Organized Tours

Self-Guided Driving Tours

Depending on your driving skills and your tolerance for large numbers of cars, RVs, and auto-towed trailers, there is no substitute for a self-driven tour of the park. Although roads are narrow, there are hundreds of turnouts that afford opportunities to take in the views. On the downside, the roads twist, turn, and change elevation frequently, so freeway speeds are out of the question.

Organized Tours

A number of tour companies offer bus and van tours of the park originating in gateway communities: Powder River Coach USA (tel. 800/442-3682), out of Cody, offers day-long trips; Yellowstone Alpen Guides (tel. 800/858-3502; www.yellowstoneguides.com) takes travelers around the park from West Yellowstone. Salt Lake City-based AdventureBus (tel. 888/737-5263; www.adventurebus.com), takes groups to Yellowstone and Grand Teton between June and August. If you are looking for specialized guided trips -- such as photo safaris -- contact the chambers of commerce in the gateway community where you want to begin.

Within the park, the hotel concessionaire, Xanterra Parks & Resorts (tel. 307/344-7311; www.travelyellowstone.com), has a variety of general and specialized tours. Five different motor-coach tours are available from all of Yellowstone's villages. For $44, you can explore the Circle of Fire (Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake, the Hayden Valley); you can cruise to the southern neighbor of Grand Teton for $48 on Teton Vista Rendezvous; or, for $50, you can do the Yellowstone in a Day tour. These are full-day tours, with stops at all the sights and informative talks by the guides. Specialty trips include photo safaris, wildlife trips up the Lamar Valley, and Yellowstone Lake sunset tours in historic buses from the 1930s.

At Bridge Bay Marina, 1-hour Scenicruiser tours depart throughout the day from June to the end of September for a trip around the northern end of giant Yellowstone Lake. You view the Lake Hotel from the water and visit Stevenson Island while a guide fills you in on the history, geology, and biology. Fares are $10.50 for adults and $6.75 for children ages 2 to 11. Guided fishing trips on 22-foot and 34-foot cabin cruisers are also available from Yellowstone Park Lodges at Bridge Bay ($66 and $85 per hour, respectively), and you can rent smaller outboards and rowboats.

Buses are replaced in the winter by snowcoach tours. These are closer in size to a van than a bus, mounted on tank treads with skis in front for steering. The snowcoach can pick you up at the south or west entrances, or at Mammoth, and take you all over the park. You can spend a night at Old Faithful and then snowcoach up to Mammoth the next night, or do round-trip tours from the gates or wherever you're staying in the park. One-way and wildlife-watching trips range from $27 to $60, while round-trips cost $100 to $120. Yellowstone Alpen Guides (tel. 800/858-3502; www.yellowstoneguides.com) offers snowcoach trips from West Yellowstone for $99.

Guided horseback trail rides lasting from 1 to 2 hours are available at Roosevelt Lodge and Canyon Village. Children must be 8 years old and at least 48 inches tall; adults cannot exceed 250 pounds. Tour prices are $30 for a 1-hour ride and $50 for a 2-hour ride, and there is no discount for children. Check any activity desk for times and dates. Reservations are recommended and can be made at Xanterra Parks & Resorts activity centers in the hotels, although not before you leave home.

The Yellowstone Association Institute (tel. 307/344-2294) offers a slew of guided classes, including daylong hikes to multi-day backcountry adventures, often with a historical or scientific bent. The Institute has teamed with Xanterra Parks & Resorts to offer visitors days spent exploring trails with guides and nights at the comfortable lodgings throughout the park. These Lodging and Learning packages are excellent options for those who want to delve into the park without too much of the traditional "roughing it." Rates (starting at about $550 per person) include box lunches, breakfast, and in-park transportation. Contact Xanterra Parks and Resorts (tel. 307/344-5566; www.travelyellowstone.com).

In September, the Institute takes over Roosevelt Lodge with the Roosevelt Rendezvous, a series of 4-day educational experiences with a daily menu of different field trips led by park experts. There are also evening programs. Rates start at $530 per person, including a cabin and three meals a day.

Ranger Programs

Yellowstone National Park continues to offer free ranger-led educational programs that will significantly enhance a visitor's understanding of the area's history, geology, and wildlife. Most programs run from early June through early September. Detailed information on location and times is listed in the park newsletter, which is distributed at the entrance gates. On a more informal basis, you'll run into ranger-naturalists roaming the geyser basins and along the rim of the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone, and in areas where wildlife gather in both parks, leading informative walks and answering questions from inquisitive visitors.

Evening campfire programs are presented nightly in the summer at Mammoth, Norris, Madison, Bridge Bay, Grant, and Canyon. Many of these activities are accessible to the disabled. It's a good idea to bring a flashlight, warm clothing, and rain gear. Rangers also conduct walking, talking, and hiking programs throughout the park, including half-day "Adventure Hikes" that cost $15.

As one would expect, there are quite a few programs in the Old Faithful area. The topics of the guided walks, which can run as long as 1 1/2 hours, usually focus on the geysers, their fragile plumbing, and their role in the Yellowstone ecosystem. There is a slide-show program in the auditorium in the evening.

Beginning in June, daily hikes in the Canyon area skirt along the rim of the Grand Canyon; a ranger talk on the art inspired by the falls is held several times a day at the lower platform of Artist Point. An explanation of the origins of the hot pools and mud pots is conducted daily beginning in June as part of a walk of the Lakeshore area of the West Thumb Geyser Basin. The Lake/Fishing Bridge agenda includes walking tours of the Mud Volcano area and the shores of Yellowstone Lake. There is an afternoon talk at the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center about such wildlife as grizzlies and wolves, and a discussion concerning the native cutthroat is held on the west end of the Fishing Bridge.

Mammoth Hot Springs is host to several interesting ranger-led programs, namely a pair of "Daily Special" talks on the park's natural wonders and a historical tour of the original site of Fort Yellowstone, established more than 125 years ago. There is also a guided tour of the hot springs terraces. The hottest, most dynamic, and oldest geyser basin in the park is at Norris, where a popular 1 1/2-hour tour begins at the Norris museum on a near-daily basis.

Many changes are made annually in these presentations; consult the park newsletter that is distributed at the entrance gates.