Hot Springs State Park

Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis offers the world's largest mineral hot spring, which discharges over 3 million gallons of mineral water every day at a constant temperature of 135° F. The water is channeled into cooling pools and then piped into pools at 104° F for public use. One of the uses is the State Bath House, a hot mineral pool for soaking free of charge.

From another stream the water flows over the Rainbow Terrace into the Bighorn River. This colorful cliff of travertine can be seen by crossing a suspension footbridge across the Bighorn River, known as the Swinging Bridge.

Another point of interest is the Teepee Fountain. This structure was created in 1903 by piping the hot mineral water through a vertical pipe built into a rock pyramid. As the water cools travertine is deposited on the existing surface building over time to around 25 ft high and 25 ft in diameter.

The park is large, grassy, and shady. It is much more like a City Park than what one would associate with a State Park. And best of all, the park is free.

Castle Gardens

One of my favorite places in Wyoming, and one of my fondest memories is Castle Gardens. There are actually 2 Castle Gardens in Wyoming. This is the southern location near the center of the state. The landscape is beautiful with cliffs and hills that form a small valley of rock outcrops and boulders in colorful soil dotted with juniper and pine trees. Some impressive petroglyphs are located along the cliffs. The area is remote enough that it doesn't receive much visitation, which makes it a perfect destination. There is no official camping; however, the site is on BLM land, so camping is allowed just about anywhere. When I visited, we camped in the parking area.

Hell's Half Acre

As you drive along the plains west from Casper along US-20/26 you will encounter a sign for Hell’s Half Acre. If you are not paying attention you will drive right by this large 150 ft deep badlands canyon of colorful eroded rock formations. The canyon is quite unexpected and looks like something you would find in Utah rather than Wyoming. This is actually one of several badlands areas in the state, but is probably the most intricate and striking. The canyon can be viewed just off the road or you can walk around the area for a more complete viewing. There is no access to the bottom of the canyon, and access is not permitted.

Ayres Park and Natural Bridge

On my first serous excursion to Wyoming in 2007, the first stop was Ayres Park and Natural Bridge. This oasis on the plains is located in a red sandstone canyon and features a 50 ft high and 100 ft long natural bridge with a 90 ft wide x 20 ft high opening cut by LaPrele Creek. A short, steep hiking trail leads to the top of the natural bridge. The park is beautiful, green, and shady and provides an excellent place to have a picnic lunch. The park is located 5 miles south of I-25 about 17 mi west of Douglas, and is popular with Douglas residents.

Introduction

In the process of writing Wyoming Road Trip by the Mile Marker, I realized that my perception of Wyoming is much different than that of the general populace. Many people that I have talked to in the past couple of years seem to think that Wyoming is nothing more than prairie, antelope (technically called pronghorns), and wind. Some didn’t even know that Yellowstone National Park was in Wyoming.

So, it is clear that I have several purposes for creating this blog: to create interest by demonstrating the beauty and diversity of the state; to help make my book known to the public; and to generate conversation to improve the book.

Going forward, I will be describing various attractions and experiences from my many weeks of traveling Wyoming while performing research for the book. Before that, though, it is important to realize what makes Wyoming special. For me, the state is wide open, with a total population of just over half a million. By comparison, Denver County, in my home state of Colorado, has a population larger than that, and Colorado has a population of over 5 million. Both states have the Rocky Mountains running through them, but the difference is that in Colorado it is difficult to find mountain locations that are not full of people. Wyoming is different in that there are few expensive resort towns in their mountains, and there is not a huge population base looking for mountain getaways each weekend.

Add onto this Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and the historic emigrant trails from the 19th century, and you have a state that merits weeks of exploration if you know where to look.