We love hot springs! We love them so much that we plan our road trips around places where we can soak in hot water. Maybe it’s because winters are long and cold here in Montana, but there is nothing better than hopping in a hot pool after cross-country skiing, building snow forts, or sledding through the trees.
Here are some of our favorite hot springs in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.
Take a video tour of select hot springs on the TravelingMel YouTube channel.
Montana
We spend so much time in Montana hot springs, that I wrote a separate post about 25 Hot Springs in Montana.
Hot Springs in Idaho
Jerry Johnson Hot Springs (undeveloped)
This popular hot springs is actually a series of pools along the bank of Warm Springs Creek, a tributary of the Lochsa River. The one-mile trail to the springs meanders through mature cedars before arriving at six soaking pools fed by hot waterfalls.
70 miles southwest of Missoula, near mile marker 151 on US 12
Lava Hot Springs
Lava Hot Springs is a whole town built around warm water and family frivolity. The Olympic Pool has two spiral water slides and two diving platforms that compete for attention with the mineral soaking pools and massage facility.
Lava Hot Springs, ID
1.800.423.8597
Hot Springs in Wyoming
A half-mile trail leads to a six-foot wide stream of hot water pouring over a travertine ledge into the Gardner River. Users have piled rocks to create a soaking area where the 140-degree water mixes with the cold river.
Two miles south of Gardiner, look for parking lots on both sides of the road, near the Montana/Wyoming border in Yellowstone National Park, WY
Read more about the Boiling River on my YellowstoneTrips site.
307.344.7381
Saratoga Inn
This elegant resort features five teepee-covered individual hot soaking pools, a mineral swimming pool, gourmet restaurant and health spa. For those in the mood for more than just pampering, the resort is nestled beneath the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Medicine Bow National Forest, both ripe with recreational opportunities.
601 East Pic Pike Rd., Saratoga, WY
1.800.594.0178
This story originally appeared in Spring 2007 issue of Big Sky Journal.
Here’s my favorite book for finding less-developed hot springs:
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More Hot Springs Posts
- 25 Hot Springs in Montana (developed and undeveloped)
- Hot Springs in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana
- The Boiling River, Yellowstone National Park
- Chico Hot Springs, Pray, Montana
- Elkhorn Hot Springs, Polaris, Montana
- Quinn’s Hot Spring Resort, Paradise, Montana
- The Spa Motel, White Sulphur Springs, Montana
You must have great travels in your name from the pictures that i see. Envy…..
I also wish i could do the same with my life later this year. It’s a frustration i never seem to not get out of.
It can be hard to find time to get out and travel, but it is definitely worth it. Even a weekend away somewhere can be great!
Great article, thanks!