Most Common Natural Hot Springs Dangers:
Alcohol Consumption and Dehydration
Drinking and soaking gets you wasted in no time flat because hot springs dehydrate the body. Every year, people drown and literally fall off ledges while hiking due to mixing alcohol and hot springs together. This is the most common risk associated with hot springing.
Soaking in the Sun Without Replenishment
Sun and hot springs quickly deplete the body of vital energy; keep water, electrolyte drinks, sunscreen and sun protection handy. Wide-brimmed hats are your friend!
Visiting Popular Hot Springs at Popular Times
I’ve heard horror story after horror story about how a newbie visited a popular hot springs on a Saturday afternoon and had a terrible time. Same goes for popular hot springs on weekend evenings.
Fights, vehicle break-ins, vandalism and overcrowded pools are not just something people in Oregon and Washington have to worry about. Unfortunately, it happens all too often in Idaho.
Red Spider Mites
This IS real. Sadly, a growing number of hot springs have reported infestations of red spider mites, which are not of the garden variety.
Spring Runoff
Even small creeks and rivers experience large undertows during spring runoff. It is incredibly dangerous to attempt fording anything fast moving until spring runoff is over, which is usually around late June to early July depending on elevation. FYI, spring runoff buries most stream side pools.
Other Concerns and Issues to Consider
Adult Situations
That’s right, unfortunately. For some reason, people think that hot springs are a good place to get their freak-on. Not such a great idea. And really, how would it feel to get busted by little Johnny or Suzy with their family in tow? How about soaking in a pool that doesn’t have a drain after a weekend of debauchery? How about parasites and amoeba? Think about it. GROSS.
Pets
Soaking with Fido can be an enjoyable experience, but the majority of hot springs are NOT dog safe for a variety of reasons. Dogs are not capable of monitoring their internal temperature, which is why every year there are deaths at hot springs related to overheating. Dogs can also defecate in areas that drain into pools.
Snakes
This is generally not a concern, but a few hot springs feature nearby thermal vents that provide year-round habitat for snakes. If you leave them alone – they leave you alone.
Acanthamoeba
Acanthamoeba is an amoeba that is known to inhabit some hot springs which can enter the brain through nasal passages and cause meningitis. This is another reason to keep your head above water while soaking.
Usually, hot springs with acanthamoeba are signed. Washington, Oregon and Montana all have hot springs with reported acanthamoeba.
Hunters
Some hunters like hot springs so much that a handful routinely (and illegally mind you) build tree-perches for shooting deer and elk that graze on hot springs algae. Bear Valley in Idaho suffers this fate along with many others. Their illegal kills and hasty clean-ups can lead to animal parasites entering the water complex and any people that soak in it along with attracting scavengers.
While I’ve encountered respectable hunters throughout my years exploring the backcountry, I’ve had more run-ins with ones that have discouraged me greatly. I’ve seen drunk hunters shooting out of their truck window while barley being able to drive, coke-fueled hunting parties and hunters so paranoid of the woods, bears and wolves that they randomly shoot off their guns throughout the night.
Party people may be responsible for trashing popular hot springs, but hunters, 10 times of out 10, are responsible for trashing backcountry hot springs. I wish this wasn’t the case, but I’d be lying to you otherwise. Luckily, I’m acquainted with many hunters that feel the same and are actively working towards educating the masses. After almost stepping in steel traps, picking out countless bullet shells/tin cans/fishing hooks and lines out of hot springs/campsites/campfires, scary drunken/armed encounters and emails from hundreds of other hot springers with tales of more of the same – it is long past time for a light to shine on this unfortunate circumstance.
If you encounter steel traps, hunter trash, illegal kills/tree perches and/or gut piles in the backcountry please report it to the corresponding area national forest or BLM. They have the ability to find out who’s been hunting in the area and will often investigate.
A little clarifying on Acanthamoeba, which, though ubiqitous throughout the environment including hot springs, is not nearly the villian that its cousin, Naegleria fowleri is. Both are Pathogenic Free-Living Amoebae however, Naegleria has been shown to favor the warmer temperatures that are commonly found in hot springs. Naegleria is commonly called the ‘Bath Bug’ from its’ discovery in the springs of Bath, England, where it was impicated in several fatalities.
Both parasites can cause serious fatal meningitis and encephalitis. Acanthamoeba is mainly a threat to immunosuppressed individuals for whom the immune system in the blood stream does not destroy the parasite and it subsequently crosses the blood-brain barrier to cause a fatal form of granulomatious amoebic encephalitis or GAE. Acanthamoeba can also cause permanent blindness to the cornea of the eyes (it is a concern for contact lens wearers who do not scruplously disinfect their contacts between uses).
Naegleria, by contrast, loves hot water (thermophillic) and lives best at temperatures between 85F and 115F. Naegleria also cause a fatal form of meningitis (called Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis, or PAM), however Naegleria F. cannot pass the blood-brain barrier. The parasite MUST be forcibly inhaled into the nasal passages from where the amoebae can migrate via the cribriform plate, to directly infect the brain and meninges. PAM can infect healthy individuals as well as the immunosuppressed.
That said, quoting from an Army Manual on the subject:
PAM infection can only occur when a number of conditions occur at the same time:
a. The amoeba must be present in the water.
b. The amoeba must be able to multiply to large numbers. (Greater than 80 degrees water temperature instagnant, calm waters.)
c. Water containing the amoeba must get up the victims nose. (Water must be forcefully inhaled. The PAM infection can not result from swallowing water containing the pathogenic amoeba.)
PAM infection can be prevented by following a few common sense precautions:
a. Never swim in stagnant or polluted water. Stay in deeper more open areas of the lake.
b. Avoid underwater swimming and hold your nose or use nose plugs when jumping into natural waters.
c. Swim in properly maintained pools.
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A properly maintained natural hot spring pool that has an adequate water turnover and fluidity movement (is not stagnant), is protected from bacterial and cyano-bacterial growth (the food for these amoebae) and where soakers preclude themselves from ducking their heads underwater and snorting the water, is unlikely to be a threat from these infections.
Yeah… what the above guy said. That guy is AWESOME.