Contributed photo

Contributed photo

Travel Directions:
Thermopolis is on US-20, 32 miles north of Shoshoni and 34 miles south of Worland.

Remarks:
Thermopolis, once known to Native Americans as the “place of the smoking waters,” boasts the world’s largest complex of mineral springs. You can soak here amidst a wonderland of pools, mineral terraces, and bridges at Hot Springs State Park. (Free; bathing suit required.) Hiking among the mineral pools and formations is another fun option here.

A rancher monument in the downtown area of Thermopolis underscores the important relationship between the land and the people of this area. Note the associated display of livestock brands from area ranches.

Those anxious to view the ranges mentioned in Proulx’s “Catalogue Aria” of mountains visited by Ennis and Jack [1] can catch a glimpse of the Owl Creek Mountains by going 0.9 mile west from Thermopolis on WY-120. The Owl Creeks are on the left (south) side. (Reference: 43d 38m 45s, -108d 13m 47s)

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_River_Canyon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bighorn_River
http://www.wind-river.org/info/scenicbyways/windrivercanyon.php
http://www.thermopolis.com/
http://wyoparks.state.wy.us/Site/SiteInfo.asp?siteID=9

Important:
Do not leave valuables in a parked car. Consult a physician before using mineral springs; take appropriate precautions.

[1] “Years on years they worked their way through the high meadows and mountain drainages, horse-packing into the Big Horns, Medicine Bows, south end of the Gallatins, Absarokas, Granites, Owl Creeks, the Bridger-Teton Range, the Freezeouts and the Shirleys, Ferrises and the Rattlesnakes, Salt River Range, into the Wind Rivers over and again, the Sierra Madres, Gros Ventres, the Washakies, Laramies, but never returning to Brokeback.” Brokeback Mountain - Story to Screenplay by Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (Scribner) ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9416-4, page 17.