Sunbeam Hot Springs

Lunchbreak Warm Springs is a medium-sized, lukewarm — not hot — soak on the far side of the Salmon River in the White Cloud Mountains, in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area near Stanley, Idaho. A single rock-walled pool, a sandy beach, and picnic facilities make it a favorite stop for river floaters on a hot summer day.

Indian Bathtub II Hot Springs — also listed as Lower Indian Bathtub — is a pair of rock-walled pools on the Bruneau River near Bruneau, Idaho. The scenery is first-rate and the 93–96°F water is inviting, but go in with eyes open: this pretty canyon soak has a documented trash problem, and the access road can defeat anything without clearance and four-wheel drive.

Russian John Warm Springs is a shallow warm spring north of Ketchum in the Sawtooth National Forest — and “warm” is the honest word for it. Warm water percolates up through the sandy bottom of a mortar-reinforced rock pool, making it a pleasant summer soak and foot-warmer with a view, rather than a hot winter destination.

Smith’s Cabin Hot Springs is a trio of undeveloped hot springs — numbered 1, 2, and 3 — strung along both sides of the Middle Fork Boise River near Troutdale Campground in the Atlanta corridor. All three are filed under “potential”: the first sits on the road side of the river, the second across the river slightly upstream, and the third about 100 yards further up, originating roughly 20 yards above the river. On documented visits, soaking pools were marginal or absent entirely — this is a stop for spring hunters already working the corridor, not a destination soak.