Queens River Hot Springs
Seasonal
Registry record only: no pool or public soak is documented for this spring.Open seasons
- Access
- No documented access to the spring itself
- Price
- None documented
- Accommodations
- None
Plan Your Visit
Documentation listing: Queens River Hot Springs is recorded here from federal and state geothermal registries. No pool, development, or public soak at this spring is documented in any source consulted, and no access route to the spring itself is described in the record. This page documents the inventoried spring and its setting.
The federal thermal springs list carries this spring as QUEENS RIVER HOT SPRING, classed “H” for hot with no temperature printed, at 43.831, -115.192 on the Atlanta West 7.5-minute quadrangle. The Idaho Department of Water Resources geothermal dataset lists the same spring as Queens River Hot Springs at 43.8313, -115.1920, in Township 6 North, Range 11 East, Section 30 of Elmore County, and the USGS site record for the spring (USGS-434953115112801) names it 06N 11E 30ADB1S QUEENS RIVER H.S. Two registry lineages, one spring, the same point on the lower Queens River.
What exists for Queens River is a sampling record. USGS crews visited the spring on September 2, 1981 and measured water at 50.5 °C (122.9 °F), flowing at 60 gallons per minute, with a pH of 9.6. The analysis was published in Young’s 1985 study of thermal springs in the Idaho batholith and compiled again in Parliman and Young’s 1992 compilation of Idaho thermal-water data, and the state dataset carries the 122.9 °F figure from that sampling to this day. Nothing in any of these sources mentions a pool, a soaking visit, or a trail to the spring, and no later source adds one.
The setting is the lower Queens River, a tributary of the Middle Fork Boise River, at about 5,080 feet. The spring point sits roughly a mile above the river’s mouth, where the Forest Service campground and the Queens River Trailhead stand at the end of Forest Road 206. The campground is accessible until snow closes it, and the trail climbs the Queens River into the Sawtooth Wilderness.
Atlanta, with documented soaks at Atlanta Hot Springs and Chattanooga Hot Springs, is about four miles east. Roads in this corridor are seasonal: the Middle Fork Boise River Road runs about 62 miles from the Highway 21 turnoff and is narrow and rough, and the whole corridor, Queens River included, is Summer and Fall country.
Until a source documents a pool or a visit, this listing stands as the registry record of a real, measured hot spring that nobody has written up as a soak.
Queens River Hot Springs Soak Stats
| Status | Registry record only; no pool or public soak documented |
| Water Temperature | 122.9 °F (50.5 °C) at the source, measured at USGS sampling on September 2, 1981 (state geothermal dataset, sourced to the USGS database) |
| Flow | 60 gallons per minute at sampling in 1981 |
| Location | Lower Queens River, T. 6 N., R. 11 E., Sec. 30, Elmore County, Idaho |
| GPS Coordinates | 43.8313, -115.1920 (USGS and state record); 43.831, -115.192 (federal list). No access route to the spring itself is documented. |
| Elevation | 5,080 feet (USGS site record, interpolated from topographic map) |
| Nearest Town | Atlanta, Idaho (about 4 miles) |
| Public Land | Not verified for the spring parcel; the Queens River corridor is National Forest land, with a Forest Service campground at the river mouth |
| Access | No documented access to the spring itself; the corridor is reached by Forest Roads 268, 362, and 206 to Queens River Campground and Trailhead |
| Fee | None documented |
| Pool | None documented |
| Development | None documented |
Place Information
| Location | Lower Queens River, Elmore County, Idaho |
| GPS Coordinates | 43.8313, -115.1920 |
| Elevation | 5,080 feet |
| Region | South-Central Idaho |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there really a hot spring on Queens River?
Yes, as an inventoried spring. The federal thermal springs list names Queens River Hot Spring on the lower Queens River west of Atlanta, and a USGS crew sampled the water in 1981. The state geothermal dataset still carries the record.
Can you soak at Queens River Hot Springs?
Nothing in the record says so. No pool, soaking visit, or access route to the spring itself is documented in any source consulted, so this listing documents the spring rather than recommending a trip to it. The documented soaks near Atlanta are Atlanta Hot Springs and Chattanooga Hot Springs.
How hot is Queens River Hot Springs?
The recorded source temperature is 122.9 °F (50.5 °C), measured when the USGS sampled the spring on September 2, 1981. That is a source temperature, far hotter than any soaking pool, and the federal list prints no temperature for this spring at all, only its "hot" class.
Where is Queens River Hot Springs?
On the lower Queens River in Elmore County, at 43.8313, -115.1920, roughly a mile above the Queens River Campground and the river's confluence with the Middle Fork Boise River, and about four miles west of Atlanta. The registry point is published; a route to the spring itself is not.
When can you reach the Queens River corridor?
The corridor is seasonal. The Forest Service campground at the river mouth is accessible until closed by snow, and the Middle Fork Boise River Road is narrow and rough. Summer and Fall are the reliable seasons in this corridor.
What hot springs near Atlanta have documented pools?
Atlanta Hot Springs and Chattanooga Hot Springs, both about four miles east of the Queens River spring, have live listings on this site with documented pools and access details.
Discover more from IdahoHotSprings.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Join the Community on Facebook
Stay updated on seasonal road closures, wildfire impacts, soaking conditions and community preservation efforts across Idaho.
Follow Idaho Hot Springs on Facebook
