Hot Springs State Park

Hot Springs State Park
Wyoming State Park
Country	United States
State	Wyoming
County	Hot Springs
City	Thermopolis
Elevation	4,363 ft (1,330 m)
Coordinates	43°39′17″N 108°11′55″W / 43.654722°N 108.198611°W / 43.654722; -108.198611Coordinates: 43°39′17″N 108°11′55″W / 43.654722°N 108.198611°W / 43.654722; -108.198611
Area	1,039 acres (420 ha)
Founded	1897 (as Big Horn Hot Springs State Reserve)
Management	Wyoming Division of State Parks and Historic Sites
IUCN category	V - Protected Landscape/Seascape
Location in Wyoming
Website: Hot Springs State Park

Hot Springs State Park is a state-owned, public recreation area in Thermopolis, Wyoming, known for its hot springs, which flow at a constant temperature of 135° Fahrenheit. The state park offers free bathing at the State Bath House, where temperatures are moderated to a therapeutic 104°F. The petroglyph site at Legend Rock, some 25 miles away, is also part of the park.

The land on which the state park sits was purchased from the Arapaho by the federal government in 1896, when Indian Inspector James McLaughlin negotiated a purchase price of $60,000 for a 100-square-mile portion of the Shoshone reservation. After a one-square-mile section of that land was released to the state in 1897, it became Wyoming's first state park, known at that time as Big Horn Hot Springs State Reserve.

The park features a managed herd of bison, a suspension foot bridge across the Big Horn River, picnic shelters, boat docks, flower gardens, and terraces made of naturally forming travertine (calcium carbonate) caused by a flowing mineral hot spring. The park encompasses commercial hotels and several state-run and privately operated entities including the Gottsche Rehabilitation Center, Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital, the historic Callaghan Apartments/Plaza Hotel, the Star Plunge waterpark, the Tepee Pools waterpark, and the Wyoming Pioneer Home, a state-run, assisted-living facility.

Travertine formation at Hot Springs State Park