Rose's Plunge

What to expect

Rose’s Plunge is the simplest soak in a town full of them. It is one rectangular concrete pool, about 8 feet by 20 feet, inside a plain building at the corner of Spring Street and North Road in Hot Springs, Montana. There is no spa menu, no gift shop counter worth mentioning and often nobody at a desk. You pay a few dollars into an honor box, change, and get in.

What brings people back is the water. It comes from the same aquifer that fed the old tribal Camas bathhouse, and the family that runs the pool drains it every night and refills it early every morning with fresh, untreated mineral water. A 2014 Char-Koosta News feature described the refill happening around 6 to 6:30 a.m. Rose O’Bennick told the paper that her customers were mostly locals, who come for the quiet and the clean water. Tourists tend to go to Big Medicine, the family’s other pool, for its outdoor setting and views.

Nobody publishes a temperature for Rose’s Plunge. Expect hot mineral water similar to the other soaks in town, and test it with a hand before you commit.

A short history

The building has had a few lives. Leroy O’Bennick, a Salish and Kootenai tribal member who had worked as a logger and log-home builder, built a bowling alley here in 1986. It closed in 1991. Around the same time he was looking after the abandoned tribal bathhouse property, where people had been soaking in the water tank, and he closed it up.

Leroy then leased 80 acres from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, piped mineral water from the wells down to the old bowling alley, and built two matching 8 by 20 foot concrete pools: one in the bowling alley, named Rose’s Plunge after his wife, and one farther out on the property, named Big Medicine. Both opened in 2000. For a while the building also held a crafts shop and a yoga studio, and it became known as the Camas Recreation Center.

Leroy died in 2015. Rose and her daughter, Becky O’Bennick-Knapp, kept both plunges going. In October 2023 the Balneology Association of North America presented them with its Kathy Clark Access Award, citing their long care of the tribal mineral water and the low-cost public access they provide.

Do not confuse this building with the Camas Hot Springs bathhouse. That 1940s tribal building is closed and empty. Rose’s Plunge is a separate, working pool.

Getting there

Hot Springs is in Sanders County in northwest Montana, on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The town sits a few miles west of Montana Highway 28 on Montana 77 (Hot Springs Road).

• From Missoula: Take US-93 north to Ravalli, then MT-200 west along the Flathead River. Cut north on Secondary 382 near Perma to MT-28, then follow MT-28 to the MT-77 junction and turn west into town.
• From Kalispell: Take US-93 south to Elmo, then MT-28 west and south to the MT-77 junction, and turn west into town.
• From Plains: Take MT-28 north from MT-200 to the MT-77 junction.

In town, follow Spring Street north to North Road. The Town of Hot Springs places Rose’s Plunge on the northwest corner of that intersection, in the old Camas Recreation Center. Older listings give the address as 240 Chisholm Road. Park beside the building. Big Medicine is farther east along North Road; the town puts it about half a mile from Spring Street.

When to go

The town says all of its soaking pools are open year-round, and because Rose’s Plunge is indoors, it is one of the better options in winter, when the outdoor pools in town get cold decks and icy paths. Summer afternoons in this valley can be hot and dry, which makes a hot pool less appealing. Mornings are the best time: the pool has just been refilled, and the regulars who come for the quiet are there.

Hours are not posted online by the operator, and the reports differ. The 2014 Char-Koosta feature gave 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (8:30 a.m. in another part of the same article), seven days a week. A current guide from Sophia Springs, another lodging in town, says 9 a.m. to sundown. Plan for daytime only. The pool is drained every night.

Rules and etiquette

• Pay the honor box. It is cash only and runs on trust. Recent local listings give $5 per person. In 2014 the family charged $5 for a four-hour soak and $8 for a full day, so check the posted sign.
• Bring a swimsuit and towel. This is a public pool in a small town. Nothing is provided.
• Rinse first and skip lotions. The water is untreated and the pool is small.
• Keep it quiet. The regulars come here because it is calm. Phone calls and music go outside.
• You are on tribal land. The pool sits on land leased from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Follow any posted rules and treat the building as someone’s livelihood, because it is.

Children are welcome with an adult, but keep soaks short for kids in hot mineral water.

Where to stay nearby

Rose’s Plunge has no lodging of its own. Everything in Hot Springs is close by:

• Big Medicine Hot Springs on North Road has tent and RV camping, tepees and small cabins on the same property as its pool.
• Symes Hot Springs Hotel and Mineral Baths on Wall Street has hotel rooms, cabins and its own pools.
• Alameda’s Hot Springs Retreat at 308 Spring Street North is a 1930s spa-motel where each suite has a private mineral bath. It is a short walk south of the plunge.
• Sophia Springs offers lodging and RV sites in town.
• Wild Horse Hot Springs, just outside town, rents private soaking rooms and cabins.

Safety notes

• Hot water: Keep soaks short, drink water and climb out if you feel dizzy or your heart races. Pregnant soakers and people with heart conditions should ask a doctor first.
• Untreated water: Do not put your head under. The pool is refilled daily but not disinfected.
• No attendant: There is often nobody on site. Soak with a friend when you can.
• Wet floors: Indoor concrete gets slick. Walk carefully between the changing area and the pool.