Shoshone Hot Springs
Shoshone Hot Springs comes up beside the North Fork Highway at Buffalo Bill Reservoir State Park, a few miles from Cody. The water is soaking warm, about body temperature, with a heavy mineral load. Open access on state park ground. Of the two thermal springs on this reservoir, this is the warmer, though neither is a hot bath.
Right at the highway shoulder, under sixty feet from traffic, on the shore of the reservoir west of town. State park land. The basin here is dry, with a moderate snow year and an annual mean in the low forties. Elevation is modest for Wyoming. The Park Service is not involved; this is a Wyoming state park.
Reachable by car year round when the highway is open. December through February are the months listed as best. Hogan and Luce Campground is about twenty miles away. The chemistry sample is from 1970 and shared with Needle Hot Springs, so treat the numbers as historical. State park fees may apply.
The USGS site tied to this spring is the same one attached to Needle Hot Springs, a 1970 record that covers both.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Shoshone Hot Springs.
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 442 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southwest
A slice through the ground from north to south, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's close to the US average of 65. It's higher than at 2% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
The water at Shoshone Hot Springs is neutral (pH 7.0) with 1400 mg/L total dissolved solids. It is notably rich in calcium (may support bone density and joint health), magnesium (known for muscle relaxation and stress relief), and sulfate (traditionally used for skin conditions and inflammation).
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The Hogan and Luce Campground has five individual camp sites and one group site. It is located near two reservoirs. The campground next to the Hogan Reservoir has picnic tables, toilet facilities, bear-proof food storage boxes, grills/fire rings, horse trailer parking, horse stanchions, a boat ramp and hitching rails.
Shoshone Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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