What more can I say that hasn’t already been said about Kirkham Hot Springs? Which is excellent, in terms of textile soaking. When driving past the full pullout for Skinnydipper on the way in, I noticed that even the pullouts before and after were akin to overflow parking. Pine Flats and Hot Springs campground had a couple vehicles and sole campers each. Timing for Kirkham was just right, as four groups of people all left upon approach. Two other groups pulled-up and parked as my ride sped off down highway 21, long after a great soak was had.
Minimal trash was a welcome surprise and all people encountered were of the friendly lot. There was about four pools prime for soaking. The largest pool had some nice depth to it as well. Watching the sun set and moon rise from the hot springs was the icing on the cake.
Sadly, just like the rest of Idaho and the northwest, there was a severe lack of snow evident for this time of the year. It practically looked like September outside. Unless paramount snowfall occurs, this summer will see a multitude of wildfires.
Keeping in tune with publishing unpublished, past trip reports – here is one for Jerry Johnson Hot Springs in Idaho, from July 2011.
Special note: Jerry Johnson is Idaho’s most popular hot springs – and as such, is heavily abused. Please pack out all trash and don’t bring glass. This hot springs is already under nighttime closure. If we don’t take care of Jerry, we risk losing the right to visit completely. Overnight, illegal campers beware, the Forest Service will catch and fine you. They routinely send out patrols after dark ISO violators.
Just Jerry
On Sunday, July 24th 2011, we arrived bright and early at the Warm Springs Pack Bridge in the Clearwater National Forest, AKA the trailhead for the brief jaunt to Jerry Johnson Hot Springs. The parking area was half-full of overnight campers, and there was even a Rainbow bus with a handful of folks sleeping in their bags underneath.
The ‘Buffalo Tribe’ was heading back home, but had to detour around Oregon. Apparently, one of their tribe has an Oregon warrant. After crossing the pack bridge we were treated to the same sight over and over again. Jackhole overnight campers… sound asleep amongst their piles of trash, camping illegally, in areas desperately in need of recovering from years of abuse. A new jackhole sub-type was discovered here as well… the meth jackhole.
Long story short, we documented the illegals and lectured a bunch of kids drinking Boone’s that had strewn trash in a perfect circle around their little ‘hot tub’. The little jackholes took off running with our backs turned and left their trash, of course. We finally found a good soak, which was eventually shared with a photography class from MSU in Missoula, MT and a few other random people that wandered in. All good people, and all in all a great soak.
Aside from the jackholes, the soak was stellar and the people we chatted with were very friendly. We passed a handful of rangers on our way out, on their way in (to drop the hammer). I enjoy backpacking and camping near hot springs too, but when unique places like this are heavily damaged, hot springers need to respect that damage by not adding to it.
The first source was still submerged, no surprise here given the insane late spring runoff this season. The second and third sources were good to go.
I try to be timely with trip reports, but inevitably, some slip through the cracks. Here is one of them from last July for Weir Creek Hot Springs in the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho…
Ole Weir Creek can be a crap shoot this time of the year. A time when many geothermal brethren answer the call of spending warm summer nights amidst a thick forest veil and star filled sky, soaking away life’s pain in a natural hot spring. As do I.
Upon arrival, our party encountered a mix of folks camping at the trailhead and primitive sites (along the access trail nearest to the parking lot). Some nice, others, not so nice. We counted 14 overnighters, all crammed into the small primitive sites along the trail except for 3 sleeping in the parking lot. The second night, aside from our group, saw only 2 trailhead campers. Whew! The hot springs saw a steady stream of traffic on all 3 days.
I detected 3 types of recreational users that were present; the traveling folks, road bicyclists and straight-up hot springers.
The traveling folks let their dogs run amok, crap all over the trail and didn’t bother to call them off whenever someone wanted to hike past to reach the hot springs. These folks knew or cared little of camping, backpacking, traveling and hot springing. The kind with no respect for the land. My party ended up picking up all of their trash once they finally left. This included a sopping wet mattress. Yep. They dragged mattresses from their ride out into the forest before it rained on them heavily. Brilliant.
I’m not entirely sure they knew about Weir Creek. These folks were creepy, and would try to hide when people passed by on the trail. The only decent thing I can say about the jackholes is that one of them was an alright guitarist.
The road bicyclists and soak seekers treated this area with a great deal more respect. They even helped clean up after the jackholes. Which, unfortunately, took the liberty of depositing human flowers directly on the trail to Weir Creek, with TP strewn all about… it was so nasty… the image is still burned into my mind.
Prior to arriving, we had just finished up a full day of backpacking 10+ miles in heavy rain through the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, and needless to say were very ready for a hot soak. After parking, we strapped on the packs and got as far away from everyone as possible before setting up camp for 2 nights.
Weir Creek Hot Springs in 3 Minutes
All camping and soaking was excellent. There was little to none in regard to trash at the pool, plenty of friendly hot springers – and was exactly what summers in Idaho are all about. Minus the traveling jackholes. Long live the Clearwater National Forest.
Long live the Clearwater National Forest.