Sunday 9-1-24 Thermopolis Hot Springs & Cody Wyoming

 

Awesome Day

We may be without internet for the next week or so. If you don't hear from us don't worry we're just having fun. 

We had an awesome day in Wyoming. We woke up to the low of 52 degrees in Rawlins, Wyoming and a high of 91 degrees in Cody Wyoming.

I slept in today, I didn't get up until 7:00. Larry had been up since 6:00. I made mini waffles for breakfast. Then we put everything down and secured in the Minnie. We're moving on to Cody. We had a wonderful night at Carbon County Fairgrounds.

We were on the road by 8:00. Larry drove 270 miles. The drive was on two lane highways, mostly with wide shoulders. We saw bicyclists, back packers and ranches. We were wondering where the back packers were going because they were in the middle of nowhere. Larry figured maybe they were doing the Continental Divide Trail. We saw a lot of Pronghorns grazing with the cattle. We also saw horses. There were miles and miles of barren land. Sometimes we saw mountains and rock formations. One area had red rock mountains. Mainly the terrain was rolling hills. We saw a group of motorcyclists by some rocky hills. We stopped a couple of times to stretch our legs. As we were driving we did see some smoke over the mountains. Larry had checked where the smoke was before we left Rawlins and it wasn't where we were headed. We drove through small towns. We drove by a couple of reservoirs (Boysen and Wind River). As we drove by them we saw people camped. The Wind River ran along the highway. It was gorgeous. We drove through three tunnels while following the Wind River. On the other side of the river there were railroad tunnels. We saw people rafting down the river, kayaking and canoeing. We passed people towing their boats to the reservoirs. It was a very nice drive.

 

Some of the scenery

One of the three tunnels

   Red rock mountains

When we got to Thermopolis we drove through the town to get to the state park. The town is a nice touristy town with restaurants, coffee shops, shops for tourist and statues of bears, elk, moose, mountain lions and other wildlife. The state park is where the hot springs are located. We arrived 10 minutes before the hot springs opened so we had lunch. They have a couple of private run hot spring pools and swimming pools. The state run one is free, you can donate if you want to. We went to the state run hot spring pool. We have been here a couple of times before, the last time was seven years ago. The facility has two pools, one indoors and the other outdoors. The temperature is 104 degrees in both. Before you get into the pool you have to rinse off and when you get out you have to rinse off. They allow you to soak for twenty minutes. They keep the temperature at 104 by having the spring go through a pump house. The pump house cools down  the spring from 124 degrees to 104 degrees by mixing the spring with cold water. The facility is very well maintained and staffed with two people, they were very nice and helpful. Before you do anything you have to sign in and when you're finished you sign out. The staff keeps the restrooms clean and mops up the extra water. We had a super time soaking in the the hot springs.

 

Entrance to Hot Springs State Park

 

 

State of Wyoming Bath House

 

 

Indoor pool

 

 

 Outdoor pool (we soaked in this pool)

After soaking and showering we went back to the Minnie and relaxed. We weren't in any hurry because our final destination was Cody, which was about 90 miles away. We are staying the night in the Walmart parking lot and Cody is hot, the temperature is 91. We were currently parked in the shade and it was cool. I walked around for about 45 minutes taking pictures. Hot Springs State Park is a beautiful big park with a lot of things to do. Today was Sunday so there were a lot of people enjoying the park. Lots of people were at the private run hot springs. They have swimming pools, slides and jumping platforms. People were picnicking, kids were playing in the playground, people were walking the boardwalk and trails. The boardwalk takes you around the hot springs and to a suspension bridge that takes you over to the other side of the river. As you walk the boardwalk there are signs explaining about the hot springs. People were swimming in the river. There are statues throughout the park. The park also has a bison herd. The last time we were here we saw them but this time we decided not to drive through the park to see them. We had a great time at Thermopolis Hot Springs State Park.

 

A girl riding the elephant at the playground

 

Suspension bridge

 

People enjoying the river

 

Rock formation made by the hot springs

 

Two tee-pees and a bison for the hot springs 

 

About 2:00 we moved onto Cody. The ride was a two lane highway with very small shoulders. There were passing lanes now and then. The scenery was more desert and rolling hills. We got to Cody around 4:00, it was hot. We were lucky to get a parking space with a bit of shade, we opened the windows. We relaxed and Larry checked out where the smoke was. It was warm but we had a little breeze. 

When it was time for dinner we walked over to Little Caesars, it was right next door. We bought a deep dish three meat pizza.  After dinner we walked over to Walmart and picked up a few things. When we got back the wind had shifted and was pushing smoke to us. Larry checked out the smoke and said we were in the middle of if. I started to do some steps and I could smell the smoke, Larry said I shouldn't be working out in the smoke. I went inside. A little later the smoke was worse and starting to bother Larry so he dug around and found a face mask. We only had one mask so I walked over to Walmart and bought some more. It looks like the smoke is going to hang in this area for awhile. The smoke is coming from the fires in Idaho and is all the way to Illinois. 

Our plan is to camp off of the Bear Tooth Highway. Yesterday there was no smoke anywhere near it but today that has changed. If we get there and find heavy smoke we will have to adjust our plans. 

If we find little or no smoke we plan to stay for six days, there is no cell service on the entire highway so you may not hear from us for a week or so. 

I ended up doing 10,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my for the week with 115,867 steps.

Our dinner

Our dessert