On my way out of Riverton, and on to my next stop of Sheridan, WY, I stopped in Thermopolis at the Hot Springs State Park. Apparently, there are quite a few hot springs on this side of the Mississippi. I felt I needed to make it to at least one. I found this state park when I decided not to go to the hot springs I had found in SD. The weather on this trip has really not made me want to soak in 104* pools when the temperature outside has nearly been that high itself.
I decided to give myself the best experience, I had to get there as early as I could. My goal was to wake up early (ish), pack up and get on the road so I could be there before the temperature reached 90* outside. When I arrived at the state park, I was immediately met with the overwhelming smell of rotten eggs. I wonder if the people who live near hot springs don't mind the smell. The bath house allowed a free 20 minute soak which was fine by me as I realized that's about my time limit for tolerating the strong sulphur smell. They also informed me that they no longer have swimsuits people can borrow.: it's a BYOSS place. Maybe I'm ridiculous but never in a million years would I borrow a bathing suit that has been borrowed (and hopefully washed) by countless strangers. Um, no thanks - I would rather sit that one out.
Luckily, I did have my own bathing suit (I did not let anyone else borrow it either). The combination of the 104* water and the sulphur made the 20 minutes seem a little long, but the shaded pool was a nice touch. I got out, showered and changed. I was planning on hiking some areas of the park but the sun was getting progressively higher and made hiking less appealing as there was little to no shade. I did a casual stroll along their mineral hot springs terrace before hopping in the car and driving the main roads of the park. The hot springs pool attendant, who no longer gives out bathing suits, told me they have their own buffalo.
As I drove the park, I came across the park's buffalo herd journeying to a nearby waterhole. What a sight to stumble upon! These massive, oddly shaped creatures meandered their way to the little pond. They all followed the same direction but they were not all in a line. Some grouped together maybe by family, some were singles. I was in my car when I saw this happening, they weren't very far from the road. I pulled over, rolled down my window and snapped a bunch of pictures. I didn't dare get out - I wanted to respect their bathing time When signal allows, I try to facetime Alex when I stumble upon some of life's great wonders. Sometimes it's buffalo and sometimes it's something I found in a store I thought he would like. What he must think when he sees me facetiming him.
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