Native Americans have known the benefits of mineral hot springs for thousands of years. They named this area of Wyoming — now the tiny town of Saratoga, just three hours from Denver — the “place of magic waters.” Centuries later, pioneers, and then traveling itinerant workers during the Depression, would stop to soak their aching feet and clean up.
Thus, the ignominious name Hobo Hot Springs. Today, these pools are free and open 24 hours a day with the Saratoga Hot Pool water temperature ranging from 101 to 110 degrees. “We go and soak and then jump in the freezing (North Platte) river and keep doing that,” said Sean Hightower, working as a wrangler at the nearby Medicine Bow Lodge & Adventure Guest Ranch .
Before white settlers moved to southern Wyoming in the late 19th century, the land around the natural hot springs was neutral ground between Native American tribes who frequented this area for the healing waters. Nearby, Saratoga Hot Springs Resort, just 50 rooms, first opened some 145 years ago as a log store and today is considered the state’s premier mineral hot springs. “I think it is one of the best hot springs destinations,” said one visitor from Denver, who has visited m any hot spring s in Colorado and elsewhere.
Besides the large pool, there are individual teepees over smaller pools for soaking, as well as a spa. The hotel was first built in 1884 but after it burned down, the state of Wyoming established the Saratoga Hot Springs State Reserve (50.