Wyoming
Go somewhere new this summer with these hidden Wyoming gems – WyoFile
Most Wyomingites have soaked in the Thermopolis hot springs and have likely camped, fished or biked at Glendo State Park.
But how many of us have visited Names Hill Historic Site near LaBarge or stopped to look at the Ames Monument at the highest point on the original transcontinental railroad route?
Chances are, not many of us. In fact, most of us likely visit the same places year after year, returning to our favorite campsites at our favorite state parks, national forests or reservoirs.
But just as the national park system offers far more than Yellowstone and Yosemite, Wyoming’s state parks supply some pretty remarkable hidden gems, including 12 parks and more than 20 historic sites. Each is steeped in history and adventure, culture and beauty. And as the national parks face a summer with diminished capacity in the face of federal workforce cuts, consider spending these hot months visiting Wyoming’s overlooked sites.
To help you on your journey, WyoFile talked with Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites Director Dave Glenn about his top five overlooked state gems.
Seminoe State Park: Solitude with a side of fishing
“It takes quite a bit of work to get there,” says Glenn about Seminoe State Park. “Which means you can always get a site.”
He’s not exaggerating. Nestled against the Seminoe Mountains, the park sits about 35 miles north of Sinclair off Interstate 80 in southern Wyoming.
The park boasts a reservoir full of trout and walleye with nearby sand dunes perfect for exploring. It also provides easy access to the Miracle Mile section of the North Platte River for anyone interested in floating or wade fishing.
But for Glenn, solitude is the real draw.
“There just aren’t a lot of people there,” he says. “You can wander around the nearby wilderness study area or watch bighorn sheep.”
Bring binoculars for a chance to see hawks and eagles along with migratory birds, ducks, pelicans and geese. Go for the day or stay the night. You likely won’t need a reservation.
Medicine Lodge Archeological Site: Thousands of years of history

Tucked into the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming rests an archeological site with 10,000 years of stories. And learning about those stories became easier with the site’s new interpretive center, Glenn says.
“It’s really one of a kind,” he says. “You walk from season to season and through time, including interviews with tribal members.”
The Medicine Lodge Archeological Site includes a 750-foot-long sandstone cliff with hundreds of petroglyphs and pictographs.
The area also offers a campground in iconic red rock country, a cottonwood river bottom and a creek running through. Fish from your campsite or bring your horses and leave them in the corrals when you’re not riding.
“It’s a great mix of outdoor recreation with past human history.”
Piedmont Charcoal Kilns: Perfectly preserved heritage
Glenn will take just about any excuse to veer off Interstate 80 while traveling across the bottom of the state. And in the southwest corner, that reason is the Piedmont Charcoal Kilns.
The 30-foot-tall cones look like beehives rising from the prairie. They were built in 1869, and used wood gathered in the Uinta Mountains to produce charcoal shipped to Utah. While charcoal kilns exist in other areas, the Piedmont site is one of the country’s most intact and preserved.

“For years, I’d driven by and never stopped to see them,” Glenn says. Once he did, he realized they were more than worth the stop, available to the public to view, explore and learn more about for free.
Wyoming Territorial Prison: See where Butch Cassidy did time
On Laramie’s western edge sits one of the state’s oldest buildings: The Wyoming Territorial Prison. You won’t miss it if you drive by. “It looks like an old prison,” Glenn says.
While the architecture is impressive, as are the surrounding old West buildings — including a church, a mercantile and cabins — the real intrigue rests inside.
Cells fill the inside of the prison, including ones you can walk into and imagine what life was like in a territorial prison. Large plaques hang on the walls featuring headshots of inmates with their backstories, including tales of murder and mayhem, shootouts and cattle rustling.

The prison also contains a small museum dedicated to Butch Cassidy’s story including artifacts from his life.
“It’s a powerful piece of Wyoming history,” Glenn says.
Oregon Trail Ruts: Retrace a journey
Imagine what pioneers must have felt as they traveled through Wyoming’s harsh, high desert landscape on their way west. They hit blizzards and thunderstorms, crossed raging rivers and tangled with rattlesnakes and bears.
And in eastern Wyoming, right outside Guernsey State Park, you can see where those wagons coursed across the landscape. Ruts sometimes up to five feet deep cut through soft sandstone, visible a short walk from the site’s parking lot.

“You look at that sandstone, and go ‘holy cow, how many horses and wagons had to go over this to create grooves that deep?’” says Glenn.
The site has a picnic shelter and restroom. Anyone interested in camping in the area can head over to Guernsey State Park.
Wyoming
6 Colorado, Wyoming hot springs worth the drive this winter
Things to do in Fort Collins during winter break
Need to entertain your brood during the winter break from school? Here are 5 things to do in Fort Collins.
Weary of winter already?
Kick back in one of the many natural hot tubs our area has to offer.
Colorado and Wyoming are sprinkled with natural hot springs, with various resorts each offering something different — think untouched natural scenery, tropical plant-laden atriums and cold riverside plunge pools.
Virtually dip your toes in with this list and see if any stick out to you for a future winter getaway.
Hot springs to visit in Colorado, Wyoming
Strawberry Park Hot Springs
Where: 44200 County Road 36, Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Need to relax? Head to Strawberry Park Hot Springs where you’ll find thermal mineral water pools surrounded by Steamboat Springs’ natural beauty.
The pools are open to both its day visitors — admission costs $20 per person for a two-hour reservation — and overnight lodgers. It also offers up massage options and aqua therapy in private pools.
Located about 165 miles from Fort Collins, Strawberry Park Hot Springs is a roughly 3.5-hour drive away. From Nov. 1 through May 1, four-wheel drive with snow tires or chains are required to get to the hot springs. To avoid tough road conditions, Strawberry Park encourages contacting its shuttle partners to schedule drop off and pick up.
Pets, outside food, glass, alcohol and smoking are prohibited.
Minors are not permitted after dark, and clothing is optional after dark.
Hot Sulphur Springs
Where: 5609 Spring Road, Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado
Soak your worries away at Hot Sulphur Springs Resort & Spa. The resort — once used as a winter campground for Native Americans — is now home to 20 manmade pools supplied by a handful of natural hot springs that flow through the resort and into the Colorado River, according to its website. Located about 130 miles away, the springs are a roughly 3-hour drive from Fort Collins.
Its pools — which run from 98 to 112 degrees — are open yearround and welcome walk-ins. Adult day passes cost $30, senior day passes cost $23 and children’s passes (ages 4-11) cost $16. Towels and robes are also available for rent.
Pets (except trained service animals), outside food, glass containers, alcohol, smoking and vaping are prohibited.
Indian Hot Springs
Where: 302 Soda Creek Road, Idaho Springs, Colorado
Located the closest to Fort Collins on this list, Indian Hot Springs is a quick two-hour jaunt down Interstates 25 and 70. Once there, you’ll find a large indoor mineral water swimming pool and tropical plant-strewn atrium as well as private baths, outdoor tubs and geothermal caves.
Regular admission to the indoor swimming pool costs $30 per person Monday through Thursday and $35 per person Friday through Sunday. Caves are open to visitors 18 years old and older and can be accessed for $35 per person Monday through Thursday and $40 per person Friday through Sunday. Prices are different when “summit pricing” is in effect. Check the calendar on the Indian Hot Springs website for those dates.
Private baths and outdoor tubs can be reserved for varying rates. For more information, or to make a reservation, visit the Indian Hot Springs website.
Glenwood Hot Springs Resort
Where: 415 E. 6th St., Glenwood Springs, Colorado
At more than 200 miles away, Glenwood Springs is a bit of a hike — but that hike comes with beautiful scenery and, of course, hot springs. Try its Glenwood Hot Springs Resort, a fixture since 1888 that offers up a collection of hot springs pools, including its historic Grand Pool, an athletic club and other amenities.
Day passes range from $38 to $55 for adults and teenagers and $27 to $34 for children, with pricing varying based on off-peak and peak times. Reservations are not required. For more information, visit the resort website.
The Springs Resort
Where: 323 Hot Springs Blvd., Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Located more than 300 miles away in Pagosa Springs, The Springs Resort is a worthy weekend trip contender instead of a day drive. But despite its distance, it has plenty to offer — more than 50 hot springs pools, cold river plunges, a waterfall, steam grotto and more.
You can either stay at its resort or reserve a day pass to visit its pools, with general admission passes costing $69 for adults and $37 for children ages 3-12. For more information, or to make a reservation, visit the resort website.
Hot Springs State Park
Where: 51 US Highway 20 North, Thermopolis, Wyoming
Colorado can’t have all the fun. While located quite a ways away — 350 miles from Fort Collins — Wyoming has some impressive natural hot springs of its own in Thermopolis’ Hot Springs State Park. There are three soaking pools and a free and open-to-the-public Wyoming State Bath House. The bath house is open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12-5:30 p.m. Sundays in the winter. For more information, call 307-864-2176.
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Wyoming
Cowgirls play at Minnesota on Sunday
LARAMIE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Cowgirls will return to action Sunday with their final non-conference game of the season when they travel to face Big Ten foe Minnesota on Sunday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
Wyoming is coming off a 58-46 loss at Colorado on Dec. 7. Malene Pedersen and Henna Sandvik led the Cowgirls with 11 points each in the loss, while Kelly Walsh High School grad Logann Alvar also finished in double figures, with 10 points.
Madi Symons had a solid all-around game, grabbing a team-high five rebounds while also leading the way with four assists and blocking a pair of shots.
The Cowgirls recorded 12 assists on 18 made baskets against the Buffs and have assisted on better than 65% of their made field goals this season. Wyoming is averaging 14 assists per game in 2025-26, good for fourth in the Mountain West.
Defensively, UW has been solid all season long. The Cowgirls enter Sunday ranking third in the league in opponent scoring, surrendering 57 points per game. Wyoming also allows just 38.6-percent shooting from the field overall and 24.8-percent from 3-point range. Both marks rank third-best in the conference.
Although she missed her first free throw of the season in the loss, Pedersen is still shooting 94% at the line. She is also shooting just under 55% from 3-point range this season, a mark that ranks third in the country.
Entering the week, Pedersen was the only Division 1 player in out of 466 qualified athletes who was shooting 90% or better from the free throw line and better than 50% from 3-point range. On the season, Pedersen is second in the MW with 17.1 points per game and shooting 52.5-percent from the floor. Her 2.13 3-pointers made per game are sixth in the league.
Through eight games this season, Alvar and Sandvik average 8.3 and 8.0 points per game, respectively.
Payton Muma leads the team with 23 assists and 13 steals. Symons, meanwhile, leads Wyoming averaging 4.5 rebounds per game while Lana Beslic’s 4.4 boards per game and 19 assists are both second on the squad.
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Wyoming
Opinion | Gratitude and hope for Wyoming
This month, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, is a fitting time for reflection. Our focus turns toward family and community, and the changing weather causes us to slow down. It is a good time to take stock of the society around us. The Thanksgiving holiday naturally turns our minds to what we are grateful for — what already exists that we cherish. Christmas is a holiday of hope, focused on the promise of what is yet to come. With these holidays in mind, let us reflect on what parts of our state we are thankful for and hopeful about.
Perhaps the thing Wyomingites hold most dear is our heritage. Culturally, we are descended from pioneers and settlers — or from those who came before — and we take that frontier heritage to heart. We value independence, community and overcoming challenges. We are willing to endure hardship to build a life that we want, and we are closely attuned to the natural world and the benefits that it provides. Above all else, we know that our perch in this place is still precarious. These are perspectives that are hard to find elsewhere. They set us apart. By embracing these values, we create a society that fits our circumstances. These ideas would not fit in other places, but they fit here, and for that I am grateful.
I am also thankful for the good stewardship of our forefathers. Wyoming is a harsh place and it’s challenging to thrive here. Most of our land is arid and inhospitable, our physical conditions are difficult, and we are remote from most modern conveniences and luxuries. With poor planning or shortsighted leadership, this place could easily fall into decline.
Fortunately, we have been blessed with the opposite. The state’s early settlers understood the importance of building the infrastructure that would allow for growth. When it became clear that natural resources would power our economy, our leaders decided to set aside large portions of the state’s mineral revenue to support us in perpetuity. The easy decision — the short-sighted decision — would have been to spend those dollars on the needs of the day. They certainly could have built some nice things, and those projects would have been popular. They also would have been fleeting. Because of wise leadership and decisions that focused on the long-term, we all benefit from our state’s bounty.
Just as we are grateful for the good decisions of the past, we should be hopeful for the future. Despite our state’s challenges, there are many good reasons to have hope. First, our state is full of opportunity. We have space, natural resources, and the ability to be nimble when it comes to building regulatory structures that can support new industries. Our people are hard-working and determined. We have existing expertise in manufacturing and mining that is missing in many other parts of the country. Our climate and location give Wyoming an advantage in attracting computing facilities to locate here. If we take advantage of the opportunities in front of us, Wyoming is poised to thrive, and that gives me hope.
I am also hopeful because there appears to be a growing consensus on the issues we face, which allows us to better meet these challenges. In surveys and conversations about Wyoming’s future, the challenges of economic diversification and talent retention quickly rise to the top. We recognize where our weaknesses are, which is a significant part of the battle. Once we agree on the problem, we can work to find solutions.
Finding a fix is often an easier undertaking than identifying the problem itself. Already, drilling into these challenges has helped us recognize the underlying problems connected to affordable housing, livable spaces, health care access and education. Understanding how these fit together and how improvements in one area can lead to improvements in others puts us on a much more manageable path. It will still not be easy to overcome our hurdles, but the fact that we must wrestle with difficult problems is not unusual or unique. We have answered big questions before. Now that we have a growing consensus on what those problems are, I am far more hopeful about our ability to move forward.
In this holiday season, we should take the time to contemplate the world around us. Self-reflection is important. We should look both behind us and ahead of us, toward the past and gratitude and the future and hope. Our state gives us plenty to consider on both accounts.
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