Pistol Creek Hot Springs
Pistol Creek Hot Springs is a hike-in spring in Boise National Forest, Valley County, nearly three miles from the road and better than forty miles from Cascade. The water is hot, a bit above what most people will sit in without mixing. Open access. The water tested strongly alkaline when it was sampled.
Mountain country with over ten feet of snow per winter and a wet climate. A hike of nearly three miles separates the source from the nearest road, which is unnamed in the record. Forest Service land, standard National Forest designation. The trail and its condition are not described anywhere in the record.
Winter carries the best-months label, but the snow load argues for going when the route is clear. Boundary Creek Campground is the closest on file, about fourteen miles. No fee on file. The source water needs a test before you commit, and the figure on record is from an old survey.
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 Pistol Creek Hot Springs.
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
- 483 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 77% 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 Pistol Creek Hot Springs is alkaline (pH 9.6).
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Overview Boundary Creek Campground is located at the edge of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, adjacent to the boat launch for the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. The site generally provides overnight camping for boaters waiting to launch the next day on their permit to float the Middle Fork. Of the 15 campsites, 5 can be reserved during the high-use season (June 15-Aug. 15); the remaining 10 are first-come, first-served. Outside of those dates, all 15 sites are first-...
Pistol Creek Hot Springs 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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