Boiling Springs Cabin
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 28 of the next 30 nights read 15:56 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
The cabin area is open to the general public.Boiling Springs Cabin is a popular destination for those who enjoy soaking in mineral hot springs that are adjacent to the cabin. Other hot springs are within the vicinity as well. Guests who stay here also have a variety of other recreational activities to enjoy, such as fishing, hiking, and off-road motor vehicle riding. The cabin offers many conveniences, but guests should bring some supplies like water and equipment to ensure a comfortable and enjoyable stay such as padding for the beds. Keep reading
The cabin area is open to the general public and there is sometimes a great deal of foot traffic. The cabin is accessible by car in warmer months and by snowmobile in winter. Guests arriving in snowy conditions should be prepared to snowmobile 11 miles to the cabin from the Middle Fork snowmobile parking lot. Refunds are not given due to poor weather conditions.
Recreation
Numerous hiking, biking, horse and off-road vehicle trails are in the vicinity, including the Middle Fork Trail. Many miles of groomed snowmobile trails criss-cross the area in winter. Snowshoers and cross-country skiers can also use the trails in winter. Sections of the Middle Fork Payette River offers opportunities for rafting, canoeing, kayaking, and swimming. Anglers can fish for rainbow and bull trout. Big game hunting is a popular activity in the surrounding mountains. Guests can soak in the on-site hot springs during their stay, and a few other hot springs are also nearby for soaking.
Facilities
The cabin accommodates five people. Sleeping quarters consist of one bedroom with wood stove and includes three rustic single beds (one providing a trundle bed) with mattresses. A couch, table and chairs, sink, propane cook range and refrigerator, and wood stove are located in the front room. Some dishes, pots and pans, and other kitchenware are available. Firewood is provided October 15 through December 31, but it may need to be split. A vault toilet, picnic table and campfire ring are located outside the cabin. Camp hosts are available during the summer months at Trail Creek Campground and Boiling Springs Campground. Potable water is available (hand pump outside) during the summer season only. Electricity is not available. Guests need to supply their own lighting and garbage bags. Guests are expected to clean the cabin before leaving. Bring your own cleaning supplies. Bedding, pillows, and an axe are not provided.
Natural Features
Boiling Springs Cabin is located at an elevation of 4025 ft. in a narrow mountain valley situated between a hot springs, a stream, and the Middle Fork Payette River. The surrounding mountains are steep and densely forested with conifers, but the cabin sits in an open meadow with little shade. Wildlife enthusiasts may spot nesting ospreys along the Middle Fork Payette River. Elk and deer are often spotted grazing along its banks. Bald eagles, hawks, quail and a variety of waterfowl also inhabit the area. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (541) 351-1182.
What the agency tells you
The lock combination for the cabin will be on the reservation confirmation letter. Please call the Aud & Di Campground Services at (541) 351-1182 for any questions about your reservation or the cabin. Call the Emmett Ranger District at (208) 365-7000 for any additional questions about the area.
Travel into remote locations in the winter requires experience and advance preparation. Be prepared for winter conditions and the possibility of having to camp out on the trail overnight. Let others know of your travel plans, and carry communication, water and food. The trail to the cabin can be difficult to follow and can be very strenuous depending on snow conditions. Arrive early and allow extra time for bad weather or losing the route. Plan ahead and be prepared!
Potable water is available (hand pump) during the summer season only; water shuts off mid-September. Guests must bring water during the winter season; water is available at campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
No garbage service; trash must be packed out. Bring your own cleaning supplies.
Please do not use tents, motor homes or RVs at the cabin; Boiling Springs Campground is nearby.
Maximum occupancy is 5 people.
Livestock is not allowed at this site.
Access may be difficult in fall and late winter depending on changes in weather; The cabin may only have access by snowmobile. Check local conditions (and snow levels) for access to the cabin. Refunds are not given for poor weather conditions or inability to access the cabin.
Pets are allowed at the cabin, however, they are not allowed on the furniture or beds. Please be courteous and clean up after your pet.
Click here for more information about Boise National Forest
Please click here for further information about the facility and recreation opportunities in the area.
Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Check-in Time is 2:00pm and Check-out time is 12:00pm
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…31, but it may need to be split. A vault toilet, picnic table and campfire ring are located outside…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…and Boiling Springs Campground. Potable water is available (hand pump outside) during the summer…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 15:56 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedNot on the booking system
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday, and on three midweek nights after it as well. read 15:56 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:56 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BOIL | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 141 ft | $55.56 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Silver Creek CampgroundBoise National Forest · 3.5 mi
Peace Valley CampgroundBoise National Forest · 3.7 mi
Rattlesnake Campground and Group sitesBoise National Forest · 6.9 mi
RattlesnakeBoise National Forest · 6.9 miHardscrabble CampgroundBoise National Forest · 8.9 mi
River Side (ID - Boise)Boise National Forest · 9.7 miIn summer: from Crouch, take Middle Fork Road/Forest Road 698 north 24 miles to the cabin. Access can be difficult and refunds are not given due to an inability of your party to access the cabin. Plan ahead.
In winter, all access is over snow. From Crouch, take Middle Fork Road (Forest Road 698) north 13 miles to the snowmobile parking lot at the end of the plowed road on FR 698, just north of Tie Creek Campground. Distance to the cabin from the trailhead is 11 miles.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Smiths Ferry, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 15°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Boiling Springs Cabin is in Idaho’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Russ Fulcher (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyRuss FulcherU.S. Representative · Idaho’s 1st district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJames E. RischU.S. Senator · Idaho
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMike CrapoU.S. Senator · Idaho
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Boiling Springs Cabin, Boise National Forest, Idaho
Dear Russ Fulcher, I’m a constituent in Idaho’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Boiling Springs Cabin, Boise National Forest, Idaho, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Boiling Springs Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Boiling Springs Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Boiling Springs Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Boiling Springs Cabin (Boise National Forest, Idaho) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Boiling Springs Cabin, Boise National Forest, Idaho
Dear James E. Risch, I’m a constituent in Idaho. I tried to camp at Boiling Springs Cabin, Boise National Forest, Idaho, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Boiling Springs Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Boiling Springs Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Boiling Springs Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Boiling Springs Cabin (Boise National Forest, Idaho) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Boiling Springs Cabin, Boise National Forest, Idaho
Dear Mike Crapo, I’m a constituent in Idaho. I tried to camp at Boiling Springs Cabin, Boise National Forest, Idaho, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Boiling Springs Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Boiling Springs Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Boiling Springs Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Boiling Springs Cabin (Boise National Forest, Idaho) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
315 ft outside the Goat Fire perimeter, 2024, 36,723 acres. Tree cover here read 21% in the 2021 product and 0% in the 2024 one.