With West Yellowstone as your basecamp for 4 nights, you will have plenty of time to explore Yellowstone on your own.
You will also have a guided tour of the Upper Loop of Yellowstone where you'll see top attractions like Mammoth Hot Springs and the Grand Canyon, but also enjoy spotting many types of wildlife.
On the next day, join a guide for a kayaking trip along the West Thumb Geyser Basin on Yellowstone Lake.
We've also included admission to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, a non profit devoted to the animals of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. You'll see grizzly bears and wolves up close!
Standard guest rooms and suites feature upgraded linens, luxurious bath robes and 36-inch flat-screen TVs, and many feature fireplaces and whirlpool tubs. Complimentary breakfast included.
The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center offers every visitor to Yellowstone a chance to uniquely experience the world of grizzly bears and gray wolves.
All the animals at the Center are unable to survive in the wild and serve as ambassadors for their wild counterparts. The center is home to grizzly bears from as far away as Alaska and as close as Yellowstone National Park. Each bear and its story are unique but they all have something in common; they came to reside here after becoming nuisance bears or orphaned cubs of a nuisance bear. These bears learn to obtain food from people, damage property in search of food or become aggressive toward people and are usually killed. Instead of being destroyed, the eight bears that reside at the center were rescued. The center provides the bears with a large outdoor habitat that includes many natural features including grass, logs, trees, talus fields, mulch digging areas, a waterfall and deep pond. Each bear is also provided with a private indoor area.
Make sure to time your visit with the feeding hours, when keepers hide food within the habitat. Watch as the bears sniff out their food, dig it up and catch fish just like they did in the wild.
The center is also home to eleven wolves that live in three different packs. The wolves were born in captivity and are unable to live in the wild. The facilities where they were born did not have room to keep them and the GWDC was able to provide them a home. Here, the wolves give visitors an up-close look at their normally secretive lives. The wolves eat, play, reinforce their dominance hierarchy and howl right in front of the viewing areas.
The Upper Loop tour takes you to the northern reaches of the park and is called the “Wildlife Tour” for obvious reasons. We offer two options on this tour. One departs at 7:00am, to catch the early morning sightings of wildlife while the other at midday allowing us to watch the animals as the day cools off in the early evening.
From West Yellowstone you turn left at Madison Junction to Canyon were you get to see the Majestic Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. You then head Northeast through Dunraven Pass which is a great area to spot both grizzly and black bears. Then on to Tower Falls and out into the Lamar Valley where more bears as well as bison and wolves are often spotted. From Tower we head to Mammoth Hot Springs, keeping an eye out for deer, pronghorn and big horn sheep along the route. From Mammoth we head back down through Norris and Gibbon Falls, back to West Yellowstone.
The Upper Loops Tours are offered in the morning on Mondays and Thursdays, and in the afternoon Tuesday, Friday and Saturdays.
Meet at the Grant Village Marina for a full day kayaking tour along Yellowstone Lake. After some instruction and brief introduction to the area, hop into your kayak and follow your guide around the lake's shoreline to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. There are many geothermal features on land and under water that are great to explore from the seat of your kayak. Continue on to the remote Potts Geyser Basin for a picnic lunch and a short crowd-free walk around the basin. Keep your eyes peeled for wildlife, including elk, moose, and bison, as they often come down to the lake for a drink.
Both single and double kayaks are available. You'll be paddling about 2.5 miles each way but no prior kayaking experience is required.
* Price is per person, based on double occupancy. Rates based on July and August travel. Package available mid May - September. Inquire about cheaper package prices during that time!