Daniel Claar’s spring break road trip from Boise to Stanley, Idaho: soaking at Kirkham, Bonneville, Sunbeam, and the Boat Box in the depths of winter.
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Naked, Wet, and Wild in Idaho
Daniel Claar on Idaho hot springs: soaking au naturel, hot spring care and etiquette, and why protecting these pools from abuse matters.
Guide to Backcountry Hot Springs
Plan a backpacking trip to Idaho backcountry hot springs: pack lists, area and seasonal research, Leave No Trace, campsite and soaking etiquette, and safety warnings.
Northwest Hot Springs With Red Spider Mites
Red spider mites at Northwest hot springs: how RSM bites affect soakers, precautions and treatment, plus a listing of Idaho springs with reported mites.
Hot Springs Water Quality
How safe is an Idaho hot springs soak? Check pH, flow, red spider mites, and wildlife signs to judge geothermal water quality before you get in.
Guide to Roadside Hot Springs
A beginner’s guide to roadside hot springs in Idaho: what to bring, how to prepare, and a simple checklist for a safe, relaxing soak.
Unnamed Hot Springs #4 (Middle Fork Boise River)
This unnamed hot spring in the Boise National Forest’s Atlanta area is a cliffside seep on the Middle Fork Boise River: hot water streaked with bright algae flows down a cliff face straight into the river, and there is no pool to soak in. The only way to enjoy it is the late-summer way — wade in at low water where the hot meets the cold, and possibly dig out a small pool of your own.
Unnamed Garden Valley Hot Springs
This unnamed hot spring sits right off the highway near Garden Valley, Idaho, in the Boise National Forest — the old site’s photos show a hot waterfall and an intricate system of plumbing, but no confirmed soaking pool was ever documented here. It remains one of the least-documented listings in the Garden Valley corridor: a genuine curiosity for hot springs completists rather than a known soak.
Lil Dipper Hot Springs
Lil Dipper Hot Springs is a small hot spring on the Middle Fork Payette River trail in the Boise National Forest north of Crouch, Idaho — you’ll pass it on the hike to Moondipper and Pine Burl. The old listing is honest about it: with low flow and only upper-90s temperatures, Lil Dipper is a landmark on the way to better soaks, not a soak itself.
Prince Albert Hot Springs
Prince Albert Hot Springs is a remote two-pool soak in the Mt. Bennett Hills area north of Glenns Ferry, Idaho — and the approach is the story. The dirt road in deteriorates into a creek bed, turns to impassable muck in rain and winter, and defeated both documented attempts to reach it. Plan for the dry season and a capable 4×4.