and the moment that our presence is bothering an animal, we MUST back off until we are no longer disturbing its natural behavior. Failure to promptly respond to your guide’s instructions to back away from wildlife may result in the termination of your tour, subject to the discretion of your guide.
This is where our optics prove invaluable. We use only the finest quality Swarovski and Vortex spotting scopes so that we can thoroughly enjoy our wildlife sightings at a distance that allows the animals to carry on about their business, as if we were not there. In fact, much of the time they probably don’t know we are there, yet our high powered and crystal clear optics give us an up-close and personal view. Furthermore, we must be mindful of any animal feeding on or resting near a carcass. Approaching such an area may drive the animal(s) away and deprive them of valuable food. It is important to remember that a carcass is regularly scavenged upon by any number of other animals, including grizzly bears, who will violently defend such a food source. Approaching such an area is strictly prohibited and can seriously put people and wildlife in danger. Finally, it is important to be mindful of the other park visitors and biologists who may also be observing the same animals. We promote quiet, respectful behavior to maximize everyone’s wild Yellowstone experience.
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Custom Portrait Adventure Photography Package
If you are visiting Yellowstone to celebrate an important milestone in your life (anniversary, birthday, honeymoon or graduation) or are simply on a much-needed family trip, our Portrait Adventure Photography Package is designed to capture your special moment. Our partner, Jess, at Chocolate Moose Images specializes in classic portraits as well as highly candid photographs in and around Yellowstone National Park. Jess has a special gift for capturing genuine moments that vividly portray personality and emotion – and in a setting like Yellowstone, personality and emotion shine bright!
Jess will visit with you before your tour to develop a rapport, share ideas with one another and discuss how her photo shoot works. She will then join us on your tour out in the wilds of Yellowstone. She works discretely to capture meaningful moments of you exploring Yellowstone, while also keeping her trained eye open for the perfect Yellowstone-themed backdrop for your portraits. To see a sample images from a winter tour, please visit the gallery here. If you have more specific questions about how to customize this for your adventure, please reach out to Jess.
Cost: $789 including a candid session on tour and a slightly more formal session (time to be arranged).
Final products: All in total, she’ll spend between 3-5 hours with your family providing around 70 images in an online gallery. Printing services are available and highly encouraged.