Thermopolis, WY

The Town of Hidden Treasures

From the stark red mesas containing layer upon layer of dinosaur bones to the world’s largest mineral hot springs bubbling from the base of the flat-topped hill, Thermopolis is a town of hidden treasures.

Located just north of the picturesque Wind River Canyon in central Wyoming, this community of 3,400 once survived almost entirely on its oil and gas production. Now 145 million-year-old fossils, the hot springs, and outdoor recreation in the Wind River Range fuel the economy.

The first clue to the gems of the single-stoplight town is a large, metal dinosaur sculpture facing the town square. A colorful mural of prehistoric creatures on a nearby building points the way to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, where amateur paleontologists can see and even help unearth ancient fossils.

“When you uncover something, you are the first ... to see it in 140 million years,” says Dave Trexler, staff paleontologist. “Something grabs you by the heart.”

Burkhard Pohl, founder and director of the Dinosaur Center, is a former veterinarian whose fossil-collecting hobby brought him from his home in Switzerland in 1982 to look for real estate with fossils. He found the Warm Springs Ranch.

“We started digging in 1993 and found pretty soon that we had a major find,” he says. The center, which opened July 1, 1995, is now a significant research center and a world-class museum.

The center contains full skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex, an Allosaurus, and a Triceratops. A display of a Camarasauras, the first full dinosaur skeleton discovered on the ranch, the site of the center’s digs, is under construction. More than 40 deposits of dinosaur remains have been identified and two are being worked actively.

“We won’t run out of dinosaurs to find for 150 or 200 years,” Pohl says.

Visitors can take the center bus up the winding road through the rugged terrain to simply view the dig sites, or learn how to dig and search for dinosaur remains. The programs both further the research efforts of the center—which is not supported by federal funds—and provide an unforgettable experience.

Nearby Hot Springs State Park is Wyoming’s busiest state park—with more than a quarter of a million tourists each year. A number of health centers—mostly for older residents who want to ease their aches and pains in the mineral springs—are located there.

“A lot of health care started just because of the mineral water—people coming to bathe in the hot water to help their arthritis,’’ says Toddi Darlington, executive director of the Thermopolis Chamber of Commerce.

A treaty signed in 1896 between the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes and the Wyoming state government first gave the public use of the mineral hot springs. The land was designated a state park in 1899. The Wyoming State Bath House, which provides a free soak in the mineral water, is flanked by two commercial hot springs pools: the Star Plunge mineral pool and the TePee Spa.

Hunters can find their share of antelope, elk, and deer in the Wind River Range, but some visitors to the area are impressed enough by just the wide open spaces—and they remind those who live there of the beauty around them.

“I had a tourist come in from Philadelphia and marvel at the sky—the miles of sky we can see here—and the stars at night” says JoAnn Gerber, the owner of The Storyteller, a small bookstore and coffee shop. “I think that a lot of the time we take that for granted.”

Mary Angell is a freelance writer in Cheyenne, Wyo.

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