Hospital Bar Hot Springs

Hospital Bar Hot Springs is a small, undeveloped soak at the edge of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, at river mile 52.1 in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. There is no road and no trail in: the spring sits at the upper end of the Hospital Bar camp, on the left bank, and the only way to reach it is to float the Middle Fork, on your own Forest Service permit or as a guest of a licensed outfitter.

It is the last hot spring on the river: the Forest Service’s river guide calls Hospital Bar “the last hot springs camp on the Middle Fork,” and below this camp the river runs into the Impassable Canyon country with no more named soaks.

What waits there is modest: thermal water seeping from the rocks at the waterline, held back from the cold river by a loose wall of stones, in a pool that exists only when the river is low enough to leave it alone. Outfitters that run this river count it among the springs their trips stop for. Go in expecting a hot tub and you will be disappointed; go in on day three of a wilderness float and it feels like a gift the river hands you.

Soak Stats

Location	Left bank of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River at river mile 52.1, at the upper end of Hospital Bar camp, Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, Valley County
Coordinates	44.836, -114.791 (USGS GNIS, Hospital Hot Spring)
Elevation	About 3,950 feet
Soak type	Undeveloped natural spring: a small rock-walled pool at the river’s edge, sometimes two pools, rebuilt by the river and by visitors every year
Water temperature	Source inventoried at 115°F by the USGS thermal springs list. The pool mixes with river water behind a loose rock wall, so soaking temperature varies with river level and is not guaranteed
Access	Float trip only. No road access and no practical trail access; reached from the river as a stop or an assigned camp on a permitted Middle Fork trip
Season	The soak forms as river flows drop, typically from mid summer into fall. At high water, including spring runoff, the river covers the spring
Fee	No fee for the spring. Floating the Middle Fork costs a $4 per person per day recreation fee, plus a $6 lottery or reservation application fee in season
Reservations	A Forest Service float permit is required year-round. Control season launches (May 28 to Sep 3) are allocated by the Four Rivers Lottery on Recreation.gov
Clothing policy	Swimsuits required: Forest Service rules for the permitted river corridor prohibit public nudity
Facilities	None. Everything is carried by boat, including the portable toilet and fire pan every permitted group is required to bring

Place Information

Address	No street address. The spring is on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River at river mile 52.1, measured from the Boundary Creek launch, at Hospital Bar camp
County	Valley County
Land manager	U.S. Forest Service, Salmon-Challis National Forest, Middle Fork Ranger District
Website	Recreation.gov: Middle Fork of the Salmon River (4 Rivers) permits

Location, Map & Directions

There are no driving directions to give. Float trips launch at Boundary Creek, below Dagger Falls, or fly in to the Indian Creek airstrip and launch there, and river miles are counted from Boundary Creek. At mile 52.1, watch for the large low bench on the left bank: that is Hospital Bar camp, shaded by tall ponderosa pines. The springs are at the upper end of the camp, right at the water’s edge.

Cave Camp, at mile 51.8, sits directly across the river; boaters camped there paddle over rather than swim, as the river guides advise. Camps on this stretch are assigned to each party at launch, and Hospital Bar is one of the assigned camps, but a soak stop does not require it to be yours for the night.

The Soaking Experience

Keep the scale in mind: this is one of the smallest soaks on the river. The spring seeps and cascades out of the rocks at the waterline, and a loosely built rock wall is all that separates the thermal water from the cold Middle Fork.

When the river drops, a small pool forms behind that wall, big enough for a few people at a time; Wikipedia’s survey of the river’s springs describes two pools here, one right next to the river. In a high water year no pool forms at all, and the spring runs straight into the river.

The water starts genuinely hot. The USGS thermal springs list inventories this source at 115°F, too hot to soak in undiluted, and what makes the pool pleasant is exactly what makes it unpredictable: cold river water mixing in at the edges.

Test the water carefully before you settle, and expect the temperature to change as the river does. What the soak reliably offers is the setting: a quiet bench under ponderosas, the river sliding past a few feet away, and the deep-canyon quiet of the Frank Church wilderness at the end of a day on the water.

Fees, Hours & Reservations

The spring itself has no fee and no hours, but nobody reaches it casually. A float permit is required year-round to be on the Middle Fork between Dagger Falls and the confluence with the Main Salmon. During the control season, May 28 to Sep 3, launches are allocated by the Four Rivers Lottery on Recreation.gov; outside the control season, launches are reservable first come.

The costs are a $6 application fee and a $4 per person per day recreation fee (a Salmon Rivers Season Pass covers the daily fee). Groups must camp in their assigned camps and carry a portable toilet, a fire pan, and the rest of the required river gear. The simpler route for most people is a seat with a licensed outfitter: commercial trips run all season, handle the permit and the gear, and build spring stops like this one into the itinerary.

Facilities, Lodging & Nearby

There is nothing at the spring: no toilet, no water, no sign, nothing built. Hospital Bar camp is a natural bench with flat ground for tents under tall ponderosa pines, and everything a party uses there arrives and leaves by boat.

River rules require all garbage and human waste to be packed out, and soap of any kind, biodegradable included, is banned in the river and the hot springs. The nearest towns are Stanley on the put-in side and Salmon and Challis on the take-out side, reached before or after the trip, not during it: once you launch, the river is the only road.

History

The name carries the river’s oldest story. The Forest Service’s own river guide writes that Hospital Bar, “with its hot springs at the upper end of the campsite, was supposedly the spot where the wounded soldiers recovered”: the tradition ties the bar to the Sheepeater Campaign of 1879, the same campaign remembered at Soldier’s Monument a few miles up Big Creek.

Treat it as the guide does, as a supposed story rather than a documented one. What is documented is the spring’s place in the river’s geography: the last of the six named hot springs in the Middle Fork’s first 52 miles, and the last hot springs camp on the river. It enters the scientific record in the USGS thermal springs inventory, and USGS crews sampled its water in 1971 and again in 1980.

Safety & Health

Two hazards share this site, the heat and the river. The source water emerges at 115°F by the USGS inventory, hot enough to scald where it first surfaces, so test every part of the pool before you get in, and keep clear of the undiluted flow at the rocks. The river is the bigger risk: it is cold, swift, and powerful even at moderate flows. Never try to swim to or from the springs; cross only by boat, the way the river guides advise.

At high water the spring is simply gone, submerged under the current, and that is not a condition to argue with. This is also bear country: the Forest Service asks boaters on this corridor to keep a clean camp and store food and scented items securely. There is no help nearby and no quick way out; on the Middle Fork, your group is the rescue plan.

Best Time to Visit

The soak improves as the river drops. Spring and early summer trips, riding the runoff, will usually find the spring buried or washed out. From mid summer into fall, lower flows let the pool form behind its rock wall, and a late season trip pairs the best soaking with quieter water.

The trade is colder nights and, after the control season ends in early September, first come permits and shorter days. Whenever you go, treat the pool as a possibility rather than a promise: the river’s other springs are spread along the same trip, and a Hospital Bar soak is the bonus at the end of the springs line, not the reason to launch.

Nearby Hot Springs

None of the Middle Fork’s other five springs has a listing yet, and no listing on this site is close in travel terms: Hospital Bar sits in the middle of the wilderness, days by river from the nearest road. Its nearest listed neighbors are the Frank Church wilderness soaks reached by trail from the other side of the mountains, Warm Springs Creek Hot Springs and Shower Bath Hot Springs.

For a Salmon River soak you can drive to, Sunbeam Hot Springs near Stanley is the corridor’s easy riverside option, and Goldbug Hot Springs rewards a hike south of Salmon. See the full picture on the Idaho hot springs map. More East-Central Idaho hot springs →

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you get to Hospital Bar Hot Springs?

By boat, and only by boat. The spring is at river mile 52.1 on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, reached as a stop or an assigned camp on a permitted float trip launching at Boundary Creek or Indian Creek, or on a licensed outfitter’s trip. There is no road or practical trail access.

How hot is Hospital Bar Hot Springs?

The source is inventoried at 115°F in the USGS thermal springs list. The soaking pool is that hot water mixed with cold river water behind a loose rock wall, so its temperature varies with the river level and the state of the wall. Test the water before you get in.

When can you soak at Hospital Bar?

When the river is low enough to leave the pool alone, typically from mid summer into fall. During spring runoff and other high water, the river covers the spring and there is no pool at all.

Do I need a permit to visit Hospital Bar Hot Springs?

Yes, in effect: a Forest Service float permit is required year-round for the Middle Fork, and control season launches (May 28 to Sep 3) are allocated by lottery on Recreation.gov. Booking a seat with a licensed outfitter is the alternative; the outfitter holds the permit.

Can I camp at Hospital Bar?

Yes, if Hospital Bar is one of your party’s assigned camps. Permitted groups must camp in their assigned camps, and Hospital Bar is a large, flat bench under ponderosa pines with room to spread out. Everything, including a portable toilet, is carried in and out by boat.