Salmon Hot Spring
Salmon Hot Spring sits beside an unnamed road in Lemhi County, six miles or so from the town of Salmon. Hot water at the source, beyond soaking comfort, so it needs testing. Ownership and public access are not recorded, which is worth settling first. Williams Lake Campground is about eight miles away.
Close to five thousand feet, with moderate precipitation and five or six feet of snow each season. The approach amounts to crossing a hundred feet of ground. Neither land owner nor management unit appears in the file, and the record is silent on the surroundings. Williams Lake Campground is the camping on record, eight miles out.
The record favors a winter visit. Test the outlet before anything else; it runs hot. For camping the record gives Williams Lake Campground. No fee listed. The chemistry is from 1980. Ask locally who owns the ground, since access is not recorded. The temperature figure dates back decades, so verify it on the spot.
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 Salmon 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
- Hillside
- The spring sits on a steep slope that climbs to the south.
- Highest ground nearby
- 280 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the south
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 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 45% 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 Salmon Hot Spring is neutral (pH 7.1).
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This campground has 11 sites near Williams Lake. Opportunities abound to hike or ride into the Salmon-Challis National Forest or to fish in the nearby lake or creek. The lake can be accessed at the Forest Service boat ramp and day-use area.
Salmon 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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