Free & Cheap Things to Do in Thermopolis

Parks & Nature

Wyoming's first state park — and its only free one — is built around one of the world's largest mineral hot springs, which pours more than 18,000 gallons a day at 135°F over vivid travertine terraces above the Bighorn River. A free public bath house, a roaming bison herd, a swinging bridge, and the bubbling Tepee Fountain round it out.

Address: 220 Park St, Thermopolis, WY 82443

Tip: No entrance fee — Wyoming's only free state park. Walk the boardwalk over the Rainbow Terraces, cross the swinging suspension bridge, and drive the loop to see the free-roaming bison herd. The quirky cone-shaped Tepee Fountain has been crusting over with minerals since 1909. Free parking throughout.

Outdoors

Inside Hot Springs State Park, the State Bath House lets anyone soak for free in mineral water piped from the Big Spring and cooled to a therapeutic 104°F, indoors and out. It's a genuine free public hot-spring soak — a rarity anywhere in the country — staffed by attendants who can lend you a suit and towel.

Address: 538 N Park St, Thermopolis, WY 82443

Tip: Always free; soaks are limited to 20 minutes by long-standing rule. Open Monday–Saturday 8 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Sunday noon–5:30 p.m. (closed major winter holidays). Swimsuits and towels can be borrowed at no charge. Arrive early on summer weekends — it's popular and the pools are modestly sized.

Museums & Galleries

One of the few museums in the world sitting on its own active dig sites, the Wyoming Dinosaur Center displays more than 50 mounted skeletons — including a full Supersaurus and an original Archaeopteryx cast — then drives you out to the 'Something Interesting' quarry, where roughly 1,300 bones have come out of 1,350 square feet of rock.

Address: 110 Carter Ranch Rd, Thermopolis, WY 82443

Tip: Museum admission is $12 adults / $10 kids and seniors; Thermopolis residents pay $2 with ID. Add the guided Dino DeTour to the active dig site for a few dollars more (about $14.50 combined). 'Dig for a Day' programs let you excavate real fossils. Open daily; hours shrink in winter.

History & Culture

A surprisingly deep small-town museum spanning the Bighorn Basin's story — the original cherrywood bar from the Hole-in-the-Wall saloon where Butch Cassidy drank, a 1920s petroleum exhibit, agricultural and Native American galleries, and a street of historic storefronts.

Address: 700 Broadway St, Thermopolis, WY 82443

Tip: Admission $10 adults / $5 children (5-12); under 5 and veterans free. Open Tuesday–Friday 10 a.m.–3 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.–4 p.m. (shorter winter hours). Ask at the desk about the outlaw-bar story — it's the museum's most-photographed piece. Allow an hour or more.

Historic Sites

About 30 miles northwest of town, a half-mile sandstone cliff holds nearly 300 Dinwoody-tradition petroglyphs — spirit figures, animals, and hunters pecked into the rock over thousands of years. A boardwalk runs the base of the panels, and it's one of the most significant rock-art sites in the Rockies.

Address: Hamilton Dome Rd, Thermopolis, WY 82443

Tip: Free to visit; bring a photo ID. From October to April you need a free key and permit, available at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, the State Bath House, or the county museum. The last few miles are gravel — fine for most cars in dry weather. No services on site, so carry water.

Scenic Drives

Just south of Thermopolis, US-20 threads a 34-mile gorge where canyon walls climb 2,500 feet and roadside signs name each rock layer as you descend through hundreds of millions of years of geology. The Wind River roars alongside, churning through Class III–IV rapids past Boysen Reservoir.

Address: US-20/WY-789, Wind River Canyon, WY 82443

Tip: The drive itself is free and takes about 40 minutes one way without stops. Pull-offs let you read the geology signs and watch for bighorn sheep on the cliffs. The road passes through the Wind River Indian Reservation. Outfitters in town run whitewater raft trips through the canyon in summer.

Family Fun

The liveliest of Thermopolis's mineral pools, this family hot-springs waterpark inside the state park stacks two big geothermal pools, three hot-spring waterslides, a 10-foot high dive, and a steamy vapor cave — all fed by the same 135°F spring, then cooled to swimmable temperatures.

Address: 115 Big Springs Dr, Thermopolis, WY 82443

Tip: All-day admission is $15.50 (ages 5-64), $12.50 seniors, $7 young children. Open year-round daily 9 a.m.–9 p.m. The outdoor 'Star Bath' and the vapor cave are the signatures. Bring water shoes and your own towel to save a rental. Cash-friendly; it's an old-school operation.

Outdoors

At the southern mouth of Wind River Canyon, Boysen Reservoir spreads 20,000 acres of open water against high-desert bluffs — a local favorite for boating, walleye fishing, and sandy-beach swimming, with first-come campgrounds ringing the shore. A scenic, low-cost outdoor day a short drive from the hot springs.

Address: Boysen State Park, Shoshoni, WY 82649

Tip: Day-use is $7/vehicle for Wyoming residents and $12 out-of-state. The reservoir anchors the south end of the Wind River Canyon drive, so it pairs naturally with that trip. Brisk winds are common — check conditions before launching a boat. Several free, no-frills campgrounds line the water.