Day 9: Thermopolis, WY

Props to Mrs. Armless Bear for recommending Thermopolis as a destination when J and I were discussing how to best heal up. Neither one of us wanted to climb another mountain.

While J was in the shower, she saw I was online and suggested a bunch of things to do while in WY, Thermopolis being one of them. I knew about it because my guidebook had said it is the largest mineral hot spring in the world, so that is why I took her suggestion.

But as we filled up the car at the "Kum and Go" (what a horrible name), I saw a pamphlet for whitewater rafting in Thermopolis. I suggested it to J and off we went.

Along the way, I got to drive Hwy 16 from Buffalo to Tensleep (up to 9946 ft.), go down a pretty (terrifying) mountain road, and saw some pretty Wyoming scenery. This side of the state is a lot more arid, with oil fields and lots of sagebrush.

(Speaking of sagebrush, it grows wild out here and I'm currently trying to destink my feet with a sprig I picked off of a nearby hill. My feet are pretty funky.)

The campsite we rented is just down the road from the Wind River Whitewater Rafting company. They took us about 8 miles upriver into sacred lands the Native Americans traded for the hot springs of Thermopolis, and we got in. As the lands are sacred, there is no development or hiking or anything on them. The Whitewater Rafting people have a compact to do this. It is owned by a tribe member.

The canyon that the Wind River runs through juts up high on both sides, but the guide told us that the dam up stream was trying to fill their reservoir, and the water height was low. The trip was several small class 2 rapids, a couple of 3's, and a 4, although J, who has been on another whitewater rafting didn't think the 4 warranted the rating.

I didn't care and I enjoyed myself immensely. It was all new and thrilling to me.

The canyon has a railroad track running through it and you can see where there was a hut built by Chinese day laborers building the railroad. And you can see caves in the rocks, and rocky precipices. Bighorn sheep were reintroduced to the region and I kept scanning the shores for them. (I didn't see anything....)

We did see a pair of seagulls fighting over a small fish, which was pretty entertaining and some strange looking ducks that J tells me I've probably seen in Wisconsin, even though I don't remember that.

At one point, the guide suggested that we jump off and go for a swim, and we did, floating down the river in our life jackets during a pretty calm time. When they tried to pull me back into the raft afterwards, my life jacket almost went completely over my head.

It was kind of expensive, but how often do you get a chance to do something like that? Totally worth it.

Tomorrow? Doing the Hot Springs, the Dinosaur Museum and traveling to Cody, WY. I'll blog if I can get free wifi. Not sure about pictures...camera battery is running low.

Labels: vacation, wyoming

  ¶ 8:56 PM