In the American imagination, Yellowstone looms large. It was the country's first national park. It's breathtaking.

It's got this incredible geology. There are raging waterfalls. There are geysers. There are bison and mountains covered in beautiful

pine trees. It's just a hard place to dislike. And of course, there are the beloved hot springs, those magical looking pools, those alien

looking bodies of water heated by the earth.

They have this smell, the sulfur coming up like hard boiled eggs.

Of course you cannot go in the Yellowstone hot springs. They are deadly. They are boiling, boiling hot. But if it's hot springs that you can

soak in that you're after, I have a little secret for you, less than two and a

half hours away from Yellowstone. In a different area of

Wyoming, there is a little town with a whole lot of bubble going on.

Can you smell it?

Oh, I can smell it.

That is a strong sulfur scent.

I'm Delantaurus and this is Atlas Obscura,

a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

This episode was produced in partnership with Go USA TV.

It's based on a video series we do with them, Small Town Big Story where I go to various towns and get into foolish

hijinks. Anyway, check it out, it's on YouTube, it is really pretty good.

In this episode, we are going to a town

named Thermopolis, the city of heat.

It is home to one of the largest mineral hot springs

in the world.

And it turns out this town of less than 3,000

...