Can you camp for free next to a hot spring?

Often, yes. You may have to sleep a short walk from the water. Some springs also charge to soak.

Published October 2026

Goldbug Hot Springs sits up a side canyon above the Salmon River in Idaho. The trail starts at the end of a county road near Elk Bend and climbs for about two miles. At the top, warm water spills from one rock pool down into the next.

Say you carried a tent all the way up. You wanted to fall asleep with the sound of the water. You can’t pitch it there.

Camping is banned within 500 feet of the pools. It’s banned at the trailhead too, and on the first stretch of trail, which crosses private land. There are places to camp along the trail lower down. You can still soak after dark. You just walk back to bed.

Plenty of free campsites have a hot spring close by. Here is how to check one before you go.

1. Find out who owns the water

A hot spring next to free land isn’t always free. Some sit on private land, with a lodge and pools built around them.

Bridge Creek Campground in Idaho costs nothing. Red River Hot Springs is about a mile up the road. It’s a rustic resort, open all year, and day visitors pay to use the pools.

Lake Creek Camping Area, also in Idaho, is close to Burgdorf Hot Springs. Burgdorf is private. You book a two-hour soak ahead of time, and people who just turn up are sent away.

At Muleshoe Ranch in Arizona, the hot springs are on a nature preserve. You can’t just turn up and get in there either.

The wild springs on public land usually cost nothing. Goldbug is free. So is Verde Hot Springs in Arizona. If a spring has a website with prices on it, plan for the cost and book.

2. Check where you’re allowed to sleep

A popular spring draws a crowd, and tents wear the ground down fast. So the people who run the land often keep campers back from the water.

At Goldbug the line is 500 feet. That’s about one and a half football fields. Other springs have their own rules, and some have none at all.

Read the campsite page and the signs at the trailhead before you carry a tent in. If the spring is on private land, assume you can’t sleep there unless the owner says you can.

3. Plan how you’ll get to the water

Most wild springs are a walk from the car. Some ask for more than a walk.

From Childs Dispersed Camping Area in Arizona, Verde Hot Springs is about a mile upstream. To reach it, you wade across the Verde River. What’s left is a set of pools and the foundations of an old resort, which burned down in the 1960s.

Don’t cross when the river is running high. After rain, give it a few days so the runoff can pass.

At Goldbug, the first quarter mile of trail crosses private land. Keep your dog on a leash there and stay on the path. The owner lets the public through, and that can change if people stop respecting it.

The drive in counts too. Childs sits at the end of a long dirt road. Before you set off, read how to check a dirt road.

4. Feel the water before you get in

Hot spring water comes out of the ground at whatever heat it has. It can change with the season and the weather.

Mickey Hot Springs in Oregon is about 15 miles from the Alvord Desert. It’s free to visit. Every pool there is far too hot to sit in. The biggest one is clear, deep and close to boiling. Some of the little streams run at up to 180 degrees. Keep children and dogs well back from the edges.

At any spring, put a hand in first. Then a foot. If you can’t keep it there, don’t get in.

5. Keep your head above the water

Warm fresh water can carry a tiny living thing called Naegleria fowleri. If water carrying it goes up your nose, it can reach the brain. Getting sick from it is very rare. Almost nobody who does survives.

So sit in a hot spring. Don’t dunk your head, and don’t let children jump in.

6. Leave the pool the way you found it

• Leave the soap and shampoo at camp. A wild pool has nowhere to drain, so whatever goes in stays in.
• Carry your trash back out, and any you find.
• Go to the toilet before you soak, and well away from the water.
• Some people soak without a swimsuit at wild springs. Give everyone room.
• If the pool is full, wait your turn or come back early in the morning.

The people who soak at a spring every week often keep quiet about it. If you find one that isn’t on any map, think twice before you post where it is.

Campsites in this guide near a hot spring

• Goldbug Hot Springs, Idaho. Free, wild pools about two miles up the trail. Camp at least 500 feet away.
• Bridge Creek Campground, Idaho. About a mile from Red River Hot Springs, a resort that charges to soak.
• Ditch Creek Campground, Idaho. About six miles down the same road from Red River Hot Springs.
• Lake Creek Camping Area, Idaho. Close to Burgdorf Hot Springs, which is private. Book ahead.
• Jarbidge River, Idaho. Boaters soak at Indian Hot Springs, where the Jarbidge meets the Bruneau.
• Childs Dispersed Camping Area, Arizona. About a mile from Verde Hot Springs, with a river to wade on the way.
• Muleshoe Ranch, Arizona. Hot springs on a nature preserve. You cannot just turn up and soak.
• Alvord Desert, Oregon. About 15 miles from Mickey Hot Springs, which is too hot to get into.

Important: resorts change their hours, prices and owners, and rivers and trails change with the weather. Before you go, check with the resort or with the people who run the land.