(Riverton, WY) – A unique day trip is being offered in May by the Riverton Museum in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the historic Yellowstone Highway as a part of the museum’s Adventure Trek series.
This exclusive trip given by the Wind River Visitors Council and the Riverton Museum will take place on Sunday, May 19. The entire tour costs $25 and includes roundtrip (school) bus transportation to and from Thermopolis, a tour of the Hot Springs County Museum and Cultural Center, a visit to the Hot Springs State Park, a short dip in the famous Hot Springs (bring swimsuits), and a buffet lunch at the One-Eyed Buffalo.
“What folks can expect and experience on this tour is to have a lot of fun,” said Historian Jackie Dorothy of the Hot Springs County Museum, who will be the tour guide along the historic route to and from Shoshoni to Thermopolis.
Dorothy said that there would be “many stories and interesting facts” about the history of the highway and how it came about…stories of the tunnels, the railroad, the Wind River Reservation, the construction of Boysen Reservoir, outlaw hideouts, and even a brief gold rush that happened in Shoshoni.
“A lot of folks don’t know that, back in the day, it took 11 hours to go from Thermopolis to Shoshoni,” Dorothy said. “Folks would stop at the halfway point for lunch (7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. was the official schedule with the Birds Eye Halfway House)…but it eventually became a very tiresome journey to even prepare for…I’m sure that some people have stories of their own to share about it.”
Reservations are required for the tour. Participants will meet at the Riverton Museum at 9 a.m. for the bus. For more information and to sign up for the tour, call the Riverton Museum at 307-856-2665 or sign up online and pay to reserve your spot by going to the Riverton Museum’s event calendar and selecting “Yellowstone Highway Anniversary Adventure Trek” on the day of Sunday, May 19.
For more information and updates on this and more events and activities at the Riverton Museum, visit their Facebook page.
