Hiking, Paddling, and a Boutique Tipi
Trip Type: Small Group Adventure
Territory:
Region: Rocky Mountains
Trip Price: From $3,295
Single Supplement: $950
On-Trip Airfare: $0
Duration: 6 days/5 nights
Trip Begins/Ends: Bozeman, Montana / Bozeman, Montana
Minimum Travelers: 2 travelers
Maximum Travelers: 14 travelers
Pricing detailed for this Small Group Adventure is based upon double occupancy. Additional charges for single travelers and any on-trip airfare required for the trip apply. A booking deposit is required to reserve your space. Small Group Adventure pricing includes all lodging, meals (unless otherwise noted), activities, baggage handling, transportation, and guide service. Not included are travel costs to/from gateway cities, guide gratuities, and personal incidentals including, but not limited to, trip cancellation/interruption insurance, alcoholic beverages, and laundry service. Travel with Off the Beaten Path requires agreement to our standard Terms & Conditions.
No Sweat - 1-2 miles of walking or hiking per day, plus easy activities
Nice & Active – 3-6 miles of hiking or walking per day, plus physically active exploration
High Five! – 5-12 miles of hiking per day, plus possible peak bagging or other action-oriented fun
This hiking-oriented trips takes place in elevations ranging from 5,300 feet to 8,750 feet, with 6-10 hours spent outside each day in potentially inclement weather. Hikes will be 4-8 miles in length, on trails that might be uneven at times. Other activities include whitewater rafting on Class II to III rapids and a lake kayaking tour suitable for beginners.
Most all of our Small Group Adventures can be made private to just your traveling troupe. Just give us a call at (800) 445-2995 and tell us that you would like to “make it private”!
Generally, there are two ways to make a small group adventure private. First, you could capture one of our published departure dates for just your group. In order to achieve this, we have to have sufficient space available to create a separate private trip. Second, we could take the details of this itinerary and fashion it for just your group on dates of your choosing. For this, too, we just need to review your interest, group size, and preferred timing in order to create the trip.
In all cases, the process begins with a phone call so give us a ring at (800) 445-2995 and after just a few minutes gathering information, we can set to the task of making your trip a reality!
Your guide picks you up in Bozeman and before you know it you’re rocking some whitewater on the Gallatin River. When you’re not paddling like mad through the rapids, remember to look at the beautiful canyon scenery. Then it’s off the river and onto the trail, right behind your lodge, the historic 320 Guest Ranch. You’re on the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park, in the Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area.
Hike like a local today, on a trail that gets you into Yellowstone through the side door, so to speak. There are a few options for trails, all of which start just a few miles up Gallatin Canyon from the 320, and don’t involve going through a park entrance. Your guide will help you identify flowers and animal tracks while you’re watching for elk, moose, bighorn sheep, and possibly wolves and bears.
You make it official today by passing through the West Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. This is your day to discover Yellowstone’s unique geothermal features. In any given year, Yellowstone has more than 400 active geysers distributed across nine distinct geyser basins. One hiking option takes you to the Lone Star Geyser, the star of a backcountry thermal basin with steam vents and small hot pools. This evening, enjoy the view of Yellowstone Lake from a rocking chair on the porch of your lodge.
The morning brings a very unique adventure—a 3-hour “geysers and wildlife” kayak excursion on Yellowstone Lake. You paddle with your guide along the shoreline to West Thumb Geyser Basin to explore geothermal features on land and in the clear water. Many of the features you’ll see aren’t accessible by any other means. You’re likely to see wildlife, too. The afternoon’s hike might be through wildflower meadows or along the lake.
You’ve probably seen it in pictures, which don’t do it justice: the magnificent Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, carved by the Yellowstone River. The three-part waterfall thunders down more than 400 feet. You’ll hike in the Canyon area, possibly on a rim trail that takes in the Artist Point overlook. Later in the day you head out of the park toward Gardiner, Montana, stopping for a short hike en route. Tonight, set your inner kid free with s’mores around a campfire and a night in the tipi of your wildest western dreams.
Share your tipi-inspired dreams over breakfast, then head to Bozeman to catch departures home.
The 320 Ranch sits nestled at the foot of the Gallatin Mountains with the Gallatin River flowing by, just five miles from the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park. The ranch was homesteaded in 1898, and has been a working ranch since 1905, where cattle and horses were raised. The ranch offers a variety of cabin accommodations, each decorated in western style with a television, telephone, coffee maker, hair dryer, iron, and ironing board. Onsite, you’ll find a dining facility, bar, gift shop, small game room, outdoor hot tub, and coin operated laundry.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this grand railroad hotel captures 1920s style, with a sunroom, expansive front porch with rocking chairs, and beautiful lake views. The cabins are cozy and quiet and most importantly, conveniently located.
The Dreamcatcher Tipi Hotel offers guests a unique experience just outside the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The property features 10 luxury, 22 foot tipi tents that are beautifully decorated. After a day of adventure in Yellowstone National Park, guests are invited to sit back and relax around the campfire, share stories from the day, and enjoy fancy s'mores or a glass of wine.
Nearly everyone seems to have a bucket list of things to do, see, and experience before they move on to the next universe. As an outdoor educator, Yellowstone park ranger, naturalist guide, and nature mentor, I’ve been lucky to list and check-off my share of amazing national parks. While it’s hard to suggest places or […]
These days I spend much of my time speaking around the world about travel. Wherever I am, one of the questions I’m invariably asked is, “What’s the best place to travel with children?” Of course, there are multiple factors to consider in choosing the best family destination: How old are your children? What are you […]
When I was nineteen, a backpacker, and in Paris, many years ago, I looked out a train window and saw the Eiffel Tower. I’d forgotten about the tower’s existence so it was as if I had not only personally discovered it, but was the first to understand its stark, industrial beauty. This is one of […]
As luck would have it, I arrived in Saguaro National Park right after a March rainy spell. The Sonoran Desert was alive and thriving, and the saguaro were extraordinary. Each seemed to be thinking its own thoughts—present but private, attendant but uninvolved. The Tohono O’odham people consider saguaro to be friends and respected members of […]
