Hot Springs
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 3All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Hot Springs Campground is located just east of Garden Valley, Idaho along the Banks-Lowman Highway at an elevation of 3169 feet. Visitors enjoy rafting, kayaking, fishing on the South Fork Payette River, and soaking in the hot springs at the river's edge. Keep reading
Recreation
The South Fork Payette River is across the road from the campground, offering fishing, whitewater rafting, and kayaking. A natural hot springs soaking pool is located on the river directly across the road and down a staircase.
Facilities
The campground contains three accessible group sites with picnic and serving tables, grills and campfire circles with benches. Sites 1 and 2 can accommodate up to 200 people each; Site 3 can accommodate up to 50 people. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided. Because of its proximity to the highway, some noise from passing traffic is to be expected.
Natural Features
The campground is situated at the foot of a forested hillside. Towering Ponderosa pines are scattered throughout the site, offering partial shade. Summer wildflowers dot the landscape.
Nearby Attractions
Numerous natural hot springs pools can be found along the Banks-Lowman Highway, also known as the Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway. The area offers scenic views, wildlife watching, historical information kiosks, and several hiking opportunities. Whitewater rafting and kayaking are popular activities on the South Fork and Main Payette Rivers. Several companies in the area offer guided half and full-day trips.
What the agency tells you
Idaho OHV Safety Message
A maximum of 25 vehicles are allowed on Group Sites 1 and 2; 10 vehicles are allowed in Site 3
A fee will be collected for extra vehicles at the campground
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Fees for additional people will be collected at the campground as outlined in the fee schedule if party size is larger than expected
Additional single-family sites are available on a first come, first served basis
Click here for more information on the Boise National Forest
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
- 3 · 3 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 99 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 3
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Site 3 can accommodate up to 50 people. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…up to 50 people. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided. Because of its…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, River
- Boating
- Fishing
- Night sky · 474th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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 · 11
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 · 4
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
3 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 3 mapped sitesAll 3 sites
| GRP2 | 002 | group standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 172 ft | 561 ft |
| GRP3 | 003 | group standard nonelectric | 99 ft | yes | 172 ft | 533 ft |
| HOT | 001 | group standard nonelectric | 99 ft | yes | 325 ft | 324 ft |
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
Hot Springs Campground and Group sitesBoise National Forest · 0.7 miTie Creek CampgroundBoise National Forest · 10 mi
Deadwood Lookout Rec CabinBoise National Forest · 11 mi
Pine Flats (ID)Boise National Forest · 12 miHardscrabble CampgroundBoise National Forest · 12 mi
Swinging BridgeBoise National Forest · 13 miFrom Boise, Idaho, take State Highway 55 north 35 miles to Banks. Turn east onto the Banks-Lowman Highway and go 17 miles to the campground, which is on the lefthand side of the highway.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Garden Valley, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 64°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Hot Springs 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 →