Baumgartner Hot Spring
Nine feet of ground separate Baumgartner Hot Spring from the road, and its own campground is under a mile off. Camas County, Idaho, 22 miles out of Fairfield, in the Sawtooth National Forest. The source runs hot, a notch past what you could sit in. The Forest Service holds the ground and access is open.
As roadside as it gets, per the record. Elevation around five thousand feet. Snow piles up more than ten feet in a year, and average temperatures sit in the mid forties. The land unit is Sawtooth National Forest and the nearest road has no name attached. Camping is under a mile off at Baumgartner Campground, and the USGS logged a tiny flow here.
Winter months top the best-months list. Hot enough at the source to need care, though short of scalding. No fee is recorded. The campground next door makes a base. The chemistry on record is from 1981 and the water is alkaline. Whatever has been built around the spring, the record does not describe it.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Baumgartner Hot Spring.
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 588 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southwest
A slice through the ground from southwest to northeast, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 81% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
The water at Baumgartner Hot Spring is alkaline (pH 9.1).
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Overview Baumgartner Campground is situated alongside the South Fork Boise River, 11 miles from Featherville, Idaho. The area offers excellent fishing, hiking and off-road vehicle riding opportunities. Baumgartner Hot Springs is located within the campground, where visitors can enjoy soaking in the pool while admiring the scenic, natural setting. Recreation The campground's main draw is Baumgartner Hot Springs. The 101-degree water is piped into a large concrete soaking pool. The pool...
Baumgartner Hot Spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water runs hot, so extra hydration is key. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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