Warm Springs Natural Bridges

This hyperlink will take you to the location of Warm Springs Natural Bridges: Google Maps

If you ask anyone living in Dubois how to find the underground geyser cave, or these natural bridges, they will be quite tight-lipped because locals do not like people from out of town snooping around in their beautiful back yard. In my opinion, Dubois is the most beautiful town in Wyoming. The red rocks remind me of Moab, which has always felt like home to me. I'd lived in Lander, only an hour from Dubois, for over 20 years and had never heard of the 2 natural bridges in Dubois. In fact, I didn't hear about the warm springs geyser cave until we'd lived in Lander for 15 years. These treasures have been kept secret by locals, and it's unfortunate because they are amazing places to visit! I had been to the underwater geyser a few times, and had looked briefly for the natural bridges after my friend Carol told me about them, but hadn't been able to find them. Then last night, my husband and I decided to spend some time exploring near the geyser cave until we found the natural bridges.

I haven't been able to find much online about these natural bridges, but I did find an article on Wyohistory.org about the Warm Springs Canyon tie flume that mentioned that two natural bridges. Up until that point, I thought there was only one natural bridge. This article clearly talks about two natural bridges, both with the Warm Springs Creek running through them. I was even more intrigued and determined to find these natural bridges! The article is here: Wyohistory.org

The article says that the flume was built above the natural bridge on the west and that it has been affected by falling trees and rocks. We knew that the two bridges had to be along the creek, and also along the log flume, which you can see running along the canyon at different places. We had noticed the log flume each time we'd visited the geyser lake. The article also says that the natural bridge on the east has both the log flume and the creek running through it and is 100 yards long. It says that inside the bridge are stalactite and stalagmites made of travertine deposits. The flume was completed in 1928 and its purpose was to carry railroad ties from the Wind River Mountains to Riverton. There are places that you can see the flume still quite in tact, although none of it is used anymore.

In an earlier visit, we had found what we believed to be the parking area for the trail to the natural bridge, although we didn't explore enough to find the trail. When we drove to Dubois last night, we turned left on Warm Springs Road. You will find this after driving almost all the way through Dubois (when coming from Lander). I don't believe there's a clear street sign, unfortunately, but if you put it in your google maps, it will probably tell you to turn right here (or at least mine did last night). Turn left instead. Here is a screenshot of google maps showing Warm Springs Road on the left. You will have just passed a Sinclair gas station on the right. You will go over a bridge soon after turning left.

Follow Warm Springs Road until it turns into a dirt road. At this point, turn right. Keep following the dirt road (a 4wd vehicle is probably necessary, although we did take our 15 passenger van on this road once. We had to get out and walk for 2 miles to the geyser, though, because the snow was too deep on the road) until the road forks and the side on the right goes over a cattle guard. Take the right, which will take you through a fence and towards the geyser.

going over the bridge at the beginning of the Warm Springs Road - you will drive past many houses as you wind through Warm Springs Road

view from the dirt road while heading towards the geyser

stay on the main trail

You will know you've reached the geyser when you see a ladder going over the fence. If you haven't visited the geyser cave, bring your swimsuit and some rope and take a stop there for a warm swim. Well, actually it's only luke warm, but it's definitely not cold - not even in winter. It is worth a visit if you haven't seen it yet. I'll write more about it at the bottom of this post. Continue on the road past where you hike down to the geyser and keep driving on the dirt road. There will be one part of the road that is rather difficult to navigate. Our Ford Expedition kept slipping on this part and it took a few tries before we could finally get over it. We reached the parking area soon after that and parked our car. You will know it when you reach the parking area - there is plenty of space for multiple cars.

This photo was taken through my dirty windshield, but this is where we parked our car to look for the trailhead to the bridges.

This is the view where we parked. There are beautiful cliffs that you can stand on and look at the valley and creek below.

There is our car parked in the parking area

This is our google maps pin of where we parked our car

Wear hiking shoes and hiking clothes, bring bear spray and water, and possibly rope. We had rope with us, but luckily someone had left their ropes and we used those to climb the final 1/3 of the hike down to the creek.

Looking down at the creek from the cliffs at the parking area, I wonder if where you can first see the creek is where it comes through on the other side of the natural bridge. I can't tell if the creek continues where the trees are or not.

The view is very beautiful up on the cliffs in the parking area. I suspect that many people stop to stand on the cliffs and take photos or enjoy the view, not even knowing that they are less than half a mile away from two natural bridges.

Standing in the parking area, where my husband is standing is the beginning of the trail. If you walk along the cliffs and along the edge of the parking area, you will see what is obviously a trail near the very edge of the parking area. This is the trailhead to the natural bridges.

My pictures don't give you a totally accurate view of how steep this trail is. It is less than a half mile each way, but it is straight down on the way there and straight up on the way back.

It is a very clear trail - you won't have a hard time following it. Sometimes I had to use tree branches for stability because I was afraid I'd slip on the loose rocks and slide down the trail.

Beautiful views from the trail

Even if you don't make it all the way down to the natural bridges, the views are gorgeous along the trail

About 2/3 of the way down the trail, there is an overlook where you can see one of the natural bridges down below.

If you follow the creek up to the center of this photo that is where the bridge is. The trees are covering the view of the bridge. We were standing on the other bridge when taking this photo.

Thankfully, someone had left ropes for people to use to get down the last 1/3 of the trail. I do not know how we would have gotten down, and more importantly, back up, without these ropes.

Hold onto the rope and lower yourself as if you are rappelling -- this was definitely the most terrifying part of the hike for me! If I wasn't absolutely determined to see the bridges, I would have turned around and hiked back up the mountain!

It is hard to understand from this photo how very steep this is. Using the rope to climb down felt very much like rappelling. There were a total of 4 different ropes during sections to help us down until the next tree had a new rope to utilize.

When you first reach the creek at the bottom of the very steep descent, you will only be able to see one of the natural bridges - the one on the right. If you look above it and to the right you can see the opening where the flume went through. There are still some pieces of the flume there. This is the natural bridge that we could not see the other side of. The Wyohistory article said that it is 100 yards long, so that would make sense why the other side is not visible from this point of view. I was also told by someone who's been inside it that you cannot just walk through it - swimming is required. The water was deep enough and we were running low on daylight, so we did not get close enough to see if we could make our way through the bridge or see light at the other end. This is the bridge that I wonder if the other side is visible from the parking area up above.

In this photo you can see the bridge on the right and the hole with the log flume above it and to the right. My husband is standing where the trail ends.

Once you wade into the creek, you can begin to see the other natural bridge, on the left. In order to get a good view of it, however, you have to wade through the creek quite a ways. It gets deeper right before the natural bridge, and we estimated that if we made it that far we would probably be chest-deep in the water. It was getting dark, so we didn't attempt it.

This is the first views of the bridge on the left

It's hard to tell from this distance, but the natural bridge (on the left) is in the center of this photo. Once you get closer to it by wading through the water, you begin to see the openings on the other side.

You can begin to see light through the bridge as you get closer. It is difficult to tell how deep the water is in the creek close to the bridge.

This is looking back at the first natural bridge (the one on the right) once we were wading through the creek. We begin to not be able to see the bridge anymore, so you can't see both bridges at the same time. You can still see the hole above where the flume went through.

My husband ended up carrying my bear spray when I was sliding down the mountain while clinging to the ropes and the spray was about to tumble down the hill. We didn't see any bears, but we were prepared!

The rocks in the creek were very slippery. We tried to choose the best route as we navigated our way through the creek towards the bridge.

You can see in this photo how dirty I got coming down the mountain

The rocks were really slippery in the water, and the water was rushing past us pretty fast. At one point I tripped on a rock and fell into the water, catching myself with the palms of my hands.

The flume up above that looks to be quite a bit still in tact.

I saw one tiny fish swimming near my feet as the water rushed by. Both openings are in view in this photo.

The lower opening is right above my head

The deepest water appears to be right before the bridge begins. I wonder if a trail continues through the other side of the bridge.

Pieces of the flume can be seen above the bridge.

That is as close as I dared get to the bridge. When we go back I might attempt to wade/swim under it.

My shirt was covered in mud from sliding down the rocks

Our last view of the bridge on the left

After deciding not to try to go through the bridge on the left, we ventured back towards the bridge on the right to see if we could get a vantage point where we'd be able to see light through the other side. We never did see where it might end. We'll have to go back on a day when we have more time.

From our point of view the bridge on the right appeared to be a cave because no opening on the other side was apparent, but even if we didn't know based on others' accounts that it is, in fact, a natural bridge, logic would tell you that the creek had to come from somewhere.

In the center of this photo is the opening for the flume.

Our last view of the bridge on the right before returning to the trail and figuring out how to climb out with the use of the ropes.

Time to wade back to the beginning of the trail

Notice how steep the bank is - that is where the trail back up begins

First we used this log to grasp while pulling ourselves up this beginning part of the trail. At the top of the log we were able to grab the first rope.

Part of the problem with climbing up and down using the rope was how wet and muddy the ground and rocks were, and so was the rope. I slipped enough while climbing down that I ended up covered in mud. And the mud on the rope made it pretty slippery. Luckily, someone had tied knots at intervals in parts of the rope, so that helped quite a bit. My climb back up was much faster than my climb down with the ropes. If it hadn't been so slippery it would have been so much easier!

looking back down at where we'd climbed up

My husband and I about halfway up our climb with the ropes. We had already gone around the tree in the center of this photo

Almost all the way up on the rope part

My husband below me as he switched ropes.

This is the first rope, which is tied to that tree. I am very grateful to whoever put those ropes up! I suppose we could have slid all the way down through the mud to reach the creek, but then I have no idea how we would have gotten back up without the ropes. Incidentally, we did see a little side trail that we considered trying, and perhaps it would have been an easier way up and down, but we didn't have time to try it. I would have loved to see if there was a way to get on top of the bridge on the left. That will have to wait until our next visit!

The beautiful view on our way back up

There were a couple of fallen trees across the trail. This one was especially difficult because I have very short legs, so I had to figure out how to climb over it with very tired legs from climbing halfway up the mountain at this point.

This was a rare part of the trail where it flattened out for a minute before turning extremely steep again

My husband and I taking a breather for a minute before continuing our ascent

And then we made it back to our car and were met by a spectacular sunset! Less than one mile round trip for the whole hike.

The view down from the parking area

The sunset was so amazing!

The sky looked like it was on fire as we started our drive back on the dirt road

This is back at the geyser location before we headed back to the fork in the road and back on the Warm Springs Road

The dirt road in the center of this photo is the one we drove on to reach the natural bridges.

This is where we had turned right when the pavement ended.

This is zoomed in on the area where the bridges are

Notice what appears to be a road or trail on the other side of the canyon. Now I am tempted to try and figure out how to get to the bridges from the other side of the canyon. I didn't see a trail on the other side that would have led down to the creek, but there could have been. This photo certainly makes it look like there is.

These are the coordinates for where the natural bridges are.

This is the elevation change from the beginning to the end of the round-trip hike.

Our stats from my Map my Run app

The map from where we parked down to the bridges and back

The satellite view of the map

My pin for the bridges and where we parked

Warm Springs Geyser Cave

Once you drive over the cattle guard on the dirt road, as I described above, you follow the road until it comes to a fenced-off area and you'll see a ladder that goes over the fence. This is where you park and climb over the ladder to hike down to the underwater pool.

This is the ladder to climb over the fence

In the center of this photo is the underground geyser - that is the hole you'll be climbing into to swim in the warm springs

Notice the trail that runs from the right to left of this photo. Once you climb over the ladder you will start on this trail and follow it straight to the underground geyser

This section of log flume that you can view from the trail to the geyser looks very in tact.

This is our family standing beside the geyser cave opening

You can climb down into the pool without ropes, although it's a lot easier with them. Sometimes when we've visited there have been ropes already there, but sometimes there has not. I have climbed down without ropes before.