Cove Creek Hot Springs

Cove Creek Hot Springs is a small, undeveloped soak on the north bank of the Salmon River, about 8 miles east of Stanley below Idaho Highway 75. Hot water seeps out of the riverbed gravel and a granite outcrop into volunteer-built rock and sand pools at the water’s edge, and a designated parking lot with a vault toilet and an information signboard serves the site, which is more infrastructure than most primitive Idaho springs get.

The spring answers to two names: most guides call it Cove Creek, and the Idaho Conservation Data Center’s 1995 survey records it as Kem Hot Spring, with “Cove hot spring” listed among its other names. Do not confuse it with Basin Creek Campground Hot Springs, the separate creek-side pools about half a mile west near the old campground site; the two are neighbors, not the same soak, whatever some guidebooks say. The catch here is the river: the pools sit below the high water line, so spring runoff submerges them, and the soak only exists when the Salmon runs low, from late summer through winter.

Soak Stats

Location	North bank of the Salmon River below Idaho Highway 75, about 8.4 miles east of Stanley and half a mile east of the Basin Creek confluence, Custer County
Coordinates	About 44.2636, -114.8130 (published points cluster within a few hundred feet along the riverbank)
Elevation	About 6,040 feet
Soak type	Undeveloped natural spring: volunteer-built rock and sand pools at the river’s edge
Water temperature	Source water about 133°F, far too hot to soak in. The pools vary widely with river level: 107°F was measured in early September, and cooler readings are common
Season	Late summer through winter, at low water. Spring runoff and high water submerge the pools
Fee	None
Reservations	None. First come, first served, and no camping at the spring
Clothing policy	No official posting found. It is a popular roadside stop, so swimwear is the norm
Dogs	No spring-specific policy posted. There are no facilities at the pools themselves
Facilities	Vault toilet, information signboard, and picnic tables at the designated parking area and river’s edge; day-use picnic spots with fire rings near the pools

Place Information

Address	No street address. The spring sits on the Salmon River below Idaho Highway 75, about 8.4 miles east of Stanley
County	Custer County
Land manager	U.S. Forest Service, Sawtooth National Forest, Sawtooth National Recreation Area
Website	No official website (the Forest Service publishes no page for this spring)

Location, Map & Directions

From Stanley, drive east on Idaho Highway 75 for about 8.4 miles, roughly 5 miles past Elkhorn Hot Springs (Boat Box). The designated parking area sits on the river side of the highway, and first-hand accounts describe a large wooden sign reading “Cove Hot Springs” at the turnoff. A short dirt trail starts beside the restroom and drops a couple of hundred feet to the river’s edge; keep left at the fork to reach the rocky pool area.

The state survey places the spring on the north side of the Salmon River, about half a mile downstream (east) of the Basin Creek confluence, below the highway, so if you cross Basin Creek and the road starts climbing away from the river, you have gone a little too far.

The Soaking Experience

The spring itself is genuinely hot. The Idaho Conservation Data Center measured the source at about 133°F in a 1983 sample and 131°F in its own 1995 survey, and a first-hand visitor report likewise found 133°F water seeping from the riverbed outcrops. Nobody soaks at the source.

Visitors have ringed the upwellings with rocks and sand where the hot water meets the river, and you tune the temperature the old-fashioned way, by shifting rocks to let more or less cold river water in. On an early September visit, a soaker measured 107°F in the pools.

Expect one main pool in most seasons, sometimes with a smaller second pool, a silty bottom that clouds the water if you move around, and shallow water, about a foot deep in the sitting spots.

Expect variability, too: one October visitor found the water warm rather than hot, and visitors in June, with the river high, found cold river water mixing straight into the pool. What Cove Creek reliably offers is quiet. Soakers consistently rate it calmer than Boat Box down the road, with the Salmon River itself steps away when you want a cold plunge.

Fees, Hours & Reservations

The spring is free: no fee, no permit, and no reservations, on undeveloped national forest land inside the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. It is a day-use soak, and camping is not allowed at the spring.

Note for trip planning: older guides often pair this spring with Basin Creek Campground, but that campground was destroyed by flooding in 2006 and never rebuilt, as our Basin Creek Campground Hot Springs listing records. Overnight options are the Forest Service campgrounds along Highway 75 and dispersed sites in the corridor, and Stanley, about 8.4 miles west, has lodging, food, and fuel.

Facilities, Lodging & Nearby

The parking area has a vault toilet and an information signboard covering camping and fishing in the area, with picnic tables at the river’s edge and day-use picnic spots with fire rings near the pools. There is no drinking water and nothing at the pools beyond the rock walls visitors maintain, so pack in everything and pack out all of it. The nearest town services are in Stanley, about 8.4 miles west.

History

The spring enters the scientific record in 1970. State water studies sampled it in 1983, and the Idaho Conservation Data Center surveyed it in August 1995, describing a single spring rising from a granite outcrop into a series of pools built at river level, flooded every year, and recording its other names as Basin Creek, Basin Creek Bridge, and Cove hot spring.

That 1995 paperwork is the root of the modern name tangle: the survey name is Kem, Cove is the documented alternate, and Basin Creek properly belongs to the separate spring on the creek just west. Where the name Kem came from is not recorded in the sources consulted. What maintenance the spring has ever had, soakers have provided: the pools are rebuilt by hand each year after the river takes them apart.

Safety & Health

The source water emerges at about 133°F, hot enough to scald. Test every pool before you get in, and stir the water or adjust the rock wall to mix in river water if it is too hot; temperatures differ from pool to pool and from the edge of a pool to its center, where the hot water wells up.

Never soak when the river is high: the pools are below the high water line and disappear under the current, and the Salmon River is cold and fast even at moderate levels. The pool bottoms are silty and the rocks are slick. In winter the soak is at its best, but Highway 75 is a snow-country road, so carry chains, check conditions before you drive, and do not count on cell service at the site. Stanley is the nearest help.

Best Time to Visit

Late summer through winter, whenever the river is low. September brought a measured 107°F pool and comfortable soaking, and repeat visitors recommend autumn and winter most: the pools are in place, the crowds are gone, and a first-hand account describes soaking at the river’s edge while snow fell.

Spring runoff and early summer high water are out, since the pools are underwater then. If you arrive to find the pools washed out or cooler than you hoped, that is the honest nature of a riverbank spring; Stanley has several easier soaks within a short drive.

Nearby Hot Springs

The Stanley corridor packs several very different soaks into a few miles of Highway 75. Basin Creek Campground Hot Springs is the creek-side neighbor about half a mile west, and Mormon Bend Hot Springs asks for a river ford a short drive back toward Stanley. Elkhorn Hot Springs (Boat Box) sits about 5 miles west, and Sunbeam Hot Springs offers a developed riverside soak about 4 miles east near the Yankee Fork. More South-Central Idaho hot springs →

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Cove Creek Hot Springs?

On the north bank of the Salmon River below Idaho Highway 75, about 8.4 miles east of Stanley in Custer County. Park in the designated lot on the river side of the highway and follow the short trail beside the restroom down to the pools.

Is Cove Creek Hot Springs the same as Basin Creek Hot Springs?

No. They are separate soaks about half a mile apart near the mouth of Basin Creek. The confusion is old: the Idaho Conservation Data Center’s 1995 record for this spring lists “Basin Creek” among its other names, and some modern guides still merge the two. The pools on Basin Creek itself, by the old campground site, have their own listing on this site.

How hot is Cove Creek Hot Springs?

The source water emerges at about 133°F per state surveys, far too hot to soak in. The river-edge pools are that water cooled and mixed with river water: 107°F was measured in early September, and readings vary a lot with the river level, down to merely warm on some visits.

When is the best time to soak at Cove Creek?

Late summer through winter, at low water. The pools sit below the Salmon River’s high water line, so spring runoff and early summer high water submerge them entirely.

Is there a fee, and can I camp at Cove Creek Hot Springs?

No fee, and no camping at the spring; it is a day-use site. The nearest camping is at Forest Service campgrounds along Highway 75 and dispersed sites in the corridor. The old Basin Creek Campground was destroyed by flooding in 2006 and never rebuilt.