In fears I'll miss giving someone a pat on the back, I'm reviewing three different activities from two different offices. All were a blast and I couldn't recommend these guys enough.
First we did the horseback ride out of the Gardiner office at Stermitz Ranch. They give you great directions to the middle of nowhere so you've really got to follow those. Our guide was Derek and he sort of made the event what it was. The horses are pretty standard. We saw some pretty country and all that, but it was Derek's attitude that helped get through some chilly and wet weather. From the start when I made a joke about his youthful look, he said "This is going to be a fun ride." From there, he never missed a beat. If you're after local, guide stuff...he has that. If you want some laughs, start running your mouth. He'll stay right there with you.The more personality you show, the more he'll show and I think you'll have a better time.
I showed up at the Gardiner office two days later only to find out our zip and dip package was at the other location two hours away. The Gardiner office was kind enough to call the other location and get us set up out there. Gallatin is sort of the middle of nowhere. We went near the end of the season (early Sept) and the bathrooms were close. Not a huge deal but worth noting.
We did the Gallatin zip with Cosmo and another guy (huge apologies for not remembering his name!). Both were good but Cosmo was probably great. These guys are very laid back, often city guys who have made the choice to live in Montana and do these things. You get geared up at the Whitewater facility then they bus you a few miles down the road to another camp with the zips. I strongly suggest the Gallatin zips as they're a bit more in real nature with two zips over the Gallatin River. Our group had a range of ages, most of us first timers. If the first zip is a bit scary, by the end you'll be sorry there are only three. You can basically just hang there so the biggest physical aspect is doing the ladders/challenges to get to the zip platforms.
Finally, we were told the river shuts down commercially at 3500 cubic ft/sec. In early Sept, thanks to some rains, we were up to about 620. Those low levels open up the Mad Mile to younger riders but forced us to take two rafts for a group of seven (plus two guides). Unbelievable fun. We had Brent in our raft and he was exceptional. Great knowledge and attitude. The gf and I had kids of 12 and 15. The 12 yr old sat in front with me and we had an absolutely blast getting soaked. MR provides all the gear you'll need to be safe and relatively dry if you so choose. Some in our party were worried about being inexperienced. The guides are so good I almost think they should have let us panic a bit, esp at low water. By the end, we all agreed some more rapids would have been even better. So, in late season, have no fears about the Mad Mile if you're an inexperienced rafter. Evidently the water gets pretty cold pretty quick so a summer ride might be more enjoyable, and some of the features at MR would also be available (coffee, food, bathrooms, etc).
If there's one complaint it was the photos. I took my own camera on the zip lines and got some decent photos. The gal who took the rafting photos did an exceptional job. Which makes them impossible to turn down. It's $20 for one photo up to $62 for all photos (about 35). Like I mentioned above, we were one group in two rafts and that meant paying for two sets of photos. Again, the photos were the best of our seven days in the Yellowstone area so hard to complain, but it certainly would have felt better on the wallet to pay for one group of photos or a slightly adjusted two-raft price.
These activities are not necessarily cheap but we couldn't have had a better time. Of all our activities in a 9-day stretch, the Montana Whitewater ones were among the best.