MEET THE TEAM

Together, we have over 100 years of experience

Andrea Saari

There is so much to do in Yellowstone, with so many things to discover! I see and learn something new every time I take people into the Park. I geek out on thinking about how wildlife populations change over time, and how these populations are affected by their habitats.

​And I love sharing what I have learned through my studies and field research in Ecology and Math & Statistics and the Socratic Method, with guests. Science is exciting, especially when you get to collect the data yourself and understand how ​it is applied in the real world. Know what else I love (besides science and Yellowstone)? Dogs, hiking, snowboarding, skiing, fly fishing and rivers!

Denise Wade

I love seeing faces full of wonder, amazement and surprise.  Whether we are looking at the ever changing geysers and thermal features, or spotting a bear digging for lunch, or having lively discussions on all of the puzzle pieces that make up the Yellowstone Ecosystem; creating memorable experiences for you is my goal. 

​For the past 30 years hiking, skiing, and learning about Yellowstone has been my passion. I can also be found instructing Road Scholar courses for grandparents and grandchildren, leading groups for national and international dignitaries, hiking my favorite trails with my family, or cross country skiing in Yellowstone's winter wonderland.

Chris Nelson

Chris is our Chris-of-all-trades! He hails from Minnesota, and spent time in the Peace Corps in Niger. He has a background in Forestry and Natural Resources from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and dives deep into the cultural history of this area.

When he isn't out building and repairing trails, he loves hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing the trails with his wife and friends. He has also handmade his own kayak, snowshoes, and wooden cross country skis.  To Chris, the wilderness is a place to play, a place to be inspired, and a place to fully immerse yourself in, especially when he is on gear he built himself! 

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"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
- Albert Einstein -​

Patty Smith

Patty's story is coming soon!


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Mike Small

Hello! My name is Mike. One of my favorite things about Yellowstone is at any given time of the year there is something exciting happening. From the Brown Trout spawn in October to the bison calving in May, there is always excitement and adventure.

When I first moved to Big Sky I was a ski and snowboard instructor, and since moved to ski patrol. Before I moved to Big Sky, I studied Zoology at Northern Michigan University. While in school I spent my summers guiding multi-day canoe trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and other parts of Ontario and Manitoba. I also studied abroad in Zambia.

This will be my seventh season guiding in Yellowstone National Park. I am very excited for another season and I am looking forward to sharing adventures with you!

Leslie Stoltz

Raised and educated in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Leslie now lives in Big Sky, Montana, surrounded by the wild places that she loves.
Working for Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in research and education for ten years provided a wonderful foundation for her career as a teacher and guide. Since the early 1990s, Leslie has worked for a variety of travel companies and non-profit organizations, teaching classes and leading trips in national parks and wild areas throughout the American West. Farther afield, she has led trips to Nepal, Bhutan, Tanzania, Botswana, Ecuador, and Mexico. Leslie also runs a non-profit with a mission to keep kids connected to the outdoors though scholarship opportunities for outdoor learning experiences.
Leslie’s passion for the wilderness inspired her to take several of her own immersive trips, including a three-week canoe trip in the Arctic Refuge, and several long backpacking journeys in Arizona, Canada, California and Montana.
Leslie’s ultimate reward is helping to instill in others a love of nature and wild places and the desire to preserve these wild places and the quality of life that they provide to us all.

Jackie Robin

Originally from Michigan, I have lived in Big Sky for nearly thirty years. For most of that time, my husband and I grew our business, raised our three boys, and along with our friends and neighbors helped build the beautiful community of Big Sky.

I have been visiting Yellowstone Park, guiding friends and family, hiking, cross country skiing and snowshoeing all over the Park and other local trails since 1993.

I am an enthusiastic “Geyser Gazer,” wildlife observer and history buff for all things Yellowstone. It is my great honor and pleasure to share my passion for Yellowstone as a guide for Big Sky Adventure &Tours.

Patty Dickerson

Montana has been my home since 1993.  I moved here after years of travel and various work experiences from selling pumpkins to working with scientists on Antarctica.  My home in Montana has allowed me to also work for a local raft company, as an event coordinator of weddings and conferences,  and counsel young adults, provide daycare for young children and assist seniors in enjoying their lives to the fullest. As you can see, I love working with people.

My second great love is being outdoors and enjoying the beauty of Montana.  Through the years I've rafted rivers, skied the mountain, and hiked trails of the west.  

There is nothing that compare to the beauty of nature and Yellowstone, and I love to share exceptional experiences in this wondrous place.
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Martha Crocker

Learning to ski in New England surely fueled my spirit to discover more mountains. It’s truly an adventure to live, work and play in an  environment as stunning as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

What I love most about my job is sharing my passion for this place, and watching faces light up with wonder, while experiencing something new. When we listen, the landscape and animals teach us; with new knowledge, our world expands.

Come and visit with us to discover, hike, bike, ski, snowshoe, you name it! Just like the locals, you can soak up the beauty, grandeur and intrigue, to refresh and refuel your next steps. And remember that when you are planning another trip that, “Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity for the human spirit.’’ For me, it’s a celebration!

Dr. Kate Eisele

I am a highly motivated teacher and scientist, who is committed to teaching and to the conservation of natural resources. It is my belief that the greatest responsibility of scientists is to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for their science with as many people as possible. 
Doing this means making learning fun, safe, and “hands-on.” 

My day job is as a high school science teacher in Big Sky, but in my free time, I love to explore the wilderness through hiking, skiing, and white water rafting with my husband and dog. 

Originally from the Midwest, I come from a long line of educators.  My father taught English and my mother, Biology.  My grandmother was a former English teacher and an avid gardener, whose interest in plants helped spawn my own.

They taught me to value the pursuit of knowledge in all its ways, shapes, and forms.  I am broadly trained as an ecologist and earned a B.S. from Michigan Technological University and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.  My research experiences include population, conservation, community, ecosystems, and global change biology. 

Sarah Beer

Sarah's story is coming soon!



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​“The natural world is where we evolved.
It's where our minds evolved.
It's where we became who we truly are,
and it's where we are most at home.”
– Michael McCarthy

Jada Lippincott

Whether it be rippin’ through fresh pow, barreling down the gnarliest white-water, or backpacking in high country with the grizzlies, that is where you can find me.

Originally from the state of Iowa, I knew from a very young age that my ‘home’ consisted of more than just four walls, a welcome mat, flat land, and cornfields.

​I now call the beautiful state of Montana home, and after living here for a little over a year, I am in love. When I’m not backpacking, cross country skiing, snowboarding, rafting or biking, I’m spending time in my favorite place in the world, Yellowstone National Park. I live so hard it hurts.

Nettie Breuner

After pursuing a degree in Human Biology, I stepped into a role as a naturalist educator in the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains and have been in education ever since- as a teacher and administrator. My focus has been to continually infuse in classrooms and schools experiential education and a curiosity for and connection with the science and wonders of our environment.  A combined love of the outdoors, a lifetime of exploring the mountains, flora, and fauna of the West with family and friends, and a career working with children and adults in education bring me enthusiastically to the BSA&T team. 

Whether hiking, walking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, or simply observing, I love the majestic views, the wildlife around every turn, and the incredible opportunities for learning about the connection between humans and our natural environment that the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem provides. The love of nature that my father exposed me to and shared with our family throughout our childhood continues to be a passion I enjoy sharing with others.​
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Curt Sundeen

I moved to Big Sky, Montana in 1986 and experienced Yellowstone National Park for my first time in the winter of 1987. It truly is the “Wonderland” it was called in the late 1800s.

I have been living, working and playing in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem since 2000 mostly in the Big Sky area. Although my parents introduced me to nature through canoeing and camping in the Midwest, I found my true call to nature when I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1990. This was also the year I started my winter career as a ski instructor and mountain guide.

I have been teaching and guiding skiers every winter since. My summer careers have also kept me in the great outdoors. I fought forest fires for the National Forest Service throughout the West and Canada -- including a fire in Yellowstone.

The last 20 years I have remained in nature by building and maintaining mountain golf courses in the Big Sky area. I spend the little bit of free time I have hiking and backpacking in the mountains around Big Sky and consuming as much information as I can on the fascinating and ever-changing Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

It is an absolute pleasure to be fulfilling a lifelong dream of guiding in Yellowstone for BSAT, sharing my passion for nature, the Park and the Ecosystem that surrounds it with you!

Krisy Hammond

I am so happy to have the opportunity to be working for Big Sky Adventures and Tours! I have many years of experience guiding in the National Forest and Yellowstone under my belt. These experiences first began in the mountains of Colorado as a horse guide. After a few years in Colorado, I felt my next progression was on to the rugged landscape of Montana and to the habitat of grizzly bears.

I moved to Montana in 1993 and have worked for various ranches and outfitters over the years. These are the experiences that have shaped me into the person that I am today. I cannot forget to tell you that I met my husband here in 1995. We have raised our two kids here in Big Sky. We have felt fortunate to raise our kids under the beautiful skies and open landscapes of our Great State of Montana I feel privileged to be able to share the landscape, the stories and the history of Yellowstone and southwest Montana with friends, family and visitors wanting to learn about and preserve our open landscapes and habitats of Montana.

Be it our state lands, National Forests, Bureau of Land Management or National Parks -- I feel the open space and the beauty and ecology to be seen and understood.

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Chuck O'Reilly

I was born in NYC, raised in Connecticut, and received my BS in Biology from Providence College. During
college I spent my summers working for the Connecticut State Parks as a lifeguard, campground manager, and
maintenance provider on the Berkshire Mountain trails.

Upon graduation I was able to use my academic background teaching science to grades 5-8 on the Crow Reservation here in Montana. It was an amazing time
of exposure to a new region of the country and a new culture.

Fun fact ... Do you know that 80% of the trees inYellowstone National Park are lodgepole pine? These are the same trees that are preferred by the Native
Americans for their teepees and sweat lodges. (It is fun for me to see the connection between Yellowstone and
the Native American cultures.)

Yellowstone.....how could you not love it? It has dramatic variety from mountains to rolling hills and open plains, each with their own stories. It has creeks and rivers that nourish the lands, near and far, as far away as the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico! (And of course some of that water begins its journey as a geyser or a
hot spring.) It has a wide diversity of animals, interacting with one another as predator and prey.

I am a very fortunate man as it is my privilege to share the wonder and magnificence of Yellowstone with you!

Herb Davis

Herb's story is coming soon!




"Within National Parks is room — glorious room — in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve." - Enos Mills

Rob Oglevie

Rob's story is coming soon!

Laurren Haydon

Laurren's story is coming soon!

SAMPLE ITINERARY

Big Sky & Yellowstone Adventures: The Sapphire Package

Looking for a way to fit everything in during your Big Sky & Yellowstone vacation,
without feeling overwhelmed? Try this itinerary!

Family Fly Fishing   •   Horseback Riding   •   Wildlife & Waterfalls   •   Ziplining   
Hiking   •   Whitewater Rafting   •   Geysers & River Walks

​​​​​Day 1: Arrival Day

• Check-in to your vacation rental
• Walk around Town Center
• Hike Ousel Falls (1.6 miles, ~1.5 hours)
• Have dinner at Ousel & Spur 

Day 2

• Breakfast
• Morning: Horseback Ride
• Lunch
• Afternoon: Old Faithful Half Day with BSA&T
• ​Dinner at Lone Peak Brewery​​

​​Day 3​

• Breakfast provided by BSA&T
• 6am: Lamar Valley Wildlife Safari with BSA&T
• Dinner at 320 Ranch

​ Day 4

• Breakfast
• 8am: Big Sky River Adventure: Family Fly
  
• Fishing & Floating with BSA&T
• Dinner at Buck's T-4

​​Day 5

• Hot Air Balloon Adventure
• Breakfast
• Morning: Open or Zipline Adventure
• Lunch: Blue Moon Bakery
• Afternoon: Whitewater Rafting