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We are Yellowstone Yearround
Adventures; we want to help you experience the wonders
of Yellowstone on our Wildlife Tours, Geyser and Waterfall tours,
Day Hikes and Snowshoe Treks.
Our family owned and operated business is a permitted
Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park concessionaire
based at the north and original entrance to Yellowstone
National Park, Gardiner MT. Our goal is to provide you
with quality and rewarding vacation while in
Yellowstone. We want those who visit the area to leave
wanting to come back and explore Yellowstone again and
again.
 Rick Keats, owner and founder of Yellowstone Yearround
Adventures, has been guiding in and around Yellowstone
National Park since 1997. His love for the area bloomed
when he worked as a law enforcement officer in Cody, WY.
After 20 years, Rick was ready for a change and started
his own seasonal rafting company on the Missouri River
in Cascade Montana. The lure of Yellowstone was great
and he also worked part time for an established company
in West Yellowstone, as a tour guide by van in the
summer and snow coach or snowmobile guide in the winter.
He guided rafters and fishermen on the Missouri River
for two seasons, before selling the business to move to
West Yellowstone and guide year round in Yellowstone and
Grand Teton National Parks. Rick especially enjoyed
taking visitors to the northern range of Yellowstone on
the Evening Wildlife Tours. It was a thrill to spot
animals in their natural habitat that most people could
only see in zoos or on TV. He often lamented that the
tours would be so much better if he didn’t have to waste
so much time driving from West Yellowstone. When Carol
became the Postmaster in Gardiner, Rick quickly moved
from West Yellowstone to Gardiner and started his own
tour business, Yellowstone Yearround Adventures.
Rick is a contract Elderhostel instructor for the
University of Montana, Western in Dillon, MT. He
developed and conducts well-rounded classes encompassing
the hydrothermal features, geology and wildlife of the
area surrounding the Yellowstone caldera, including
Quake Lake and Mesa Falls. He has been a guide for the
annual Popular Photography Mentor Series in Yellowstone
for 3 years. Rick has completed a course on Snow
Tracking and Rare Mammals in Yellowstone with Dr. James
Halfpenny. He attended a week long Lewis and Clark
Academy at the Interpretive Center in Great Falls MT to
further his knowledge of the history of the Yellowstone
area. To ensure safety during winter treks Rick attended
a Gallatin National Forest class on Avalanche Awareness
and Safety, which included rescue techniques.
 Carol Keats is a 4th generation Montana native, her
family still owns and operates the Sweetgrass Hills area
ranch they homesteaded in 1911. She enjoys going up to
the ranch to help with big events such as branding.
Because of her agriculture background, Carol works hard
to make sure the food served on tours is wholesome and
uses as many locally and naturally grown products as
possible. She is currently Postmaster in Gardiner, MT
and has worked for the US Postal Service since 1985.
When Rick and Carol met, he invited her to vacation with
him in Yellowstone. Her reply was that she had been to
Yellowstone, “I drove from Billings over the Beartooth
Highway, spent the whole day in the park with my kids
and stayed the night in Bozeman.” Her attitude was “been
there, done that” but her love for Rick won out and she
spent a weekend in Yellowstone. She was hooked, after
her weekend, she started looking for a position in the
Postal Service anywhere near Yellowstone National Park.
Most of Carol’s responsibilities with Yellowstone Yearround Adventures are behind the scenes, but once in
a while she gets out of the office and into the park on
a tour. Carol has also contracted with the University of
Montana, Western in Dillon, MT as a Coordinator for the
Elderhostel program, and guided with the Popular
Photography Mentor Series one year.
We are certified in CPR and Rick and Carol have
completed the NOLS Wilderness First Aid course. We want
you to come enjoy Yellowstone with us; there is nowhere
else on earth like it.
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 For
the past few months we had been dreaming about this trip, our
second, to Yellowstone. Now that the children are older, we were
going to focus on the wildlife of the park and we were just hoping,
at best, to glance at a distant wolf or grizzly through binoculars.
We were excited and knew your services would help us, but were not
quite prepared for what happened. In two days, we saw at least 16
grizzlies, a total of 4 wolves, golden eagles, mountain goats,
pronghorns, big horn sheep, baby owls, ospreys and of course,
legions of elks, bison, etc. Unbelievable! Getting up at 4:45
a.m. was not too, too bad, knowing that Rick would be right there on
time, waiting in his comfortable van, and that he would have freshly
brewed coffee, delicious homemade breakfast burritos and rolls all
ready for us! What an unexpected treat. Rick knew exactly where to
go and when ─
as if all the fantastic scenes we witnessed had been staged just for
us. He taught us so much, and no nicely, about the history, biology
and life of the park and the animals, and proper animal-watching
etiquette. In fact, after a couple of days we were starting to be
able to spot a few animals on our own. The scopes he provided were
of top quality, easy to use, and we were even able to take a few
pictures through them. Our trip was fantastic and varied
─
Rick knew how long to stay at each site, what to look for and where,
when we were hungry or needed to stretch our legs! He was patient
with us and put our safety first at all times. We were impressed too
by the excellent relationships he had with the park rangers, other
biologists and were proud to even be introduced to a world famous
documentary film maker whose work in the wolves of Yellowstone we
were familiar with! This note would not be complete without a
special mention of the food we were served
─
homemade everything, fresh and delicious, served on a table cloth in
a picturesque picnic area. How could you beat that? These two days
flew by so fast ─
thank goodness we have over 250 photos and a
 couple
of short movies of the grizzlies that we are going to look at again
and again for the next few years!
With my best regards,
Veronique Lagrange |
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