I have never met a single tour guide that said “I hate my job”. In fact every tour I have been on has shown me how passionate each guide was about their niche. The winter of 2023-2024 was a professional fork in the road for me. I had a rough summer in 2023 which was followed up with news that I did not receive the promotion I was hoping for. Lauren took a tour guide position that season, which surprised me at first due to her introverted nature. Those nerves lessened as the season went on and she too started saying it was her favorite job she ever had. The assistant director of the transportation department generally comes down to Old Faithful a few times each winter and each time I saw him he would ask when I was going to officially make the jump and become a guide in the summer. After deciding that I would like to switch departments and having my interview I ran into the director in the hallway. It was there he offered me the job on the spot and I knew I would be doing the job I was meant to do. 

My summer training started in Old Faithful with driver training and studying up on everything Yellowstone. General training was interrupted by my classes to become certified as an interpretive guide from the National Association of Interpretation. The CIG course consisted of four days where we learned about and practiced techniques to be effective interpretive guides. The last day is when we all give a 10 minute presentation on a subject of our choice that is recorded. 

General training is followed by more intensive preparation in the form what transportation calls Frolic. This is when first season guides are driven around the park for multiple days and info blasted about anything and everything: Yellowstone. Six days were spent seeing the park I was so familiar with in a new light, while making cool stops and hearing stories about Yellowstone’s past and present. My previous job in the Ski Shop during winter seasons made the transition slightly easier than other guides as I already had a good background on basic park knowledge. 

After a few ride-along tours — where I would hop on more experienced guide’s tours as a guest —  I was out giving tours. I’m don’t think there is anyone that doesn’t get a little nervous talking in front of people for the first time or even the first time in a while, and I was no exception to this. You have opportunities during training to practice talking about different topics, but no amount of training can fully prepare you for real deal. This is also come from an extrovert who can pretty much talk to anyone like we grew up together. However, the more tours I had, the more comfortable I felt and suddenly giving tours was second nature to me. 

The days as a tour guide are pretty long. Many of the tours are full day tours and you have to take into account vehicle maintenance. Pre and post-tripping the vehicles consists of checking fluids, fueling, cleaning, and filling out paperwork. Occasionally I would have to commute to a different village to start a tour or get picked up and driven back to Old Faithful at the end of a tour. This could mean that I might work 12+ hour days. Most weeks I was working 40-45 hours per week, but there were a few weeks that I worked 60 hours. Long weeks meant sometimes it was difficult to find a work-life balance. The schedules are less consistent than other departments so it is hard to get into a routine during the work week. I typically enjoy going to the gym before or after work, but it was more difficult because of this. 

I am a human being that enjoys exercise and breaking a sweat. Going from a job where I could get my workout an hour or 2 a day on the clock in retail versus sitting in a bus all day 5 days a week was a big transition. I looked into fulfilling these goals in my free time. Lauren and I got a lot of places that had been on our list for years this summer. I almost doubled the miles I walked in my first season. However, when September rolled around I was just exhausted. Instead of having fun on backpacking trips that I had been looking forward too, I was too tired to enjoy it. If I were to do anything different in this tour guide season; I repeat: if I were to do anything different in this season as a tour guide, I would have not went hard every day of every weekend. As much as everyone in Yellowstone would be shocked to hear me say this, I would take some rest days here and there.

Even though the this summer was at times draining I was blessed as a tour guide, having more amazing wildlife encounters than all my time in the park combined. I got to watch wolves a handful of times, bison rut in the Historic Yellow Bus, and I felt like I spotted a bear every tour I went on. One of my favorite bear spottings happened on a tour this summer. I was on a Twilight on the Firehole tour on a lightly smokey July evening. This tour is typically fully booked and this one was no exception. I took three families for a drive and did what I always do: drive safe, get them cool family pictures, and engage the kids (because if the kids are happy, then the parents are happy). When I was approaching Firehole Lake, I noticed a few cars pulled over. I slowed the bus down and told everyone to see if they can find what the cars were stopped for. Suddenly from the back of the bus I heard “There is a bear!”. As a guide this was the ideal scenario: easy spot to park, the top of the coach was already off, and having a guest pointing out the bear, so I could just drive. I snapped a few pictures using the zoom on my camera so that I was able to show my guests who were not able to see themselves. One of my guests told me “You made our trip Dan, you’re the best guide.” And I could only reply with “I didn’t make your trip, Yellowstone did. I just pulled over and watched a bear.” 

I want to end this with an apology. This was a long story, but I felt it was all necessary as to have you envision the real life and not one that I could easily glamorize. As I get comfortable with my writing and you want to keep following the Life With Lo, I will happily share more about my tour guiding as I describe my photos I publish. Through long days and big weekends, the summer of 2024 was the best summer in my life. I’m not sure where I will end up professionally, but I can say this job will definitely be hard to top! 

— Dan