Our group of 7 (4 adults and 3 kids ages 7-10) spent the past two days touring Yellowstone with Adam Brubaker from Tied to Nature. I very rarely write online reviews but our experience with Adam was exceptional and worth sharing.
On both days, Adam picked us up in a customized van from our rental house in Island Park, Idaho.
On the first day, we visited the geo-thermal features along the lower loop. Adam was so helpful in sequencing the order in which we saw things in order to avoid crowds, which hikes (i.e. the one above the grand prismatic) were "worth it" and well suited for kids. He told us an incredible amount about the geological history of the park and helped us to identify plants and animals as we went.
On the second day, Adam took us on a wildlife tour of the upper loop. His background as a naturalist and a photographer really shined through. He came equipped with binoculars, a high-resolution scope, an amazing camera and bear spray. With his help, we saw bears, bison, pronghorn, big horn sheep, peregrine falcons, ospreys, a horned owl, day-old fawns, and even an elusive pine marten. He knew where to look for specific nests, where the bears hang out and was familiar with rangers who helped guide us to areas where they had seen activity. He was incredibly knowledgeable, safety-oriented, and taught our kids how to be respectful of the wildlife we were seeing.
Perhaps most importantly, Adam was just a great person to spend two days with. He was kind and highly patient with our kids. As a father of four boys himself, he knew how to engage them and came prepared with thermal detection gun they could use to sense the temperatures of the geo thermal features. He had a deck of cards that had asked our kids to find specific things at each stop (something round, something smelly, something orange, etc.)
I am so glad that we decided to have a guide in Yellowstone and that we discovered Adam & Tied to Nature. It was truly the highlight of our trip.