Tour Guide: Yellowstone’s Wild Side

Frank DiCesare shares a new off-the-grid upscale camping experience in Yellowstone National Park.

This summer, travelers to Yellowstone National Park will have an opportunity to experience its natural wonders, far from the maddening crowds that gather to gaze at its famous geysers.

It’s called Wild Yellowstone, a three-day, two-night safari along Yellowstone Lake that will pamper outdoor enthusiasts with luxury camping accommodations, first-rate sporting activities, and organic gourmet meals. One of the first luxury safaris of its kind to be offered in the national parks, Wild Yellowstone will welcome groups of up to 10 people who will have access to more than 10 square miles of lake-area wilderness that is rarely visited.

“No other people will be at the camp,” says Steve Lentz, owner of the Sun Valley, Idaho-based Far and Away Adventures, and founder of the Wild Yellowstone safaris. “Most of the other tourists in Yellowstone are in the hotels at night. Our camp is not a day trip opportunity. You’re not going to go out there for the day and then go back to your hotel.”

The Wild Yellowstone adventure begins at Bridge Bay Marina on the lake’s northern shore. Guests are picked up in a cabin cruiser that shuttles them across Yellowstone Lake to Plover Point, a small peninsula located about 40 miles east of Old Faithful. Ashore, guests meet their guides, who instruct them on how to survive in the wild, including a mandatory-yet-necessary “Bear Talk.” (The National Park Service estimates that more than 600 grizzly bears roam freely in Yellowstone.)

During their three-day safari, guests are outfitted with kayaks and paddles, fly fishing gear, and hiking equipment. Paddling along Yellowstone Lake, kayakers can observe trumpeter swans, white pelicans, ospreys, and bald eagles. Anglers will enjoy casting their flies for cutthroat trout. On shore, hikers can trek the lake’s wilderness region where they may encounter bison, elk, moose, mountain sheep, wolves, and coyotes.

The safari’s evenings are spent at camp, where guests are cooked three gourmet meals a day. Sleeping accommodations are plush, with walk-in, elevated tents that feature carpeted floors, nightstands, and cots with mattresses and bedding.

“What makes this area so spectacular is that it is very difficult to get to,” Lentz says. “Very few people move toward this end of Yellowstone. It’s very quiet and very peaceful.”

Wild Yellowstone safaris are scheduled to run from July 11 to September 1.

[Yellowstone National Park Travel Guide]