So, you’ve finally got some extra time and hot springs have been on your mind. Good news ole chap, there are plenty of options for the intrepid soak-seeker!

Old man winter may be hindering access to many of Idaho’s geothermal delights, but not all of them.

The quintessential hot springs listed below are usually accessible during Idaho’s winter months. Just to be safe, make sure to check road conditions before rolling out.

Boise, Idaho Area Winter Hot Springs

Fairly accessible, family friendly, privately owned, with facilities of some sort and with a usage fee:

• Gold Fork Hot Springs - view all posts
• Miracle Hot Springs - view all posts (has private pool options)
• Roy Stone Hot Springs - view all posts

Accessible via short hike (snowshoes may be needed), family friendly, located on public land, no facilities, no fees:

• Bonneville Hot Springs - view all posts (snowshoes advised)
• Pine Flats Hot Springs - view all posts
• Kirkham Hot Springs - view all posts
• Hot Springs Campground - view all posts

There are, of course, many other public and commercial hot springs. However, the springs listed above are the most (relatively) accessible from the Boise area during the winter months.

First time hot springing in Idaho? Check out the guides, pick up all trash and don’t bring glass – and enjoy!

Week after week slipped past, until finally, a Tuesday afternoon stepped out of the void and presented itself. It only took a second for me to realize just what exactly this meant. No time for dogs, but I needed an accomplice. Easy. I knew of a geothermal fiend that didn’t have BSU class on Tuesdays. So, I nabbed my soak-pack (a small sling-style backpack pre-loaded with day hiking and hot springing gear) and was out the door. Destination – Boise National Forest.

Afternoons like this are why Boise is such a great place to live. Forest to the north, high desert to the south. Open space. The great outdoors. Only 1 hour in either direction. Within 30 minutes I broke free of crowded roads and the vast expanse of the bustling valley. Another 30 minutes on highway 55 brought me into the thick of the forest, and Mile Marker 4 Hot Springs.

Skinnydipper was slammed, and I wasn’t in a mood to banter. A more subtle commune with nature was on my agenda. On down the highway. Thoughts of checking on Rocky Canyon and Little Anderson came and went. Then, I arrived at Hot Springs Campground. Took a look around, checked temps (100-101) and left. It looked good, but I needed more hiking.

Pine Flats was awesome. Not the soak, but everything else. All of the pools except one tiny soaker up top were too cool (upper 90s) for school. It was just nice to hike around and look for signs of spring. Oh, and no trash to pick up is always a treat. After all of that hiking, it was time to return to Hot Springs Campground.

The soak at HS CG was marginal. We cleared the area of trash and hopped right in. Well, turns out that 101 degrees during the day wasn’t too bad, but that 101 had turned into 99 after sunset and the ambient air temps had dropped right along with it. Add to that Red Spider Mites (RSMs), and the suck factor increased a bit. I’ve heard stories, but after many visits to HS CG with no RSM encounters I didn’t think much of it – until now. I have a theory that hot springers are inadvertently infecting the non-afflicted hot springs with RSMs. Ugh, another one to add to the list.

This saturday we plan to go up to Hot Springs Campground for a clean up. We do plan to bring some children, and encourage others to feel free to as well. With that we will have a bathig suits mandatory soak at the end and also discourage drinking after the clean up. We plan to meet at the Home Depot on State St. at 10am. To sign up visit www.riverhelpers.com

Post Author: Amber Hoid

Trip Reports for Rocky Canyon and Molly’s Tubs Hot Springs in Idaho

09.16.08 Rocky Canyon Hot Springs

A welcome improvement to report at Rocky Canyon Hot Springs; the hot water channel and pool mortaring has been revamped; hot water from the source now travels down an encased tunnel, which helps trap the necessary heat required to keep the pools sizzlin hot. All of the pools feature elevated temperatures. Lately, it’s been the opposite, and soaking near the top was a must. Now, it’s time to enjoy the lower pools. That creek ford though, it was cold. At least the water is low this time of year, and the pools are waiting to warm your numb feet one way in. On Sunday, this place was slammed, uber-slammed! Come Monday, not a soul.
Rating: A+

09.15.08 Molly’s Tubs Hot Springs

Not much new to report here… tubs and temps are in good soaking condition. Check out the video for more. Note: all primitive and official campground are currently closed for restoration purposes. Camping anywhere in the vicinity will be difficult at best.
Rating: B+

Rocky Canyon Hot Springs in Idaho

Less trash, lower temperatures (just barley hot enough to soak) and a freezing river ford… in a nutshell. All in all a great soak. Although my friend experienced a couple bites that he thought to be red spider mites. Hmmm. Maybe, maybe not.
Rating: B+

View 11.12.07 Rocky Canyon Hot springs Video Clip

View Rocky Canyon Hot Springs in Idaho Complete Listing

Hot Springs Campground in Idaho

Dang. This place was the most thrashed and trashed I’ve ever witnessed. My gut feeling was that the parking lot and campground directly across the highway that was full of hunters had something to do with that. I really hope not, but why the crap won’t they clean it up? The temperature clocked in at 101, but I didn’t stick around to soak more than my appendages. Hot Springs Campground is a decent soak, but with so many other stellar soaks in the neighborhood, why?
Rating D

Watch the video clip

View the complete listing

Skinnydipper Hot Springs in Idaho

We tried to sneak a soak at Skinny in the am, but the 6 cars in the pullout drove us on to nearby hot springs. However, on the way back, a huge rainstorm hit. Our hopes that the storm had chased off all of Mile Marker 4′s soakers was confirmed when we rounded the bend on the Banks-Lowman highway. Soaking in Skinnydipper during any kind of storm is a personal favorite. The icing on the cake was almost non-existent trash.
Rating: A+

View the complete listing for Skinnydipper

I made a trip up to Rocky Canyon, Campground and Skinnydipper Hot Springs with Stoney. The video includes the first two, but it was raining too hard for any Skinnydipper flimage. Both hot springs are located north of Boise Idaho, in the Boise National Forest.

Campground hot springs, located on the other side of the seasonally busy Banks-Lowman highway from the aptly named Hot Springs Campground, features one large soaking pool that sits in the base of an old structure. Hot water is piped into the pool from old pipes that remain from a historical bathhouse. The bathhouse’s structure can bee seen from the pool and is closer to the Payette River. There is a second pool, but the water temperature is luke warm. However, this particular pool is actually designed to be a stand-up shower – perfect for a warm summer day! The pools are shallow, with rock lined walls and are sand/gravel bottomed.

Seasonal Notes
Be wary of the mud and rock slides that are a common occurrence along the Banks-Lowman Highway. Otherwise, HS CG is accessible year-round!

Camping Notes
Boise National Forest camping is right across the street.

04.08.07 Trip Report

Things are looking good around these parts! A larger pipe with increased flow has replaced the old, providing for much needed additional flow, which means the pool is a bit hotter.

The area was clean, the soak stellar and the views of the Payette sealed the deal. I wish my visit to Little Anderson hot spring was more like this. The good folks that soak here take excellent care of the hot springs.
Rating B+

The main pool at Hot Springs Campground

I would have ranked this soak an ‘A’, but the water in the main pool just wasn’t warm enough for prolonged soaking. However, someone has been hard at work redesigning the pipe that feeds the main pool (see pic above); which has yielded to a dramatic increase in flow. The sunny day, snow speckled landscape and lack of people made up for the few extra degrees I would have preferred.
Rating B