Overview, The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Part 2

In the previous post I mentioned that the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is largely a highland that rises above the surrounding high desert and prairie landscapes. That’s a good thing for our guided backpack trips in the Yellowstone region, because the high country is pleasantly cool during the summer vacation season. So you’ll not be backpacking in shade-less 95-degree desert or prairie afternoons! Where might you actually be hiking on our guided greater Yellowstone hiking tours? Well, Big Wild Adventures has guiding permits for the best backpacking areas in the region — and perhaps in the entire world! Of course, we have a variety of great trips in the Yellowstone back-country. Marilyn and I not only live just a few miles from Yellowstone, but along with our other guides we know this wonderland as well as anyone on Earth. But we also lead guided hiking trips in the nearby Fitzpatrick Wilderness portion of the Wind River Range, the Washakie Wilderness of the Wyoming Absarokas, the Beartooth Mountains of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, the Gros Ventre Wilderness near Jackson Hole, and the spectacular Jed Smith Wilderness section of the incomparable Grand Tetons!

The Greater Yellowstone is the headwaters region of some of our great river systems (the Columbia, Colorado and Missouri/Mississippi). It is also an ecological crossroads where flora and fauna of the Great Plains, the Great Basin, the Canadian boreal forest, plus alpine/arctic lands to the north, Rocky Mountain endemics and even just a bit of the Pacific Northwest blend together in an astoundingly diverse landscape. Folks who’ve been backpacking with us in Yellowstone and its surrounding wilds can attest to the sudden changes in scenery and flora over short distances.  Want to experience just a bit of the Pacific Northwest? Join us in the Bechler Canyon of Southwest Yellowstone. Want a good dose of high tundra reminiscent of Arctic Alaska? Try our Montana backpacking in the Beartooths or our Wyoming backpacking in the Absarokas. Want to be immersed in deep coniferous forest with many elements of the Canadian boreal ecosystem? The Yellowstone Plateau Off-Trail trek will do the trick. And so on….This is an amazing diverse ecosystem, and no matter how many guided hiking treks you do with us, there will always be more to explore in the unsurpassed Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem!

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