Tour Of The Upper Loop Of Yellowstone
Cost:  $70 per person, including lunch.  Please order online here

The roads that make up Yellowstone are shaped like a massive figure of eight, and the tour of the upper loop of the park goes around the circle that makes up the top half of the figure of eight.  Depending on time, and the number of people who have taken our Yellowstone Lower Loop tour, this tour may visit one or two of the locations that are also done on the Lower Loop tour.  Please check out the lower loop tour.

The cost of this tour can be found here, the dates it runs can be found here, and it can be ordered online here.

Tour Details

The route that the tour takes will depend on possible road closures in the park, as well as the time of year, but it will be something like the following.

There is going to be a lot to see and do.  We'll head out of West Yellowstone at about 8 a.m., towards Madison Junction, where the Madison, Gibbon and Firehole Rivers meet.  Turning left (north) we'll make for Norris Geyser Basin.  Along the way we'll stop briefly at Gibbon Falls.

Although not as well known as the other geyser basins, Norris is the most thermally active part of Yellowstone.  It is divided into two separate areas:  Porcelain Basin and Back Basin.  You will have the opportunity to stroll around both, enjoying the pristine beauty.  Back Basin is home to Steamboat Geyser, the highest geyser in the world. 

Steamboat's eruptions are sporadic, with, at times, many years between eruptions.  When it does erupt, water can shoot up more than 300 feet (90 metres).  For hours following its rare, three to 40 minute, major eruptions, Steamboat thunders with powerful jets of steam.  Full eruptions are entirely unpredictable, and there are more common minor eruptions with water being ejected in frequent bursts of 10 to 40 feet.

The next stop is Mammoth Hot Springs, headquarters of the park, and home to a fascinating array of weird rock shapes, bright colors and sizzling hot springs. Elk are generally plentiful in this area, wandering around the old park buildings, and, if you're lucky, you might even see a whole herd.                          TOP

You can stroll down the ever changing terraces at Mammoth, admiring the travertine creations and hot springs.  Your guide will be waiting at the bottom with a sack lunch, picnic or barbeque.

Everyone wants to see a bear in the wild at Yellowstone, and the trip from Mammoth to Tower Falls is one of the best places to do so. The spring can be a great time to go looking for bears, as you have the opportunity of seeing mothers with their new born cubs.  Tower Falls is an impressive water fall.   Time permitting, we may also take a trip from Tower towards the northeast entrance of the park, through the Lamar Valley.  This is one of the locations in which wolves may be found.                                                                     TOP

Assuming that it is open, the road from Tower Falls to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone towers up into the sky as it crosses the Dunraven Pass at almost 9000 feet.   We then drop down to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is normally visited on our Lower Yellowstone Loop tour, and not this tour.  Depending on the number of people on this tour who have not seen it, and how late it is, we may take the opportunity of checking out the area.  The Yellowstone River has carved an impressive canyon through the rocks, over which two falls drop.  The Lower Falls is over twice the size of Niagara Falls!  It is in this area that you can catch a glimpse of the yellowish tinge to the rocks, from which the Yellowstone River got its name, but at a different location.  We'll check out the canyon and falls from a number of different locations.  You get so close to the Upper Falls that you almost feel like you can reach out and touch the thundering water.  Don't!

If there is time, other areas along the route that we may visit include Obsidian Cliff, Virginia Cascade and Undine Falls.

After a long, fun-filled day, it is time to return to West Yellowstone.  

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Portions of this tour may, at our discretion, be sub contracted to other reputable vendors.  This will in no way affect your safety, comfort or enjoyment.

This tour costs $70 per person.  This includes a freshly made sandwich with your choice of meats, a soda, cookie, fruit and a bag of chips.   Please let us know if you do not want lunch, and you will be refunded $10.There are places on the route where you can buy food if you do not want the lunch. 

Park entry is $12 per person, and is not included.  If you have already paid for the park entry on one of our other tours, you do not need to pay it again.  That charge is good for unlimited entries over a seven day period.  If you have a National Parks pass, the entry fee will be waived. 

Please check out the lower loop tour.

You can order the tour online here.

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