Garden Valley - Area Attractions

1 • Rocky Canyon

Hot Springs -- Middle Fork of the Payette River -- CAUTION -- Check on whether Middle Fork Road is open in EARLY SPRING before heading up to Boiling Springs Area!

12.5 miles from the intersection of Forest Road 698 (Middle Fork Rd.) and Hwy 17. Go 1.5 mi. past Hardscrabble Campground. Park in a pullout on your left. You’ll have to wade the river, which could be dangerous during high water. The spring emerges from the steep hillside near the mouth of Rocky Canyon. Bathers have chiseled out a family-size soaking pool well up the bank. A PVC pipe in the dam provides a great shower for the slightly cooler pool immediately below.

2 • Fire Crew

15 miles from the intersection of Forest Road 698 (Middle Fork Rd.) and Hwy 17. (2.5 miles past Rocky Canyon Hot Spring) to a junction at Trail Creek Campground. Take the left fork for .3 miles. Bear left on a rough spur ending at the river. A loop encircles an undeveloped camping area. The pools are out on a gravel bar to your right. The spring is on the river’s edge, but, on the near side. No river crossing necessary. Can get hot as the river drops -- some adjusting may be necessary!

3 • Boiling Springs

23 miles from the intersection of Forest Road 698 (Middle Fork Rd.) and Hwy 17, to the road-end campground and trailhead. Stroll .3 miles north on the trail to find the springs flowing down a bank beside a couple of cabins. The cabins, formerly a Forest Service guard station, are now rented to the public for recreational use. Please ask permission before entering and try to avoid the cabin area as much as possible. Steaming water emerges at 188 degrees from many fissures in a cliff just beyond the cabins, and a broad cascade streams down the hillside. One spring flows through a shallow soaking pool or two at the base. The water cools as it runs through a ditch across a wide meadow. A few rock-lined pools at the river’s edge are usually filled on weekends with kids from the nearby campground.