The Beauty of Boysen State Park
A Visit with Superintendent John Bass
Shoshoni, Wyoming
Written by Melanie Limpus
Photography by Melanie Limpus and contributed by John Bass
At the mouth of the Wind River Canyon and the southern edge of the Owl Creek Mountains sits the vast and unique Boysen State Park. The park is a wonder to both visitors and locals, surrounded by high plains and desert lands, steep canyon walls, sandy banks, rolling hills of sagebrush, and multicolored badlands with outlandish, eroded rock formations.
Many guests stumble upon this park as they travel to and from the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park, but locals visit with the full intention to enjoy water recreation year-round.
Boysen is the largest state park in Wyoming and home to the state’s largest reservoir. While the area may look remote, Boysen State Park is packed with opportunities to recreate.
With the help of four full-time and several seasonal employees, Superintendent John Bass says no two days are alike when it comes to maintaining the 15,145 acres of land and the 19,560-acre reservoir.
He and his full-time staff have developed their own community in staff-provided housing, where they are either working or on-call 365 days per year. From maintaining water wells to mowing vast amounts of greenscape and from enforcing the law to managing campgrounds and staff, they do it all.
It's that attention to detail that makes Boysen stand out. With hundreds of RV and tent campsites spread across multiple campgrounds, John’s proud of the reputation the park has for its well-maintained camp spots and facilities.
“Boysen is perfect for bringing people together,” said John. “It’s all about the water and we try our part to keep all the gears moving, from the fishermen and boaters to the campers and visitors.”
Boysen is home to more than 100 species of wildlife, including deer, antelope, waterfowl, reptiles, game birds and bighorn sheep. Even hunting is permitted within designated areas. Anglers flock to Boysen for its diverse fishery and major sport species consisting of walleye, sauger, perch, crappie, ling, as well as rainbow, cutthroat, and brown trout. The thriving walleye population draws anglers from far and wide. Other game fish present are bluegill, largemouth bass, black bullhead, stonecat, mountain whitefish, and splake.
“We’ve had five state record fish taken out of Boysen Reservoir and one world record out of the Wind River, which flows north out of the reservoir,” John said proudly.
Summer isn’t the only busy season at Boysen. Once the ice freezes, fishermen try their luck almost daily throughout the winter months. An annual ice fishing tournament takes place on the reservoir every third weekend in January. Anglers of all ages compete for the top four places in five categories from Friday to Sunday, bundled up with high spirits and camaraderie. The park even creates an ice skating rink at the swim beach and provides the use of ice skates and ice hockey equipment for free.
Originally from Tennessee, John has been the park superintendent for nearly seven years. He and his staff work hard and cohesively together to keep the park as beautiful and clean as it is.
“Managing so many aspects is both the best and hardest part of the job. There are so many moving parts that it always keeps things interesting,” said John, “My staff doesn’t work for me, they work with me, and that makes all the difference.
How did a born and raised Tennessee native end up becoming the superintendent of Boysen State Park in Wyoming?
“That’s a long story,” John said laughing.
John grew up knowing he wanted a job that allowed him to work outdoors. When he was 18, he flew out to his first park job as a seasonal employee in Yellowstone National Park. That summer set the course for his lifelong career in parks.
Back in Tennessee, John climbed the ladder working for Tennessee State Parks, starting as a seasonal employee, and moving up to a seasonal interpretive ranger, before becoming a full-time law enforcement park ranger. When the park manager of David Crockett State Park retired after almost 40 years, John stepped into that role, not only as the youngest park manager, but only the third park manager at David Crockett since opening in 1959.
During his career in Tennessee, John visited Wyoming a handful of times and loved the state.
At a leadership training in West Virginia, he was sitting across the table from Brooks Jordan, who, at the time, was the Superintendent of Medicine Lodge State Park but has since been promoted to the Big Horn District Manager for Wyoming State Parks. As they chatted, John shared his desire to hunt mule deer in Wyoming. Brooks invited John to do that and he took him up on the offer.
“Boysen is perfect for bringing people together. It’s all about the water and we try our part to keep all the gears moving, from the fishermen and boaters to the campers and visitors.”
The following year, John and his father-in-law returned to Wyoming for another hunting trip. While in Ten Sleep, a small community in the Big Horn Mountains, he called Brooks and told him where he was.
Within driving distance, Brooks immediately replied, “I’m on my way!”
As they shared drinks and stories at Ten Sleep Brewery, John mentioned to Brooks how much he’d like to work in Wyoming. Coincidentally, Brooks informed him there was an open position for the Superintendent of Boysen State Park.
“When I returned home, I jokingly told my wife, Lisa, I found a job in Wyoming,” John recalled. “But I really didn’t think much of it.”
However, the next morning, Lisa said to him, “Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?” John asked her.
“Wyoming!” she said.
Comfortable in Tennessee, living close to family and work, John was hesitant to pull the trigger.
“To start all over? I don’t know” he remembers pondering.
“I think we need a change,” she persisted.
The deciding factor came when he took his three-year-old son Tucker fishing a few days later. Not having mentioned anything to Tucker about the job in Wyoming, John was praying for a sign and asked God to speak to him through his son.
Tucker just smiled at him and was completely silent.
“That didn’t work,” John laughed.
However, about ten minutes later, from his car seat in the back of the truck, Tucker blurted out, “Dad, I want to go to the prairie and see the moose and the bears.”
That was enough for John. He and his family packed up and trekked to Boysen State Park where, in the seven years since, they have completely adapted to the rural lifestyle. Tucker attends elementary school in Shoshoni where Lisa is not only a Special Education Para, but also a bus driver for the school. Every day she and Tucker, along with the other children of the park staff, load up and head to school, returning in the afternoon.
The Bass family loves living at Boysen and taking advantage of all that Wyoming has to offer, and they hope that residents and visitors alike see the opportunities too.
On an unseasonably warm day in November, John looked over the reservoir from high atop a canyon wall. As he scanned the horizon he proudly said, “I don’t see myself leaving here anytime soon.”
