One of Thermopolis’s tallest structures is no more. The multi-story water slide at Hellie’s Tepee Pools, which has stood for more than three decades, has been dismantled.
William Moriarty, the manager of Hellie’s Tepee, said the slide coming down isn't a sign that the pool is going downhill. It’s a necessary step toward a better visitor experience that will be replaced with something better in the not-too-distant future.
“It's done a great job for a lot of people,” he said. “We're maintaining the best product we can while waiting to see what direction we can take our facility in the future, and we’re looking forward to the new feature.”
Sayonara, Slide
The big blue slide has augmented the hot spring experience at Hellie’s Tepee since 1991, but it’s much older than that. Moriarty said the slide was acquired from a water park in Billings, Montana, where it has been in service for at least 20 years.
“It’s spent 50 years in the sun, and done a yeoman’s job in that time,” he said.
Fifty years of exposure to Wyoming’s summer sun and winter wind had made the slide a little worse for wear. It only operated during the pool’s summer season, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but was left exposed to the elements year-round.
Moriarty said the slide had been shut down for the past two years until the decision to remove it entirely. Resurfacing its fiberglass structure would have been “unfeasible.”
“We looked at getting it refurnished and rehabilitated, but it started to become more and more apparent that we'd be better off replacing rather than restoring it,” he said.
As of Monday, the fiberglass slide has been completely disassembled, and nearly all of its pieces have been picked up. The steel structure will come down in the future, but Moriarty wasn’t sure when that would occur.
Steel can be recycled, but what would someone want with a partial water slide? Quite a lot, according to Moriarty.
“We’ve heard everything from making a nice doghouse to keeping grain off the ground,” he said. “I don't know what people are going to do with it, but all the pieces of the actual slide have been taken at this point.”
Hot Water In Court
Wyoming Hot Springs LLC is the vendor managing Hellie’s Tepee Pools. They were selected by Wyoming State Parks to run all the amenities at Hot Springs State Park in 2025.
They also intend to take over the operations of The Star Plunge, pending litigation between Wyoming State Parks and Roland Luehne, the concessionaire who’s operated the pool for the last several decades.
Keith Shellhamer, a representative for Wyoming Hot Springs LLC, told Cowboy State Daily in December that they’re “eager to get started” on major infrastructure upgrades at Hellie’s Tepee and Star Plunge. However, those plans are on hold indefinitely until the court case is resolved.
“The only thing holding us back is litigation between the state and the Star Plunge,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “There’s been a couple of increasing offers to … voluntarily resolve it, (but) our offers have not been acceptable to the Star.”
Star Plunge has been closed since January 2025. There have been discussions about finding a third-party operator to reopen the pool while the case is pending, but nothing has materialized yet.
Wyoming Hot Springs LLC has ambitious plans for the pools, which it showcased during a public meeting in Thermopolis in August 2025. However, there’s not much they can do until the situation at Star Plunge is resolved.
Watching And Waiting
While the court case commences, Moriarty said his team is doing “what makes sense” to improve the experience at Hellie’s Tepee. He referenced several smaller projects over the last few years that have made the facility that much better.
“We redid the inside of the steam room, built new stairs to the inside slide, and added a new motor that pumps a lot more water to the slide, resurfaced a couple of pools, and added new lockers in the bathrooms,” he said. “These things make sense. Whatever direction the Star goes, we'll still need lockers.”
The next project at Hellie’s Tepee will be a new stairway for the outdoor pools. That falls under the purview of small but sensible improvements, while the large-scale improvements are still on hold.
The decision to remove the outdoor water slide was submitted by Wyoming Hot Springs LLC and approved by Wyoming State Parks. Moriarty isn’t sure what will happen to the space but has been told a “new water feature” will be built there.
Moriarty said Hellie’s Tepee might pivot towards a spa-oriented experience while the Star Plunge remains the “family-oriented” pool. That’ll impact what’s needed for its infrastructure, which is partially why they’ve focused on smaller, quality-of-life improvements that have kept the facility in good working order.
Either way, Moriarty is excited for what the future holds for Hot Springs State Park. Hellie’s Tepee might have lost its slide, but its future is only looking up.
“We’re doing a lot of things that don't affect what we are,” he said. “We're planning our future, and looking forward to when we can get started on it.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
