As the camping and day tour season approaches, I thought I would just touch base on a few things that perhaps many people are not aware of.
If you have someone other than yourself take you up on the mountain (camping or day trip) and they are charging you a fee to do it, they need to have a special permit from the BLM and/or NPS. Wild in the Pryors (Sandy) has both of these. It took me several hours to fill out the application. It is very detailed and requires you to also have the proper amount of insurance in place as well.
Please ask those people if they have the proper permits in place before sending them a deposit or booking a trip. If you are in doubt if they do and want to check yourself, you can call the Billings BLM office and they can connect you with someone who can check for you. Their phone number is: 406-896-5013. It is against the law, NOT to have a permit and to charge for services.
It is frustrating for myself and other permit holders to learn of other people who are advertising and conducting tours without these proper permits in place. Not only is it frustrating for all of us, but it also causes more people on the mountain, more people around the horses, who many times don’t respect them like they should.
I run a very small tour (no more than 4 guests) on my camping tours. I plan on leaving it that way so that my presence will affect the horses (and the land) as little as possible.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact myself or the BLM.
Sandy
