Idaho aka Hot Spring Heaven

I'm ashamed to admit that it has been a few years since I was able to soak in a natural hot spring. This trip was my chance to right that wrong and Idaho was going to help me along the way. I borrowed a hot springs book from Brian while in Portland and picked out just a few from the hundred or more hot springs in the southern part of the state. North of Boise in the Garden Valley area seemed to be the easiest place to get to with the highest concentration of hot springs. My goal was to soak in 4 hot springs in a 24 hour period. Piece of cake.

Hot Spring #1

I arrived in the Garden Valley area around 7:00pm and went straight to this amazing spring called Skinny Dippers Hot Spring. A half a mile hike up the side of the mountain brought you to 3 separate pools (hot, hotter, hottest) that were each large enough for a basketball team to soak in. This is the lowest and coolest of the 3 pools.


There was a pretty elaborate system of pipes that channeled hot water into the 3 pools. You could adjust the amount of hot water by adjusting valves on the pipes. I soaked till about 8:30pm and then turned in for the night.

Hot Spring #2

This little guy was easy to find first thing in the morning. I got to Hot Spring campground around 7am and joined two other soakers in this gem by the river.


Saw this fun car on my way to the campground. I drew a different angle of it later that week in my art journal and it came out really well.

Hot Spring #3

This one is called Pine Flats Hot Spring and while it was really pretty to look at it was my least favorite because it was so hot.
This is one of the soaking pools in the middle of the photo. The book said the best soaking pool was down by the river near that gravel island. Unfortunately, the river was running really high due to snow melt so that pool was under water.


I scrambled around on the slippery rocks looking for a better pool and found this shower and pool. It was still pretty hot so it was a short soak. No other soakers at this spring so it was nice and peaceful.

Hot Spring #4

Just 10 miles down the road was this beauty called Kirkham Hot Springs. Once again the high river water covered up the best soaking pools but their were plenty others to choose from. I had this place all to myself too.


I was able to make this pool cooler by removing a few rocks behind me which let in some cold river water.


One my way back to my car I saw these 3 pools right in the middle of the campsite. I can't believe I didn't see them the first time around.


After all that relaxing I had to do something active. Poor Pirate spent most of the day in the car while I was soaking so we went on a long hike.


We gained lots of elevation so she was pretty tuckered out by the end.