Take a daytrip to see the Hot Springs
State Park, going south on Highway 20 through Worland
and down to Thermopolis. There you will find the world's largest hot
springs.
Take a few hours to enjoy the scenic hot springs, terraces,
and the swinging bridge across the Bighorn River.
Then swim, slide, and soak in the warm mineral water. The
terraces were known and used for years by Indians,
who believed that the waters were beneficial to health and
that they could keep a warrior invincible in battle.
Chief Washakie
of the Shoshone tribe, who built a personal bath house there,
and Chief Sharp Nose of the Arapaho tribe, sold the hot springs
to the United States in 1896 with the provision that a portion
should be forever reserved for the use and benefit of the
public. At Thermopolis each year in early August the presentation
of the springs to the white man is re-enacted in the "Gift
of the Waters Pageant." When the United States released a
one square mile tract of land to the state in 1897 to establish
Big Horn Hot Springs State Reserve, the Reserve became the
first of Wyoming state parks.
Big Horn Hot Springs still flows over the Rainbow Terraces.
A winding, concrete walkway atop the terraces of sulphurous
pools provides a view of algae
and mineral formations on the bluffs overlooking the Big Horn
River.
Drive through
the park and see the Buffalo herd.
If time allows, see the Wind
River Canyon which is south of Thermopolis.