Secesh Hot Springs is a chain of rock pools perched high above the Secesh River in the Payette National Forest, in the Warren area northeast of McCall. Reaching them takes a river ford followed by a quarter-mile, near-vertical scramble — and the payoff is some of the softest hot springs water in Idaho, in a place that sees very little use.
Tag: Summer
Hot springs that are best visited during Summer.
Stanley Hot Springs
Stanley Hot Springs is a chain of rock- and log-dammed pools in the ancient forest of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, more than 20 miles east of Lowell, Idaho — not to be confused with the town of Stanley in the Sawtooths. The pools sit at the end of a grueling 6-mile hike on a rough trail, and the reward is a deep, wide soaker in one of the wildest settings in North-Central Idaho.
Warm Springs Creek Hot Springs
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
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.
Skinnydipper Hot Springs
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.
Marten Creek Hot Springs
Marten Creek Hot Springs is one of the most remote soaks in Idaho, deep in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho County. Reached only by a multiday backpack with multiple river fords, it is best attempted in mid to late summer.
Jerry Johnson Hot Springs
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.
Snake Pit Hot Springs
Snake Pit Hot Springs is a small, primitive natural hot spring on the edge of Stanley, Idaho, near Valley Creek. Its single silty-bottomed pool is free to soak in, with no facilities, in the shadow of the Sawtooth Mountains.
Zims Hot Springs
Zims Hot Springs is a Nez Perce Tribe-operated hot springs a few miles outside New Meadows, Idaho, with outdoor mineral pools fed by an artesian well — a small pool at 100–105°F and a large pool at 90–100°F. Day use is $13 for adults, $8 for children, and $10 for seniors, with RV parking and camping on site.
Boiling Springs Hot Springs
Boiling Springs Hot Springs sits beside the historic Boiling Springs Guard Station at the end of a forest road north of Crouch, Idaho, in the Boise National Forest. Its rock-walled pools are fed by one of the most powerful geothermal sources in the Garden Valley backcountry.