Sunbeam Hot Springs

Sunbeam Hot Springs is a group of thermal springs on the Salmon River beside Idaho State Highway 75 in Custer County, Idaho. The site lies in the Salmon River canyon east of Stanley, within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area of the Sawtooth National Forest. Hot water runs down from the roadside slope and collects in rock-lined pools at the river's edge, where river water mixes with it. The Forest Service lists the water at the springs at 169 degrees Fahrenheit.

The springs sit next to the highway, with stairs leading from the road down toward the river. Highway 75 is paved from Stanley. The nearest developed campgrounds are Upper and Lower O'Brien, reached by Forest Road 454 about 14 miles northeast of Stanley. Lower O'Brien has 10 first-come sites and is open from June through September. The Sawtooth National Recreation Area limits occupancy to 10 days in any 30-day period within a 30-mile radius, and pets in its campgrounds must be on a leash.

A stone bathhouse stands above the springs on a walled concrete platform. Enrollees from the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Clayton completed it in 1937, and it is no longer in use. A short distance downstream, at the mouth of the Yankee Fork, are the remains of Sunbeam Dam, the only dam ever built on the Salmon River. It was meant to supply power to mines on the Yankee Fork, but the mine property was sold at a sheriff's auction in 1911, and part of the dam was removed with dynamite in 1934. Forest Road 013 leads north from Sunbeam into the Land of the Yankee Fork mining district. Stanley is the nearest town.