You could take the freeway through Wyoming, or you could follow the road less traveled. We chose the latter.
In
the center of Wyoming, on the edge of the Shoshone Indian Reservation, is
the biggest hot spring in the world. The state of Wyoming bought the area
from the Shoshone's and made a state park out of it, complete with wooden
walkways, foot bridges, and free soaking
pools. The hot spring discharges 3.3 million gallons of water a day over
colorful travertine formations into the Big Horn River (or is it the Wind
River?). Now there's a story worth telling: It seems that mountain men exploring
this remote region from the south came across a water course and named it
the "Wind" River. Another group exploring from the north came across
a water course and named it the "Big Horn" River. Maps were in wide
circulation showing "both" rivers and fur trader rendezvous were
being scheduled accordingly. By the time someone connected the dots, it was
too late. We couldn't have Custer being wiped out on the "Little Wind"!
Their solution was to have the river just change names at an arbitrary point
called the "Wedding of the Waters".
It's certainly more interesting to see than the world's biggest ball of string!
We
spent two nights at a campground right on the river (the Big Horn). On the
grounds of our campground was the "third" biggest hot spring in
the world, pumping 1.3 million gallons a day through a swimming pool on its
way to the river. The water comes out of the ground at 130 degrees; too hot
for soaking. They utilize a front-end "settling"
pool to cool the water on its way to the "swimming"
pool. Warning signs notify you that you will be boiled alive if you jump
into the wrong pool. The volume of water passing through the pool system is
enough to change it out in less than a day, eliminating the need to chlorinate.
The water has so much lime in it that everything is coated with "cave
formation" deposits. A 6 foot tall travertine tower (see right margin)
has built up over the water source in less than 90 years.
A local sign provided valuable insight into a matter of political correctness. In the process of telling about the origins of the campground hot spring, it casually mentions the meaning of the name Sacajawea. We gave a fair amount of credence to this little factoid since the Shoshone reservation was less than 10 miles away. Where could you find a place more qualified to interpret a Shoshone name?
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