Kirkham Campground (Boise National Forest)

Hot Springs Awesome ... Camping not secluded

While on a recent camping trip to nearby Mountain View, we stopped in at Kirkham to go to the hot springs. From 21 st, you cross a one lane bridge over the Payette River to get to Kirkham. There is a day use fee of $5 (season begins this year on May 9th and is free during the off season). You must drive through the campground in order to get to the day use parking lot.

Kirkham is located off of Rt 21 in Lowman, Idaho and is one of many natural hot springs in the area. This is one of the biggest, though and there is no sulfur smell. After parking in the day use parking lot, there is a short, but steep climb down to the hot springs. I highly recommend wearing water shoes to both traverse the rocky climb down and also for traction on the hot springs itself. Many of the rocks are covered with algea (both green and orange in color) and can be quite slippery. Take care when climbing in and around the various pools and water falls. As the hot springs is adjacent to the South Fork of the Payette River, you can cool off in icy (but fast moving) water if you get too hot in the springs. And there are a variety of temperatures in the many hot springs pools to choose from. It was a very enjoyable afternoon which I highly recommend.

As for the campground, it is basically a parking lot. There are grassy areas, picnic tables and fire rings adjacent to the parking lot. The parking lot is in a horseshoe shape, and the tent areas are both in the outer and inner portion of the horseshoe. There are no trees and very little privacy. There is a vault toilet, but I didn't use it so I can't verify it's cleanliness.

This campground is best designed for tents or very small pop up trailers. There is no space for an RV. The sign says pets must be leashed but the area is quite dangerous for pets due to the steep incline down to the hot springs, the hot water itself and the closeness to both Rt 21 and the Payette River. I would caution against bringing only the very well trained dogs.