Lower Bowery 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.
Lower Bowery Hot Spring is a hot source in the Sawtooth National Forest, Blaine County, Idaho, around twenty-two miles from Sun Valley. The public access on record is open. Out of the ground it comes hot enough to need mixing with something cooler before a soak, and the only chemistry reading is from 1980. High country, cold year-round on average.
The nearest road, unnamed in the record, is a short walk away. Sawtooth National Forest land, no wilderness designation noted. This is high terrain, up near seven thousand feet, where the year runs cold on average and winter drops something close to eleven feet of snow. What lies between road and water goes unrecorded.
Winter tops the record's list of months, and at this elevation that means deep snow on the way in. The closest camping on file is the Wood River group overnight area, tents only, nearly thirteen miles off. The water will burn if you get in without testing it first. Nothing on file describes pools or how the water is cooled.
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 Lower Bowery Hot Spring.
- Setting
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the southeast.
- Highest ground nearby
- 300 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the southeast
A slice through the ground from west to east, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about 2½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 94% 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 Lower Bowery Hot Spring is slightly alkaline (pH 8.5).
Overview Wood River Group Overnight Area is located inside the Wood River Campground, which has 30 single campsites for RV's and tent camping, which are available for use on a first-come first-served basis. This campground is located on the banks of the beautiful Big Wood River at an elevation of 6400 feet. Ketchum, Idaho is conveniently close, only 10 miles south. Visitors enjoy fishing, tubing and exploring local trails.Recreation This site is part of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area,...
Lower Bowery Hot Spring sits at 6,820 feet above sea level, way above the mile-high mark. You may not feel the altitude strongly, but hot water still dehydrates you faster at elevation. UV is about 27% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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