Donlay Ranch 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.
Donlay Ranch Hot Spring occupies Boise National Forest ground in Boise County, 15 miles or so from Idaho City, on Southfork Road. Low 130s water, which needs cooling before a soak. Access is open. A campground called Hot Springs sits about 3.5 miles away, the closest developed camping on file, which makes this an easy overnight.
Southfork Road passes about 115 feet from the spring. The site is low for the Boise forest, but the snow still piles up, close to nine feet most winters, in a wet climate. Beyond that the ground is undescribed, and no image is on record.
The best-months note points to December through February. Nine feet or so of snow comes down most years, so ask about the forest road before you drive. Fees and any kind of structure at the spring go unmentioned on file. The chemistry dates from 1978 and came back alkaline. Hot Springs campground is close enough to base from, with Idaho City the closest town.
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 Donlay Ranch Hot Spring.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 658 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the north
A slice through the ground from north to south, 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 78% 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 Donlay Ranch Hot Spring is alkaline (pH 9.2).
Overview Hot Springs Campground is located just east of Garden Valley, Idaho along the Banks-Lowman Highway at an elevation of 3169 feet. Visitors enjoy rafting, kayaking, fishing on the South Fork Payette River, and soaking in the hot springs at the river's edge. Recreation The South Fork Payette River is across the road from the campground, offering fishing, whitewater rafting, and kayaking. A natural hot springs soaking pool is located on the river directly across the road and down a...
Springs Near Donlay Ranch Hot Spring
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Alkaline Springs (pH ~9.2)
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