Not every Idaho hot spring needs an expedition pack. This collection gathers soaks reached by a hike of anything from a short stroll to a few hours on the trail: long enough to leave the road behind, short enough to do as a day trip. Trailheads, distances and elevation notes live in each listing. Wear real shoes, carry water, and give yourself time to enjoy the walk out as much as the soak.
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:…
Bull Creek Hot Springs is an undeveloped spring on Bull Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork Payette River, in the roadless backcountry of the Boise National Forest north of Crouch. It is a named USGS feature, prominent enough that the 7.5-minute topo map covering it is the Bull Creek Hot Springs quadrangle. What it…
Willow Creek Hot Springs is a chain of algae- and silt-laden pools along Willow Creek and the Idaho Centennial Trail in the Sawtooth National Forest, just under a mile’s hike from a horse transfer camp northeast of Pine and Featherville, Idaho. It is also a comeback story: the area burned hard in a 2008 wildfire and the pools vanished for years — by June 2013 they were back, soaking a recovering, still-scorched landscape.
Slate Creek Hot Springs — also known as Hoodoo Hot Springs — is a sunken wooden soaking box at the old Hoodoo Mines site in the White Cloud Mountains, in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area northeast of Stanley, Idaho. A short hike at the end of a bumpy, unpaved forest road (FSR 666) reaches one of the most characterful soaks in the Stanley area: a plumbed, drainable wooden box fed by a mine-shaft source.
Vulcan Hot Springs is one of Idaho’s most unusual hot springs: a short hike through the Boise National Forest, in the Warm Lake area, reaches a source so strong that the US Department of Energy studied its geothermal potential for years. Its main pool was once reputedly the largest natural hot springs pool in Idaho — but a wildfire-era cave-in filled it with silt and sludge, and today, per the latest update, only one small pool remains soakable.
Trail Creek Hot Springs is a hugely popular pair of mortar-reinforced rock pools in the Boise National Forest northeast of Cascade, in the Warm Lake area. A short but steep hike from the highway pullout — across a man-made bridge over the creek — reaches two pools whose temperatures soakers fine-tune with creek water and a valved PVC feed. Expect company: usage here is extreme.
Penny Hot Springs is a small cluster of three springs in the Boise National Forest’s Warm Lake/Yellow Pine area. The main event is Penny #1 — “New Penny” — a rock- and sand-walled pool fed by a source marked by copper-colored algae, with two smaller siblings nearby: a one-person soaker downstream and Twopenny across the river.
Molly’s Hot Springs is a log-dam and rock-bordered pool in the Boise National Forest’s Warm Lake area, a quarter-mile from the forest road — the best-known soak of the Molly’s cluster, close enough to the road to stay popular but far enough to feel like a real find. Its temperature is adjustable via a hose-and-valve system fed from the source.
Weir Creek Hot Springs is a crystal-clear forest soak in the Clearwater National Forest near Lolo, Montana, reached by a short but steep hike from the Highway 12 corridor. Its enlarged main pool runs 105–108°F and holds 8–10 soakers, making it one of the most popular wilderness soaks in North-Central Idaho — expect company, and pack out more than you pack in.
Skinnydipper Hot Springs is a natural hot springs above the Banks-Lowman Highway in the Boise National Forest, reached by a steep 0.5-mile hike. It is closed to all use under a BLM closure order extended through February 2027.
Jerry Johnson Hot Springs is one of Idaho’s most popular natural hot springs, in the Clearwater National Forest along Highway 12 in North-Central Idaho. Three sources feed rock-walled pools at the end of a short hike; nude soaking is the norm and the site is day-use only, 6 AM to 8 PM.
Bonneville Hot Springs is a natural hot springs in the Boise National Forest, 19 miles southeast of Lowman, Idaho, reached by a 0.25-mile trail along Warm Springs Creek. User-built rock-walled pools and a private soak shack with a cast-iron bathtub sit below the Bonneville Campground.
Kirkham Hot Springs is a popular Forest Service hot springs on the South Fork of the Payette River near Lowman, Idaho, known for its shallow rock pools and hot waterfalls. Day use is free; the site is open 7 AM–9 PM with no overnight camping.
Pine Flats Hot Springs is a string of natural hot pools beside the South Fork of the Payette River near Lowman, Idaho, reached by a 0.25 to 0.75-mile hike from Pine Flats Campground. The pools are usable all winter.
