Backroads Bear Adventures is a locally-owned tour and travel concierge company in Big Sky, Montana.
Offering curated experiences in Big Sky, Yellowstone, and the surrounding areas.
Owned & operated by Thomas Reed
Thomas has been a photographer since he was a teenager, and has always gravitated towards natural subjects, especially wildlife. He lives in Big Sky, Montana, where he spends much of his time photographing the landscape and the animals that live in it. He participates with the Big Sky Artists Collective gallery, through which he sells prints of his work.
When it comes to photography tours, Thomas can help you find animals, guide you on popular or out-of-the-way scenic hikes, teach you how to photograph the night sky, and more!
Thomas is a Yellowstone and Montana Master Naturalist, and holds certifications in CPR and Wilderness First Aid.
What we do
Our primary goal is to make your experience in the Yellowstone area unforgettable. This goes beyond our tours. We want to help you make everything else go smoothly as well.
We are a small family business, and you will never just be a number to us. You are more than a wallet filling a seat in a crowded bus. We strive for a luxury, private experience without an exorbitant price.
We also want you to come away with a better understanding of our wild spaces, and the creatures that we share it with. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem contains the largest area of truly wild lands in the lower 48 states, and we hope you’ll leave with an improved idea of how important it is.
Transportation
We pick you up at your lodgings, or wherever else you’d prefer, in a Cadillac Escalade. It has seating for six, plus your driver/guide. You will be driven in comfort on your tour, whether that’s a full day in Yellowstone or just transportation to and from a trailhead for a guided hike.
Look for this car, marked with the Backroads Bear Adventures logo, at your pickup time!
Sustainability
We value doing our best to follow sustainable business practices, and have been awarded Sustainable Business Achievement status by Big Sky SNO.
Among other things, we provide reusable water bottles, with a 5 gallon jug for refills in the trunk, rather than using disposable water bottles. We also recycle or compost any trash that we can from our tours.
Our biggest area for future improvement is our vehicle. We are looking forward to a time when we can replace it with a more efficient hybrid. (Electric vehicles are not practical for Yellowstone, due the distances traveled for some tours and the lack of charging infrastructure in the park.)
We minimize use of the tour vehicle, using a more efficient vehicle for supply runs, scouting trips, etc.