Tag: FCRONRW

Upper Loon Hot Springs is a complex of four separate hot spring sources strung along the Loon Creek Trail in the Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness, passed in consecutive order as you trek up Loon Creek toward Warm Springs Creek. With everything from a two-person soaker to a 10–15 person pool fed by a hot waterfall, it’s one of the finest backpacking soaks in Idaho — reachable only in a short summer-to-fall window.

Owen Cabin Hot Springs is a historic hot spring site on Loon Creek in the Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness, just beyond Upper Loon Hot Springs — and, honestly, a place to visit for the history and the meadow rather than the soak. Only the outlines of the old rock-walled pools remain where the spring’s outflow meets Loon Creek.

Dagger Creek Hot Springs is a set of three rock-walled pools above the mouth of Dagger Creek, near Dagger Falls on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. It is a beautiful corner of Idaho — but go in with calibrated expectations: the pools are silty, and the one documented visit was swarmed by biting horse and deer flies.

Bear Valley Hot Springs is a string of stellar soaking pools of all shapes and sizes along Bear Valley Creek in the Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness, northwest of Lowman in the Boise National Forest. Reaching them takes a moderate hike and a river ford — and the reward is one of the highest-rated wilderness soaks in Idaho, fed by multiple sources in a spectacular backcountry setting.