Middle Fork Indian Creek 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.
Deep in the Boise National Forest, Custer County, Idaho, Middle Fork Indian Creek Hot Spring is a remote, scalding source. The closest town the record gives is Challis, close to fifty miles away. Open access. The temperature on file is well past the point of burning skin, so this is a thermal source to look at, with any soaking dependent on cooled outflow that the record does not cover.
Nearly five miles of hiking separate the source from the nearest road, and that road has no name on file. Forest Service ground, no wilderness designation recorded. Mid elevation for central Idaho, cold on average, and snowy, with a snowfall figure north of a hundred inches. No fee is noted, and the trail itself goes undescribed.
The record names winter, a hard call with a long approach through deep snow. For camping, the record has Johnson Creek Guard Station, about nineteen miles out. The water will scald on contact. Do not get in at the source. The chemistry sample is from 1979 and the access class on record is a hike.
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 Middle Fork Indian Creek Hot Spring.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 583 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the east
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 71% 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 Middle Fork Indian Creek Hot Spring is alkaline (pH 9.0).
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Overview Johnson Creek Guard Station was built in 1922 and offers a charming mountain respite with modern conveniences. The cabin offers nearly everything needed for a pleasant and comfortable stay. Peak season for the cabin is typically early June through late September. It can be accessed by most vehicles via dirt and gravel roads, but trailers are not recommended.Recreation The cabin is near several trailheads into the Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness. These non-motorized tr...
Middle Fork Indian Creek Hot Spring sits at 5,438 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 22% stronger than at sea level, so bring sunscreen and drink more water than you normally would.
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Middle Fork Indian Creek Hot Spring is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully. Cold air temperatures make a changing robe or warm layers essential.
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