Last summer during our trip to Yellowstone National Park, we took a part of a day to go rafting on the Yellowstone River. We had camped one night next to the river in Gardiner, MT at the Yellowstone RV Park and the next day we explored a corner of the park near the North Entrance, visiting Mammoth Hot Springs, Undine Falls, and Wraith Falls. Gardiner, MT has a few different companies that offer rafting excursions. I wasn’t sure if the kids would be into the white water rafting, so we opted for a more calm, floating type of ride with Wild West Whitewater Rafting. When we got on the water, the kids were actually really excited about it, so the guide did bring us into some rapids and splashed the kids in the front of the raft.
We showed up to the excursion about 30 minutes before the start time and the company gets you set up with life jackets and gives you the safety briefing and tells you what to expect. We took a bus to the starting point on the river and climbed into our raft with our guide.
We had gotten plastic cases for our phones that hung on lanyards so we could have them with us as we were doing water activities and they actually worked pretty well!
As we floated along the beautiful Yellowstone River, we took in the gorgeous scenery around us and spotted some wildlife along the way! An osprey was flying above the river and we spotted their nest atop a pole with a platform mounted on the top. They build these to encourage the ospreys to build their nests there instead of on the powerline poles! We also spotted an elk walking along the bank of the river!
The Yellowstone area is known for its hot springs. Along the river, our guide pointed out a couple of areas where there were hot springs coming out of the ground along the banks of the river. (Sounds like it was a fun place for the local youth to hang out!)
Getting out on the river was such an amazing way to take in the scenery and get a view of the beautiful landscape around us! Since we opted for the more easy going float ride, you could have done the whole ride without really getting wet. Maybe just a little as you stepped in and out of the raft, although they do pull it right up to shore for you, so maybe not even then! But since the kids were excited about our ride and wanted to get wet, our guide did bring us into a couple of the rapids and the kids went to the front of the raft to get splashed… and LOVED it!
When we got to the end of our float ride, the bus was waiting to bring us back to our starting point. As the guides stacked the rafts onto the trailer, I think most of us were thinking, “How is this going to work???” But as the stack got to what seemed like too high, we all found ourselves chanting, “One more boat! One more boat!” And another boat went up onto the stack and like the pros they are, they strapped the boats onto the trailer and off we went! The guides told a few stories on the way back and passed markers around so that we could all sign the bus! And somehow, all of those boats made it back too!
For more about our rafting experience, check out our video on YouTube! Oh, and don’t forget to tip your guide!! 🙂
[…] the north corner of the park, visiting the Mammoth Hot Springs, Undine Falls and Wraith Falls, and doing a rafting trip down the Yellowstone River. Our first night, we camped at the Yellowstone RV Park in Gardiner, MT. Our second night, we were […]