Sunday 9-3 Visiting Hot Springs State Park

Another Travel Day

We had another exciting day of driving. Larry drove 335 miles and it took eight hours. We drove on two lane highways most of the time. Our adventure took us through gorgeous mountain ranges. We saw a lot of pronghorns and deer grazing in the farm fields. We saw a Bald Eagle sitting on a pole waiting for his prey. We saw a few hawks and we saw this big bird sitting on a pole that we thought was a hawk but after thinking about it it looked more like a Golden Eagle. We had a great drive.

About thirty miles from Thermopolis we drove through three hugh tunnels that are next to a river and on the other side there was railroad tracks that had tunnels that went through a mountain side. On the river we saw people riding rafts and people fly fishing. This part of the drive was very pretty.

Driving through one tunnel and entering another tunnel

The scenery we saw while driving

When we got to Thermopolis we stopped by Hot Springs State Park, the park is known for being the biggest natural mineral hot spring. The hot spring issues 3.6 millions gallons of water per day at 127 degrees. The state runs a bathhouse which is free to the public but they ask for donations. The bathhouse has two pools, one inside and the other outside. Before entering into either pool you have to shower considering they don't use any chemicals to keep the pool clean. Due to the health risks of the hot water you are only allowed to be in the pool for twenty minutes. Afterwards you have to shower. We used the outside pool which we have used before. The park also has a couple of privately owned facilities but they are not free and have lots of kids. The park also has a bison herd, swinging bridge and it has a hiking trail that goes through the park. It also has a dinosaur museum. After soaking in the pool and having lunch we continued our adventure to Lovell.

Outside pool at Hot Springs State Park

Inside pool at Hot Springs State Park

Lovell is a small town, that offers a free overnight stay for campers with RVs and tents. It has no power but it has bathrooms with showers and a dump station. It is a beautiful park and very well maintained. The roads and sites are all gravel. We had a very exciting day.