Bagby Hot Springs

Current status: closed for the 2026 fire season

Bagby Hot Springs is closed. On August 12, 2026, with the Austin Fire burning north of Forest Road 46 and a Level 3 evacuation zone reaching the access route, operator Bagby Preservation shut the springs as a precaution. The Forest Service followed with a closure order on September 4 that lists Bagby Hot Springs and Bagby Campground among the closed sites and runs through December 31, 2026, unless it is lifted earlier.

The springs themselves did not burn. The problem is the roads. In mid-September, after evacuation levels were dropped, Forest Roads 63 and 70 were still closed, and at the end of September the Estacada News reported that visitors were still finding the way blocked while Google Maps showed Bagby as open. Do not trust a map app on this one. Check the Mt. Hood National Forest alerts page or call the Clackamas River Ranger District before you go.

The rest of this guide describes Bagby as it normally runs.

What to expect

Bagby is unlike most Oregon hot springs. Instead of rock pools in a creek, you soak in wooden tubs inside open-sided cedar bathhouses, deep in old-growth forest a short way outside the Bull of the Woods Wilderness. Hot water comes from three main springs at about 120 to 138°F49 to 59°C and is piped down to the tubs. It arrives far too hot to sit in, so it has to be mixed with cold water first.

The prospector Robert Bagby came across the springs in 1880, and the Forest Service built a guard station here in 1913. That small cabin still stands. The first bathhouses went up in the 1920s and burned in 1979 after bathers left candles unattended. Volunteers and the Forest Service rebuilt them between 1983 and 1986, and those are the buildings you see today.

There are three bathhouses, and not all are in use:

• Bathhouse No. 1 has a large round tub and three smaller tubs.
• Bathhouse No. 2, with the private rooms and hollowed-out cedar log tubs that made Bagby famous, was condemned for rot in 2018 and remains closed. The operators plan to replace it.
• Bathhouse No. 3, about 100 yards up the hill, has a communal round tub for up to eight people and a stock-tank cold plunge.

The tubs are communal. Signs ask soakers to share and to keep soaks to about 30 minutes when others are waiting.

Getting there

Bagby is in the Clackamas River Ranger District of the Mt. Hood National Forest, about 40 miles southeast of Estacada. Allow about 90 minutes from Portland in normal conditions.

1. From the east end of Estacada, stay on Highway 224 toward North Fork Reservoir.
2. Follow it about 25.6 miles past the Ripplebrook Ranger Station. The highway becomes Forest Road 46.
3. Stay right on FR 46 at the junction with FR 57 and continue 3.6 miles.
4. Turn right onto FR 63 and drive 3.6 miles.
5. Turn right and uphill onto FR 70, which may be unsigned, and drive 6.1 miles to the day-use lot on the left.

The roads are paved, but the Forest Service warns that rockfall and landslides are common on FR 46 and FR 63. The Forest Service warns against taking the smaller shortcut roads that phone apps sometimes suggest.

The trail starts across from the restrooms. It is wide and nearly flat, gaining about 200 feet in 1.5 miles. You cross Nohorn Creek, then walk beside the Hot Springs Fork of the Collawash River, cross it on a bridge, then cross Peggy Creek just before the bathhouses. Bagby has a long record of car break-ins. Leave nothing in your car.

When to go

In a normal year the springs are open through most seasons, but once winter snow makes the forest roads impassable the site is no longer maintained, usually until about April. If you try it in winter, carry extra fuel, food and blankets, because people do get snowed in or blocked by fallen trees.

Summer weekends and holidays are the busiest times, and an afternoon arrival can mean waiting an hour or more for a tub. Weekday mornings, or an early soak after a night at the campground, are much quieter. Late spring and early fall are the sweet spot for weather. Fire season has closed Bagby more than once, including in August 2024 for the Sandstone Fire and again in 2026, so check for alerts every summer.

Rules and etiquette

Bagby Preservation, a small company run by Mike and Tamarah Rysavy, took over under a 20-year Forest Service contract in 2023 and reopened the site in 2024 after closures and vandalism that began in 2020.

• Fee: $5 per person to soak. You get a wristband. The trailhead takes cash only, while the Ripplebrook Camp Store, which the same operators run, takes cards.
• Clothing: Nudity is allowed inside the bathhouses only. Wear clothes on the trail and in the open areas.
• No alcohol. It is banned at the springs.
• No camping at the springs or along the trail to them.
• Share the tubs. They are communal, so make room and keep soaks short when people are waiting.
• Dogs stay on a leash.

Law enforcement visits periodically.

Where to stay nearby

• Bagby Campground sits beside the trailhead with 18 sites and a year-round host. It is first come, first served. It is closed along with the springs under the 2026 fire order.
• Backcountry sites farther up the trail past the bathhouses, including near 30-foot Shower Creek Falls.
• Clackamas River campgrounds along Highway 224 and FR 46, such as Ripplebrook and Rainbow, are other options, though several were also inside the 2026 closure.
• Estacada has the nearest groceries and fuel.

Safety notes

• Source water is scalding. The springs reach about 138°F59°C. Always mix with cold water and test with your hand before getting in.
• Short soaks: Drink water and get out if you feel lightheaded. Do not put your head under.
• Roads: Expect rockfall on FR 46 and FR 63, and carry a spare tire. There is no cell service.
• Fire season: Closures can come with little notice. Know the alerts before you leave Estacada.

Nearby stops worth adding

Keep walking past the bathhouses to Shower Creek Falls, a 30-foot waterfall a short way up the trail. Strong hikers can continue into the Bull of the Woods Wilderness, although parts of the upper trail burned in recent fires and need route-finding.