Du Bois, Wyoming

Tonight we're about fifty miles form Grant Teton National Park, enjoying a beautiful river front campsite and also enjoying the last TV and internet we're likely to have for a while. Phone and intenet has been a challenge in this sparsely populated area.

In a rest stop this morning, a man who was playing with Doogie insisted that we needed to go to Thermopolis, a detour of 65 miles. He raved about the mineral baths there and was determined that we should go because we would enjoy it. Turns out he's a federal employee, working for the Bureau of Reclamation, and probably a geologist, at least from the way he was able to explain how you get and store water in those circular stone towers that are all over central Wyoming, when you capture natural gas. It also turns out that he was right. Thermopolis is a not-to-be-missed spot. It's located up Wind River Canyon, in Boysen State Park, past a reservoir, up and down colorful mountains, along a beautiful river and through one of the most beautiful canyons I have ever seen.

We veered off route 26 to the north toward a vividly colored mountain range. The first hills we encountered looked as if a giant dump truck had separated all the colors into piles. White calcium, red iron, and white sandstone, gray granite, all neatly separated. The landscape quickly changed to a high, narrow river canyon, striped with copper, white, brown and pink. We passed signs describing the rock: "Phosphoria FM - 225 million years", "Gallatin Cambria 500 million years", "Pre-Cambrian Granite - 600 million years". We also passed pristine river-front campsites along the sparkling blue Wind River.

Thermopolis has numerous mineral spas. Neither Steve nor I has ever had a mineral bath, and wanted to try a soak, but didn't know what to expect. The state of Wyoming has a facility where you can use the pools for free and rent suits and towels. You can stay 20 minutes in the 104 degree water, then you have to leave for 2 hours. As the day was hot and the sun merciless, 20 minutes was enough time for us. I hardly ever put on a bathing suit, and when I do pictures are never allowed, but this was such a unique experience that I wanted to document it. It felt great, but did you know that the primary mineral in a mineral bath is sulphur? Sulphur smells like eggs gone over. We should have rented suits and towels, because our towels now smell a little "over". But it was fun and well worth the detour.