Sharkey Hot Springs | Idaho

Sharkey Hot Springs is a unique developed recreation site featuring two large concrete soaking pools, two heated changing rooms, vault bathrooms, a fire pit with a seating area, and an interpretive kiosk. It is located off of Highway 28, approximately 25 miles from Salmon, Idaho The water at Sharkey Hot Springs is from natural sources and is not treated. 

Hot springs in the Americas were used by local, native peoples. Cultural findings near some sites support a history of human activity extending back thousands of years. Native peoples have lived in Idaho for over 16,000 years and have a deep respect for hot springs as sacred healing places.

'Puha Pah (medicine water) or Pahgu-Yuah (hot springs) was a sacred place for the Agaideka (salmon-eaters) to cleanse and purify mind and body.' -Rozina George, Agaideka, 2002

Frank Sharkey settled near these hot springs site to ranch in the 1870s and soaked in its soothing waters. Eleihu Barnes built a shanty structure over the hot springs to keep the cows out around 1890. Tom Benedict built an enclosed, concrete pool and the hot springs was known as 'the plunge' in the 1920s. 

The site fell into disrepair during the 1960s. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filled the pool and burned the buildings for safety reasons in 1973. Locals continued to build home-made tubs to soak in the hot springs. BLM rebuilt and reopened Sharkey Hot Springs in 2002 for the public to safely enjoy.