We love visiting hot springs! We decided to drive over to Saratoga, Wyoming to enjoy the Saratoga Hobo Hot Springs. These hot spring pools are free and open 24 hours a day 365 days a year! Since we were visiting in the summer, it was nice to get up really early and go to the hot springs while the air was still chilly.
The hot spring pools are behind the city swimming pool. You enter this building for the regular swimming pool but if you walk to the right (or left) and go around the building you will find the hot spring pools:
I can see the steam and I can smell the mineral water:
This is the main pool and within this hot spring pool is what they call the “lobster pot.” There are rocks around that area where the spring water enters the pool. I only saw one man get into the lobster pot. It was too hot for us!
You can see the lobster pot a little better in this photo – it is between the two sets of stairs:
This is the smaller pool behind the main pool:
A small creek that leads to the North Platte River is right behind the smaller pool so you can quickly run to the creek and get into the ice cold water and run back and get into the hot spring pool.
The small pool with the main pool behind it:
The city runs the hot spring pools and they come daily to check and post the temperatures. On the dates we were visiting, the small pool ran at around 102 and the main pool was around 104. But one day the temperatures were unusually high:
We tried visiting a few times in the afternoon and evening but these pools were just too hot to enjoy on a hot summer day. I’m sure in the winter these hot spring pools are amazing! I have a feeling we will be coming back in the winter to check them out. These pools were the most natural hot spring pools we’ve tried. The floor was sand – a dark sand. And the built in seating and walls were covered in a slick green film. There was some green floating in the water, too. It didn’t feel gross (to us!) but it was definitely all natural!
The mornings were usually very quiet and we only saw 4-6 other people if we saw anyone at all. When we stopped by in the evenings it was usually busier with anywhere from 10-20 people in both pools. We heard from some locals that kids like to bring food like eggs and crawfish to throw in the lobster pot for fun!