Travel editor Frank Baldwin looks at some of the sporting activities on offer in and around America’s famous Yellowstone national park.
Everything’s big in America, says the song, and at 2.2million acres, Yellowstone is certainly one of the country’s largest national parks.
Although it’s official address is in the state of Wyoming, the Yellowstone boundaries also stretch partly into the neighbouring states of Montana and Idaho.
Yellowstone also has the accolade of being the world’s first ever national park, opening on March 1st 1872 for visitors to enjoy the unique hydrothermal and geologic features found within its boundaries and the wildlife that lives there.
Over the years, a vast array of different activities have been established in and around the park. Here we take a look at some of the sports on offer.
Yellowstone Ranch Getaway
This Yellowstone Pop-Up Ranch is a unique, historic dude ranch experience bringing guests back to Montana’s first dude ranch, the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis), in over 80 years since it closed to guests in 1939. The summer season benefits the O.T.O.’s future, with a portion of every reservation and all proceeds donated toward the ranch’s preservation and restoration.
It offers classic adventures such as hiking, horseback riding, fly-fishing, archery, sport shooting, and more, as well as the comfort of cozy cabins and locally inspired cuisine.
Guests can look forward to experiencing Yellowstone Country through traditional dude ranch activities on the ranch; plus off-ranch excursions with local outfitters like white water rafting, trips to the local hot springs and tours of Yellowstone National Park for guests staying six nights. They are offering all-inclusive stays in the original historic cabins with lodging, meals, libations and all activities and excursions included.
Proceeds from every stay go to preservation efforts at the National Register of Historic Places-listed site.
Big Sky Adventures
In Big Sky, Montana, Guests can use The Wilson Hotel as a basecamp from which to hike through shaded forests and wildflower-filled meadows, raft or fly fish the clear waters of the Gallatin River, experience the adrenaline rush of lift-served mountain biking and ski Big Sky Resort’s 5,850 acres of terrain in winter.
Yellowstone Multisport
Encounter the numerous natural attractions of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks on a six-day tour with Escape Adventures that packs in mountain biking, rafting, hiking and rock climbing. See Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Snake River, the Gros Ventre and Wind River mountains, and more on this unique multisport tour that can be arranged with camping or inn-based accommodations.
Yellowstone Family Riding and Rafting
Families can experience the Yellowstone area on a three-day horseback riding and white-water rafting package through Flying Pig Adventures.
Take in one of nature’s most iconic environments up close by tackling rough terrain near Gardiner, Montana, on horseback and running the class 3 rapids of the Yellowstone River as it flows out of the park and into the Paradise Valley.
