In Our Nature Guiding Services

Expertly Guided Wildlife Watching Tours and Hikes in Yellowstone and Gallatin National Forest

Yellowstone is the world’s first national park, with 2.2 million acres (1 million ha) of incredible wildness, abundant wildlife, geothermal wonders, and fascinating history. It is surrounded by additional 1.8 million acres of wild, rugged lands in the Gallatin National Forest. This huge intact ecosystem has an incredible variety of landscapes and activities for you to enjoy. Whether you want world-class wildlife viewing opportunities, a beautiful day hike, a few nights in the backcountry, make the most of your visit on a private tour with In Our Nature Guiding Services. One of our local wildlife biologists or naturalists will craft your day to your personal interests.

Availability & Booking

Book using the form below or contact us at 406-579-3838 or info@in-our-nature.com for more information.

Wildlife Watching

Yellowstone Wolf & Wildlife Watching Tours: year-round

Join one of our Biologists on a Wolf & Wildlife Watching tour in Yellowstone's intact ecosystem with premium spotting scopes. Our expert local ecological knowledge will help you see the wildlife you're interested in. This is the best place in the world to see wild wolves and the best place in the lower 48 states to see grizzly bears. Tours are private and offered year-round. Max 6 guests.

  • Departures: from 7 am (earlier in summer)
  • Duration: approx. hours
  • Price: from $780                                                      

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Private Tour & Lodging Package

Private Tours and Lodging

Choose the guided activities and tours you would like to do and stay at Wanderlust Haven, an ideally located, beautiful two bedroom, two bathroom house in Gardiner with amazing views! Wanderlust Haven is available to In Our Nature clients exclusively.  We are so excited to get to offer this to amazing package to make your visit extra special!  Transfers to & from Bozeman or Mammoth can be arranged.

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Day Hiking: April - October

Yellowstone Guided Day Hikes: May - October

Yellowstone has over 900 miles (1,450 km) of trails in a variety of habitats, from lush pine forests to stark thermal basins, from steep mountain treks to casual strolls along boardwalks. Take a closer look by getting off the beaten path and onto a trail with a biologist or naturalist guide to show you what you would miss on your own. Hikes are private, max 10 guests.

  • Departures: from 7 am
  • Duration: 6 to 10 hours
  • Price: from $700

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Llama Day Hikes

Llama hikes are among the many incredible adventures available in Yellowstone OR Paradise Valley and Gardiner area, on Yellowstone's fringe. You're lucky to have multiple ways to join Susi from Yellowstone Llamas, who can answer all of your questions about the llamas. Susi also has in-depth knowledge of Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, its wildlife, history, and geology.

 

  • Departures: depend on location and duration booked
  • Price: from $300 per person (min. 4)

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Backpacking in Yellowstone & Surrounds: May - October, 2023

Backpacking & Backcountry Cabin Trips

 

Get off the beaten path and enjoy parts of the park others rarely see on a Yellowstone backpacking trip. We offer fully custom, private backpacking trips throughout Yellowstone with a duration and difficulty level just for you. Backpacking is a great way to recharge your body and mind, meet your own challenges, or just relax and ponder the wonders in front of you.

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Explore Beyond Yellowstone

Breakfast & Bears - Outside Yellowstone: August - November

Join one of our Biologist Guides on a Wildlife Watching or Birding Tour on stunning ranch and Gallatin National Forest lands (with or without hiking). Safely watch and learn about grizzlies, moose and a host of other animals through premium spotting scopes. Enjoy a delicious picnic breakfast. Learn about sustainable ranching practices and wildlife coexistence strategies that make ranchers successful on the edge of Yellowstone. A beautiful hike with views and geological features is optional.

  • Departures: from 5:30 am
  • Duration: 5 to 7 hours
  • Price: from $650

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Beartooth Pass Tours, Hikes & Backpacking: June - October

The Beartooth Mountains, border Yellowstone National Park to the northeast. Here, a spectacular landscape of wildly beautiful and dramatic peaks, deep valleys, remnant glaciers, and remote lakes exist on some of the oldest rocks on the continent. The Beartooth Mountains offer awe-inspiring views from a high-elevation winding road on the Beartooth Pass and many hiking and backpacking opportunities on trails for all levels of fitness and experience. Come explore the lakes, meadows, white bark pine forests, snowfields and glaciers with us. Wildlife is abundant in this area with populations of pika grizzly bears, black bears, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, and rarely seen species such as wolverine, mountain lion and lynx.

  • Departures: variable from Gardiner, Mammoth, Tower Junction and Cooke City
  • Duration: 6 hours to multiple days
  • Price: from $780

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Guided Day Hikes Outside Yellowstone: April - November

Explore around Gardiner, Emigrant, Pray or Paradise Valley in the Gallatin National Forest OUTSIDE of Yellowstone. Join us for a day hike in beautiful reaches of Gallatin National Forest - start times, duration and difficulty are all flexible. We can take you on an easy stroll to a waterfall or up into stunning high country with views you'll hope remain in your memory for all time. In Our Nature Guiding Services is an authorized permittee of the Gallatin National Forest. Guided day hikes are private and available for groups of up to 10 people.

  • Departures: from 7 am
  • Duration: variable
  • Price: from $450

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River Safaris with Ken at Yellowstone Now

Embark on a most remarkable river journey on the path of Lewis & Clark with historian, naturalist, and wildlife guide, Ken Sinay. Float down the Yellowstone, Jefferson, or Madison River enjoying birds, wildlife, history, and the spirit of Montana. Relax with a gourmet picnic lunch. Take a swim, if you choose. The day is yours on this private tour designed to your preferences. An excellent experience for all ages and physical abilities — something for everyone! River Safaris are private and available for groups of up to 6 people.

  • Departures: customized
  • Duration: half day or full day
  • Price: from $475

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Winter Yellowstone Adventures

Wolf & Wildlife Watching Tours in Yellowstone

Join us for an experience-of-a-lifetime Winter Wildlife Watching Tour in Yellowstone's fascinating intact ecosystem. Our local, expert Biologist Guides will find the wildlife you are interested in and interpret animal behavior. Yellowstone is the best place in the world to see wild wolves, especially in the winter. Our premium spotting scopes will give you the extra edge to enjoy unforgettable close-ups views. We often see otters, moose, red fox, bighorn sheep and herds of bison, elk and pronghorn as well.

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Snowshoeing and Cross Country Skiing in Yellowstone

Snowshoe and Cross-Country Ski Tours

Yellowstone is a winter wonderland! Come indulge in winter's splendor: explore varied terrain, follow & identify fresh animal tracks, and take in stellar views of Yellowstone's northern range. We will access different routes depending on your abilities, snow conditions, and the weather.  Snowshoeing and Cross-country Skiing tours are offered December - March.

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Yellowstone Road Status

We are happy to report that the new North Entrance road from Gardiner MT into Yellowstone is completed! Year-round access from Gardiner, MT to Mammoth WY and across northern Yellowstone NP to Cooke City & Silver Gate has been restored as of late October, 2022, after record breaking floods damaged roads in June of 2022.

As of May 26, 2023, all Yellowstone roads have opened for the season.

Check out our reviews!

What others have to say about their experience with us....

  • star rating  Where do we even start?! Mike, our guide, was phenomenal. We booked a custom tour of Yellowstone - we wanted to see Old Faithful, The Grand Prismatic, and The Grand... read more

    CMG, doc
    August 25, 2021

    star rating  Amazing wildlife spotting with Audra who made the whole day enjoyable.We had great views of Grizzlies, Wloves, Coyotes etc and plenty of birds including Sandhill Cranes, White Pelicans and numerous... read more

    mikehoward6993
    August 7, 2019

    star rating  We had the best afternoon with Mike! He took us on a gorgeous trail where we only encountered 5 other people in 4 hours. We learned about the geology, topography,... read more

    DeborahGR
    September 1, 2021
  • star rating  Our day long tour with Cara made our Yellowstone trip rich and fascinating. Her skills at finding Animals are exceptional. We learned a ton of interesting details about the Park's... read more

    eb3b
    October 29, 2021

    star rating  Because of the date uncertainty for Yellowstone's opening of its northeastern entrance and our scheduled itinerary, my husband and I had to cancel our guided tour with In Our Nature.... read more

    Carla46998
    May 15, 2020

    star rating  Cara is a very knowledgeable and friendly guide. We spent two days with her and were very pleased. She went out of her way to make sure our... read more

    rgandel
    February 17, 2022
  • star rating  Excellent guide,superbly equipped,knew the place and the wildlife very well.
    Cara personifies why a professional guide is needed for spotting wildlife in Yellowstone.Although I'm an experienced wildlife biologist and guide... read more

    DavidJ882
    May 26, 2021

    star rating  I’m a nature lover from way back and am doing my once in a lifetime trip to US national parks. So in going to Yellowstone I really wanted to have... read more

    avatar thumb 555phowe
    May 21, 2019

    star rating  What a wonderful tour this was. Cara was very professional, prompt, courteous and extremely knowledgeable of the spots and areas where we could catch some wildlife. We had the honor... read more

    Mick O
    June 12, 2019
  • star rating  This was our first time cross-country skiing and Cara made sure we learned how to properly put on our skis, move, stop and enjoy our selves for the duration of... read more

    gordonr1234
    January 24, 2021

    star rating  Cara was incredibly knowledgeable and is truly in love with the park. Her advice to me as a photographer was invaluable. I will be engaging her again in the future.

    bowmang94
    November 15, 2020

    star rating  Our day started at five in the morning. By six we were watching wolves and coyotes through a magnificent telescope. It never ended. Bears, wolves, coyotes, bison, and more. Then... read more

    John D
    July 6, 2019
  • star rating  Michael took us on a great tour in the Lake area with a friendly pre-dawn pickup at our RV campsite. We told him we were interested in wildlife but did... read more

    Lou_per
    August 17, 2021

    star rating  This was a fantastic tour! Cara was so knowledgable about the area and the wildlife. We saw so many animals that we had not expected to get to... read more

    avatar thumb sdwyer2018
    June 4, 2019

    star rating  We saw so many animals Grizzly, Mountain Goats, Wolfs, Buffalo, Pronghorn, Bald Eagle, and another special bird. We had brunch in a very special place near a river. Cara... read more

    856myrah
    September 23, 2020
  • star rating  We had an awesome time exploring Yellowstone on our day hike with Audra. She shared so much knowledge of the natural history of the park, and helped us spot and... read more

    isabel0k
    July 29, 2019

    star rating  Picked up before daybreak, our guide Audra was on time and ready to show us Yellowstone in ways we could not have imagined. As the tour began, both my... read more

    avatar thumb eric s
    January 3, 2019

    star rating  Nancy & Mike were fantastic & very personable guides who went all out for us. We were able to see bison, elk, pronghorn, black bears, and osprey (each with young... read more

    KALC
    July 25, 2021
  • star rating  We had two days of absolutely wonderful trips with Nancy and In Our Nature. This was the first time in Yellowstone for our family of three (2 adults and a... read more

    Dan N
    August 17, 2021

    star rating  We booked In Our Nature Guides for two tours: a 6 mile hike in Yellowstone and the early morning nature viewing. The hike was excellent. Nancy, our guide,... read more

    Matt P
    September 24, 2020

    star rating  Where do I begin? First, Cara was such a joy to work with. I reached out to Cara to inquire about quite a few of their services and she was... read more

    Colleen
    September 1, 2021
  • star rating  This was our first trip to Yellowstone National Park and we did our best to find a good guide for our trip.

    Cara's website attracted me since she... read more

    416mehrdads
    January 31, 2020

    star rating  Cara is very knowledgeable making our trip beautiful and educational. She worked extremely hard to make sure we had a fabulous experience----which we did. We saw 4 moose,... read more

    X4001VYkarenm
    January 3, 2020

    star rating  We had a great day with our guide Nancy! She communicated from the start all that we would need for the trip and gave text and email updates to... read more

    maggiewave8
    October 14, 2021
  • star rating  I took a trip to Yellowstone in mid-December. I engaged Cara for the Wolf/Wildlife Watching excursion all day. While we saw no wolfs, Cara was well aware of... read more

    francescah496
    January 23, 2022

    star rating  Nancy took us to all the great spots to see exactly the wildlife we had asked to see. She was informative, very pleasant and knowledgeable, and shared many of... read more

    Greg C
    September 1, 2021

    star rating  This was a once in a lifetime experience! Anyone can go see some animals in Yellowstone but to really see all of the amazing animals in the park you need... read more

    Kendra W
    June 1, 2021
  • star rating  Cara was an extremely knowledgeable guide but also excelled in customer service. She was able to accommodate our party of two and adjusted for our skill level. Qould recommend seeing... read more

    Larali1121
    January 9, 2021

    star rating  My wife and I along with our 2 kids spent the Christmas break over at Yellowstone National Park. One of the days we were there we did a half-day snowshoeing... read more

    avatar thumb smanikoth
    January 27, 2019

    star rating  Angela was amazing. She taught us how to take night photos. This was the highlight of our trip. Unbelievably beautiful experience.

    Katherinethegreat200
    March 28, 2022

About Us

In Our Nature Guiding Services is a small, woman-owned, community-minded, sustainable business operating in Yellowstone National Park, founded in 2015 by Cara McGary. She settled in the tiny town of Gardiner at Yellowstone's northern gateway with a vision to create personalized, educational and fun tours for visitors from all over the world, while committing to sustainability and a respectful way of life on the edge of a wild and fragile ecosystem. Today, In Our Nature is a successful custom tour provider offering exceptional wildlife watching tours, day hikes, multi-day backpacking trips, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, as well as custom adventures in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Our team of experienced local biologists, naturalists and environmental educators is looking forward to guiding you through Yellowstone and providing you with exciting journeys and unforgettable nature experiences.

We operate year-round out of Yellowstone's north entrance in Gardiner, Montana. No matter where you're staying in or around Yellowstone, we can meet you at a central location for our tour. Choose from wildlife watching trips, day hikesovernight backpacking trips, cross-country skiing & snowshoeing, or make your own custom adventure.

Meet Our Team

Owner: Cara McGary MS Biology

On a winter visit to Yellowstone, Cara was smitten by the wonder of this "American Serengeti". As a result, she decided that she wanted to spend her life helping others develop and feed their fascinations with the natural world in Yellowstone. Cara is a qualified biologist (B.S. Aquatic Biology and M.S. Biology). Before settling in Gardiner MT, she worked extensively in the forests of Redwood National Park, the outback of Western Australia, and the jungles of Papua New Guinea. When not in Yellowstone, she likes to explore places where there are likely good tidepools or snorkeling.

Biologist Guide: Ben Buescher

Ben developed his passion for wildlife visiting and working as an educator for the zoo in his hometown of Saint Louis, Missouri. He later moved to Fort Collins to earn his bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University where opportunities opened up for him to study in South Africa, Baja California, and CSU’s satellite campus in the Rocky Mountains. At school, he worked as a technician for an acoustic ecology lab where his love for communicating and weaving together the stories of ecosystems blossomed. After graduating, he spent a year as a park ranger and educator for the national wildlife refuge system in Kauai. Landing in Bozeman following his move back to the mainland, Ben is now excited for the opportunity to work as a guide in Yellowstone, using his background in conservation biology and environmental education to share the world-renowned stories of Yellowstone National Park with our guests.

Biologist Guide: Hannah Beroske

After earning her bachelor’s degree in wildlife sciences, Hannah quickly ventured west to Yellowstone National Park where the wildlife is abundant. She fell in love with the Park’s natural wonders and surrounding forests. With 5 years’ experience as a wildlife research technician, she has worked with many animals such as wolves, cougars, birds, and more. She spends most of her time exploring and appreciating everything that nature has to offer. Hannah finds joy in sharing her passions with guests and hopes to facilitate a memorable experience and inspire action. She is especially eager to work with young minds that are ready to learn and have fun!

Naturalist Guide: Elizabeth Mordensky

Elizabeth has two main passions in life: Art and the Outdoors. Naturally these two loves have come together, driving her to create art that might inspire others to appreciate our wild animals and wild spaces. Through vibrantly textured oil finger paintings, she brings energy and life into her wildlife compositions, encouraging viewers to take a second look. She wants the viewer to feel connected to the animals, as if they were standing there before them, as she has done so many times.

Snowshoe & Ski Guide: Kody Marr

Kody first visited Gradiner, MT back in 2016 while on a 10-day backcountry fly fishing adventure and once he laid eyes on this stunning small town he was hooked, he moved out of his home state of Colorado the following summer and hasn't left since. Kody learned to ski about the same time he was potty trained as he grew up in a ski bum family with his mom being a member of the US Ski Team through his childhood. He now spends his time guiding fly fishing trips during the summer months and guiding over snow activities during the winter months. When Kody isn't in the field you may find him scouting the local mountains for wildlife or traveling the Rockies looking for exotic trout species.