The ScenicBoys Visit Slate Creek Hot Springs in Idaho

Found a great video on YouTube that features Stanely Idaho, the surrounding area and Slate Creek Hot Springs (also near Stanley):



More video and pictures of Slate Creek Hot Springs in Idaho

Basin Creek Campground Hot Springs near Stanley Idaho

General Description
Rocky user built pools that feature fluctuating temperatures with heavy silt bottoms.

Seasonal Notes
Pools submerge during high water.

Camping Notes
No camping at the hot springs since the campground is no more. However, plenty of official campgrounds along HWY 75 and even some primitive camping options.

Old Camping Notes
Hot Springs are located in Basin Creek Campground off HWY 75 along Basin Creek. There is a trail leading to the hot springs from campsite #4. There is also access via the dirt road on the other side of Basin Creek.




08.05.07 Trip Report

The main pool was too cool and the source pool too hot. Plenty of slit and not so great temps prevented me from soaking. I think a better pool could be built, but spring runoff will destroy it every season. Why? When there are so many other great soaks nearby. Too close to the highway anyways.
Rating: D



08.18.06 Trip Report

Basin Creek Campground is no more. Apparently, the flooding damage was too great. I wanted to check on the hot springs but the side road was closed due to bridge construction. The bridge crossing Basin Creek had washed out.

View the complete listing for Basin Creek Campground Hot Springs in Idaho

Cozy Cove Public Hot Springs in Idaho

Cove AKA Kem AKA Basin Creek Hot Springs in Central Idaho near Stanley.



General Description
Rocky user built pools with gravel/rock bottoms that are a short hike from the highway parking area near Stanley.



Seasonal Notes
Pools submerge during high water.

Camping Notes
No camping at the hot springs. However, plenty of official campgrounds along HWY 75 and even some primitive camping options.



08.05.07 Trip Report

Maybe next time? The temps were too sucky... again. I soaked my feet, though.
Rating: D



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Hoodoo Hot Springs

General Description
A rebar reinforced 6 person sunken wooden box (approx. 6ft x 6ft/3ft depth) with seating, cold and hot water plumbing and a drain plug await at the end of a short hike and a bumpy, unpaved forest service road. Please drain after use to preserve the soaking box.

Seasonal Notes
Spring runoff has demolished the structure erected at the hot springs time and time again; imagine what could happen to the road - drive carefully in spring.

Typically, during winter, locals try to keep the road to the hot springs plowed. However, keep in mind the geographic location of this hot springs; 10 inches of snow can drop in mere hours. Again, be very careful. It should also be noted that harsh summer storms can oftentimes turn the road into a muck pot - there have been a few times where the road has actually washed away - leaving campers and hot springers stranded until rescue.

Camping Notes
Plenty of nearby National Forest primitive sites to choose from along the forest road, and many primitive and official campgrounds along highway 75. New for 05/06 is a small camping site next to the parking area trailhead. Don't camp here unless you are ready for round-the-clock visitors.

08.03.07 - 08.05.07 Trip Report

Great trip, stellar soak. Increase in trash and bugs; moderate amount of visitors. I encountered an interesting couple on the evening of the 4th. After the couple had been soaking for around 5 hours I went to get my soak-on. The two textiles were friendly enough. However, the dude was heavily wasted and kept asking me question after question while being totally rude to his wife. She eventually convinced him to leave, but not after I endured a full hour of not so nice banter. I sunk down into the hot springs after they left, looked up and let out a big sigh. The blanket of stars above my head more than made up for it.
Rating: A

View the Complete Listing for Slate Creek Hot Springs in Central Idaho

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Fires and the Frank

Well, I'm back. Fresh from a week of backpacking to remote hot springs in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. I think I'm still feeling a little culture shock.

It was a different kind of drive back home from the trailhead. The sky was stained dark orange from all of the wildfire smoke. Fire planes and helicopters filled the air with unnatural noise. I passed what seemed like acres of land, dotted by hundreds of multicolored firefighter tents.

The most stunning was when driving by Bonneville Hot Springs. It was on fire, as well as the area around it. Human started, of course. Evacuated campers with concerned faces lined part of the road near the campground entrance while first responders battled the blaze. Chunks of burning earth tumbled to the ground as fire personnel waved me through. I caught glimpse of a small row of firefighters that were collapsed back to back on the side of the road, with faces flushed red from exhaust and blackened by soot.

Bear Valley Hot Springs Pictures

Taken from a July 05 trip to Bear Valley Hot Springs in Idaho near Stanley.

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Safe Soaking @ Slate Creek - No backpacking though...

After being turned-away from two attempted pack trips to Bear Valley Hot Springs and the Upper Loon Hot Springs due to wildfires, our troupe ended up at one of the only nearby areas not hampered by wildfire... Slate Creek.

The soaking and camping were excellent, and the hot springs featured a nifty valve addition to the plumbing, which allowed for precise control of the temperature of the incoming hot water.
Rating: A

Side Note
Our stay near the hot springs turned out great despite our preference to backpacking. I was really pulling for Bear Valley and Upper Loon. We encountered moderate amounts of traffic at Slate Creek, in fact, all were friendly soakers.

My only beef was with two hybrid bikers on Slate Creek road. These two idiots just sat on their bikes in the middle of the road upon approach. I originally thought they needed help but that wasn't the case. Just as I stopped they moved out of the road, I asked if they needed any help and they just stared at me. Real smart, and to top it off they were just above a ridge in the road - southbound travelers won't have much of a chance to stop once the ridge is crested.

View Slate Creek Hot Springs Complete Listing

Bear Valley and Upper Loon Hot Springs Fire Update

Access to the two hot springs is currently being effected by the Boundary Fire.

Click here to read about it in the hot springs forums...

Roadside Soaking at Elkhorn Hot Spring Near Stanley, Idaho

Elkhorn Hot Spring: Easy-access, wooden soaking box right next to the highway northeast of Stanley.

Good to go!

The wooden soaking tub is usable all year long, and the rock-walled seasonal pools next to the river submerge during spring runoff. You'll have to fill the tub (after you put the stopper in) and adjust the hot temps with a plastic bucket (usually located next to the tub) by carting in cold water from the river. Comes complete with sunken seating.

There are plenty of campgrounds and primitive sites to choose from in the surrounding Sawtooth National Forest and Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA), none next to the hot spring.

This roadside dip was a sweet soak as usual during my last visit. Be careful climbing into the soaking tub as the river level was unusually high for this time of year, compare the pictures from May 03 and 06 to see for yourself (more than likely normal river flows considering years of drought). I like Elkhorn, and my biggest beef is that it is right next to the highway. Good and bad I suppose depending on your position. I favor soaking a little further off the beaten path - wondering if someone might drive off the highway and land in the hot spring is just something I don't want entering my mind during a soak. Yes, the odds are quite low of this occurring, but judging from the strength of the river flows, I'd say there is a higher probability that you might end up enjoying a mobile soaking experience (while the river carries the soaking tub downstream). It'd be one heck of a ride and a stellar soak to boot, complete with years of bragging rights.
Rating: B+

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Bear Valley Hot Springs in Idaho Revisited!

Bear Valley Hot Springs

It was great to return to Bear Valley after 2 years and find no trash upon arrival. We had the place to ourselves at night and experienced a steady stream of daytime traffic - some friendly and some not. This large influx of day hiker traffic is probably due in part to Backpacker magazine recently featuring Bear Valley. However, they used the wrong picture for the article (Lower Loon Hot Springs was the actual pic used), directions were lackluster and there was no mention of red spider mites. The Boise National Forest also hands out free publications promoting this hot springs as well - funny how their map looks just like that of Evie Littion's Hiking Hot Springs (2nd Ed.) as do the descriptions.

I was not ecstatic to find out that my buddies, the red spider mites, were still around. Despite careful soaking I still came away with a few bites which multiplied after returning (as usual). They even got on a couple of my friends that didn't even go on this trip!

Changes to note:
A downed large tree has crumbled the fire pit and bisects the flat camp site on the Eastern side of the hot springs complexes. The beach area further East of the downed tree has turned into a human flower farm - yeeech! Come on guys! Crap at least 200ft away!

An overzealous hunter has built a structure near the top of the first source so that he may sit comfortably while shooting animals grazing on the algae at the hot springs - wow that's some sportsman. This area is in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness; it is illegal to build structures in it!

A very positive change to note however - (despite the human flower farm) there was no other trash in the hot springs area. Further downstream though is another story. Quite a bit of trash was found in a fire pit downstream of the hot springs at an (yes again) Angler camp. Burnt hooks, fishing wire, tin cans, preservative packs and more were among the trash found. I'm soooo sick of finding Angler trash... my guess is that the 'flower farm' is more than likely Angler related as well.

Despite the pesky mites and trashy Anglers, this trip was excellent. The pools felt great and the scenery was nothing short of spectacular.
Rating: A