Why are there so many thermal wonders in the western United States? Look to the mountains. Of the country’s 1,661 natural hot springs, more than a thousand of them have bubbled up near fault lines out west—many found among Wyoming’s 109 mountain ranges, from the Tetons to the Bighorns, the Snowys to the Sierra Madres.
For hundreds of years, the region’s Indigenous tribes, including the Cheyenne, Ute, and Arapaho, have soaked in mineral-rich thermal springs for warmth and healing. By the time Wyoming’s resort towns were established in the mid-1800s during a gold rush, hot springs were filling up with pioneers heading west and others looking to heal their tired bodies after a long, hard day of mining.
“There’s a certain rustic wildness to the hot springs in the American West and a rowdiness, too,” says photographer Greta Rybus, author of the 2024 book Hot Springs. The springs were already a tourist hot spot when, in 1872, Congress designated Yellowstone the first national park—smack on top of a volcano still boasting the world’s greatest concentration (more than 10,000) of hydrothermal features. Yellowstone’s thermal features are far too (dangerously) hot for bathing (no swimming allowed), but they’ve led to breakthroughs in medicine and forensics and become a source of energy to heat buildings and fish hatcheries.
Today, with the growing focus in healthcare on natural remedies and prevention, an explosion of evidence-based wellness—linking bathing to benefits from improved circulation to pain relief and stress reduction—has helped lead us to this resurgence of thermal mineral pools and spa resorts. The global thermal springs tourism market, which hit $57 billion in 2024, is projected to more than double to reach $130 billion by 2030. It’s indicative of trends observed by the Global Wellness Institute, especially among younger generations, who look to connect with each other, understand Indigenous history, and pursue new and inexpensive ways to heal.
Among them is Rybus, whose book documents her 18 months spent exploring 23 hot springs around the world, starting in the American West.
“My ancestors, who settled in Montana in the 1860s, journeyed on horseback into Yellowstone around the time the park was established,” says Rybus, who’s from Idaho originally. “I have copies of their journal entries in which they chronicle their wonder and fear at the raw power of the region’s geysers, fumaroles, hot pots, and thermal pools.”
Starting on a drive from her home in Maine across the country in 2021, Rybus made Wyoming the first stop for her project—and for good reason. “I am still amazed at the extreme diversity of hot springs,” she says. “They range from simple, silt- or sand-bottomed puddles to [others] resembling a municipal swimming pool.” Here are six of Wyoming’s natural wonders to bookmark for your next trip:
Granite Hot Springs redefines “pool with a view.”
Photo by melissamn/Shutterstock
Granite Hot Springs
Along Granite Creek, 30 miles southeast of Jackson, a long dirt road will lead you to Granite Hot Springs. This harder-to-access scenic gem in the middle of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Its concrete hot spring pool can fit up to 80 people and is open for limited hours (the fee is $12, cash or check). A short walk away, if you’re willing to wade through the river, you’ll see where the opening sequence of the 1992 classic A River Runs Through It was filmed. This spot, Granite Creek Falls, has small natural hot springs of its own, while a longer hike reveals a wildflower meadow.
There’s nothing like watching the early snow dust settle on the peaks here, says Taylor Phillips, owner of Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures, which takes small groups on sustainable wildlife tours in the area. “I love Granite both in summer and winter, but my favorite time to visit is fall when most visitors have gone home,” Phillips says.
Astoria Hot Springs
After a day of hiking or skiing in Jackson, drive 20 minutes south, crossing the historic red bridge over the Snake River to the end of Hoback Canyon. You’ll find yourself standing before six secluded soaking pools amid 100 acres of wildlife habitat, wetlands, and walking trails, also within the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Astoria Hot Springs’ mineral-rich, temperature-controlled thermal pools are family friendly—now with new cold plunge contrast therapy for good measure. The Astoria Park Conservancy, which owns and manages these hot springs year-round, is in the midst of a park expansion, an effort supported by the hot springs entrance fee ($26 for adults by online reservation). Still craving relaxation after soaking? Sign up for one of the park’s meditation or wellness classes, or head back to Jackson’s Rusty Parrot Lodge and end the day with the natural “Grounding Path” detox scrub and clay body wrap before a full-body massage.
Hot Springs State Park
Where the Wind River and the Bighorn River meet in northwest Wyoming, you’ll find Thermopolis (Greek for “hot city”): home to Hot Springs State Park and within it, Big Spring, often called the world’s largest mineral hot springs. This free park, with more than six miles of hiking trails, was established in 1937 to protect the prized spring water, which contains 27 different minerals.
Today, the park offers two commercial pools and a parks-run bathhouse, plus a family-fun center, Star Plunge (temporarily closed). Visitors who linger in fall or winter may spot park rangers feeding bison that roam the perimeter of the park. Thinking of visiting this summer? Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative is hosting a tour on June 14 for the town’s annual Trailblazer Days historical celebration to catch visitors up to speed on restoring the buffalo population. Elsewhere in Thermopolis, you can learn about dinosaur bones discovered in 1993 at a ranch that’s now the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.
That’s one Big Spring: A footbridge crosses the aptly named hot springs.
Photo by melissamn/Shutterstock
Hobo Hot Springs
In south-central Wyoming, the town of Saratoga (population: 1,727) runs a free public bathhouse with two mineral-spring pools: Lobster Pot and Hobo Pool, the latter said to be named for travelers coming through town riding the bygone Saratoga and Encampment Valley Railroad. Once a neutral ground shared by many tribal nations and used for healing purposes, the site was later renamed after the mineral-rich springs of Saratoga, New York, and visited by explorers, trappers, and fur traders looking for respite. Set between the Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges, where springs flow into the North Platte River, this spot is perfect for wading. (Saratoga also doubles as an ideal spot for fly fishing, designated a “Blue Ribbon” stream with more than 600 pounds of trout per mile.) Entry into Hobo Hot Springs is free, although donations are welcome. Make a weekend out of it and drive the 20 minutes to check in to luxurious Brush Creek Ranch, which also offers guests free access to the private pools at Saratoga Hot Springs Resort in town.
Saratoga Hot Springs Resort
If it’s privacy you’re after, check into this spa hotel in Saratoga to relish its 70-foot outdoor hot springs pool and five smaller, tepee-covered soaking tubs. Top the day off with extra pampering at the Healing Waters Spa, housed on the property in its original 1902 spa building. After soaking, the resort provides the chance to unwind on site, perhaps by lounging in the biergarten at Snowy Mountain Brewery—one of Wyoming’s oldest—or playing half a round on the public golf course.
Grand Prismatic Spring
Not all hot springs are for soaking. Just gazing down from a boardwalk at the bands of orange, yellow, and green around the boiling blue bull’s-eye of Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring is therapeutic. This natural beauty in the state’s northwest corner—the largest hot spring in the USA and third-largest in the world—plummets 160 feet into the earth, heated to temperatures too extreme for bathing by a cauldron of magma within the 30 x 45 mile super-volcano boiling below the park. Parking is limited, so arrive early (staying nearby at Mammoth Hot Springs or Old Faithful Snow Lodge) or visit in the winter or shoulder season (October or April) to bypass the crowds.
This article was originally published in 2024 and most recently updated on April 7, 2026, with current information.
