We booked two tours with Yellowstone Hiking Guides – the Lamar Valley Hike and the Lower Loop Active Van Tour. Both were great and we would highly recommend them! This is a company that loves what they do and have outstanding customer service.
The Lower Loop Active Van Tour gave us a great introduction to Yellowstone on our first full day there. Josh picked us up at Canyon Visitor Center, just a 5-7 minute walk from our Canyon Lodge hotel, and drove us around the highlights of the lower loop. Being in a small van, we could get started on our tour right away rather than drive around and pick up at other Yellowstone hotels before getting started, and we could park at various spots and get out to walk around the Grand Canyon area, and then the geyser areas, Lake Yellowstone and Old Faithful. Yellowstone Hiking Guides made it really easy – they know the places to go, the vantage spots to get a great view without the crowds, provided binoculars, built in bathroom breaks, offered hot beverages, and packed snacks and a really good deli lunch for us! My family (husband, 15 year old son, 13 year old daughter) really enjoyed our day. And Josh clearly knows and loves Yellowstone; he was a great guide.
We were very nervous about driving to the Lamar Valley Trailhead for our hike later in the week, and this is where Yellowstone Hiking Guides went above and beyond! They were happy to pick us up at Canyon Lodge and drive us to the start of the hike. This was HUGE for us – we’re from Chicago and not used to steep mountain passes (like Dunraven – craziness!) and didn’t feel at all comfortable driving those roads. But they were wonderful and happy to do it (and we insisted on paying extra for this service – a 1h15m drive each way). They clearly care about their customers and want to ensure they don’t miss out on these experiences.
The Lamar Valley hike was the absolute HIGHLIGHT of our five days at Yellowstone. Only 1% of visitors at Yellowstone get more than a quarter-mile from a road, and while we saw a lot from the road during our drives through the park, it was great to get a few miles into the Lamar Valley and really experience Yellowstone. My husband and kids are very fit, me not so much, and I was worried about doing the hike – but it was no problem. Emily Jo was our guide; we didn’t go too fast, and we made lots of informative stops. She’d pause to show us recent wolf prints in the mud, and moose prints, and galloping elk prints, pointing out how she could tell the elk was running. It was fascinating. We stopped to observe the bison herd and their calves as they made their way down to the river. We heard stories about the wolf packs and the fight for dominance in the Lamar Valley. She pointed out petrified wood and arrowhead rocks. And again, they made it so easy for us. We just had to bring water and sunscreen. Everything else was provided – snacks, lunch, trekking poles, binoculars, extra rain jackets, extra hiking backpacks if needed, bear spray, etc.
We LOVED our trip to Yellowstone and Yellowstone Hiking Guides was a big part of this. We would HIGHLY recommend this company. It was easy and convenient to book the trip online on their website, they made everything easy for us while we were there, and Josh and Emily Jo are wonderful people who love what they do and are great guides. Their family has a long history with Yellowstone too, with 40+ years of hiking and backpacking experience. Thank you Josh and Emily Jo!