Skinnydipper Hot Springs, in the mountains near Garden Valley, Idaho, was for years one of the Boise area's most popular wild soaks — a set of hand-built pools on a steep hillside above the Banks-Lowman Highway. Today, however, there's one essential thing to know: it is closed to the public, and has been for years.

The springs have a colorful history. They were discovered and developed in the 1990s by a local known as “Hot Springs Harley,” and for a couple of decades a loose-knit group of volunteers called the “Keepers” maintained the trail, pools, and plumbing. But the site's popularity became its undoing: heavy weekend and summer use brought fights, vandalism, vehicle break-ins, trash, human waste, and other unsafe and illegal activity, along with damage to the natural resources on this public land.

In 2016 the Bureau of Land Management closed Skinnydipper Hot Springs, citing public-health and safety hazards and resource damage, and dismantled the unauthorized pools and piping to let the area recover. That closure was later extended for several more years, keeping the site off-limits into the mid-2020s. Anyone who enters the closed area risks being cited for trespassing.

So while you'll still find old write-ups and directions online, the honest, current picture is simple: Skinnydipper is not open, and you should not attempt to visit while the BLM closure remains in effect. If you're after a soak in the region, seek out one of central Idaho's many open, legal hot springs instead — and check with the BLM Four Rivers Field Office for the current status of Skinnydipper before assuming anything has changed. Please respect the closure so the land can heal.