The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness covers some 2.3 million acres of central Idaho, the largest contiguous wilderness in the Lower 48, and its hot springs are as remote as soaking gets. The six springs tagged here, including Upper Loon, Dagger Creek, Bear Valley and Owen Cabin, are reached by long trails, jet boats or small planes along the Middle Fork and Main Salmon River corridors. Expect no services, no cell signal and some of the wildest, quietest pools in Idaho. Check river and trail conditions before you go, and pack out everything you pack in.
Sulphur Creek Hot Spring is a documented thermal spring on Sulphur Creek, the 18-mile tributary that joins the Middle Fork of the Salmon River at Dagger Falls, deep inside the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. It exists in the federal record as an entry in the USGS thermal springs inventory, which plots it…
Trail Flat Hot Springs is a small, undeveloped soak at the edge of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, at Trail Flat camp in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. It is the first hot spring on the river below the Boundary Creek launch, and for a lot of Middle Fork trips…
Sheepeater Hot Springs is a cluster of undeveloped soaking pools on a high terrace above the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, at river mile 13 in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. It is the second hot spring on the river below the Boundary Creek launch, and one of the most reliable:…
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…
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.
Warm Springs Creek Hot Springs is a barely used wilderness hot spring, the Sitz Bath, in Idaho’s Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, reached by a difficult hike. Access roads are open only from about July to October, spring runoff destroys the lower pools, and the trip is best done as an overnighter with primitive camping nearby.
Shower Bath Hot Springs is a remote wilderness hot springs in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, reached by a trail that follows the Narrows of Warm Springs Creek. Its rock-walled pools vary in size and temperature, and access roads are open only about July to October, leaving a short 2–3 month visiting window each year.
