Wild Horse Hot Springs

What to expect

Wild Horse Hot Springs sits on a bluff in the open grassland of the Little Bitterroot Valley, a few miles northeast of the small town of Hot Springs in northwest Montana. It is the old Camp Aqua Bath House under a newer name, and many locals and older maps still call it Camp Aqua. The road you drive in on is Camp Aqua Road.

Do not expect a polished resort. This is a rustic, privately owned property with a handful of outbuildings, cabins and campsites, and a set of small soaking plunges fed by artesian wells. Some of the plunges are in-ground concrete tubs. Others are large stock tanks of the kind ranchers use for horses. Each one has its own hot water valve, so you fill it and set the temperature yourself. That is the appeal: hot, mineral-heavy water with no chlorine smell, a big sky, and very few people.

The water comes out of the ground fast and hot. Wikipedia puts the flow at about 1,200 gallons per minute from a well known as Mother Dragon, at 120-128°F49-53°C, and a 2018 report described three wells with similar output. It cools to around 104°F40°C in the soaking plunges, and a 2022 regional feature gave a range of 95-128°F35-53°C across the plunges depending on how they are set. The water carries bicarbonate, calcium, iron, magnesium, silica, sodium and sulfate, among other minerals.

The plunges

Counts vary because the owners have rebuilt and rearranged the plunges more than once. Wikipedia lists six soaking pools. Flathead Beacon features in 2022 and 2026 described two hot wells feeding 14 plunges. Older guidebooks described private rooms, each with its own plunge, toilet, shower and steam room. Expect a mix of small private tubs rather than one large swimming pool, and ask on the phone which plunges are running before you arrive.

History

The springs were found by accident. In 1912 or 1913, homesteader Molly Bartlett, a daughter of Robert B. Smith, Montana’s third governor, had a well drilled for drinking and irrigation water and hit a gusher of water at about 128°F53°C. The flow cut a ravine into the bluff that is still part of the property.

In 1941 Bartlett raised money for the Montana Warm Water Project for Crippled Children, which aimed to build a polio treatment camp for children on the site. It was to be called Camp Aqua, and the name stuck. In the early 1980s a public resort was built here with money from a Montana renewable energy grant. The property changed hands in the early 1990s, moved from public to private use, and was renamed Wild Horse Hot Springs.

The resort had a rough patch in the 2010s. Flathead Electric Cooperative developed the site for a geothermal energy turbine around 2012, and by 2018 the soaks had been closed for about five years. That spring, owner Denny Larson and Missoula businessman John Porterfield reopened the plunges with RV hookups and camping, and talked of adding cabins, tepees along the bluff and spring-heated greenhouses. Work on relaunching the resort was still under way in 2019.

Getting there

Wild Horse Hot Springs is at 175 Camp Aqua Road, about 2.5 miles outside the town of Hot Springs. Put the address into your map app. Signs are limited, and the town itself is the easiest landmark.

Hot Springs is in eastern Sanders County on the Flathead Indian Reservation, roughly an hour’s drive from Kalispell. It sits just off Montana Highway 28, the road that links Plains and the Flathead Lake area. From Missoula, most drivers go north on US-93 and west on MT-200, then turn north toward Hot Springs. The last stretch to Wild Horse is a rural road that can be dusty in summer and icy in winter, so slow down and watch for livestock.

When to go

The plunges have historically operated year-round, and the town of Hot Springs says all of its outdoor soaks are open through the winter. Winter is the best time for a place like this. The valley is quiet, the steam rises off the tubs, and hot water feels best when the air is near freezing. Summer days in the Little Bitterroot can be hot and exposed, so an evening soak makes more sense then.

The real issue is not the season but the schedule. No official hours are posted online, and the resort’s website was a parked domain when we checked in October 2026. Call 406-741-3777 before you set out, especially if you are coming from Kalispell or Missoula.

Prices and booking

There is no published rate card. An older Frommer’s guide quoted soaking by the hour plus a couple of rooms with kitchenettes, but those prices are long out of date, and recent features do not give prices at all. Plan to pay on site and ask about cash or card when you call. Cabins and campsites are booked by phone as well.

Clothing rules are not posted. Private plunges are private, but in any shared area wear a swimsuit unless staff tell you otherwise. Children’s rules are not published either, so ask before you bring kids.

Where to stay nearby

• On site: Several cabins can be rented for the night, and the property has offered RV hookups and tent camping since 2018.
• Big Medicine Hot Springs: Big Medicine on North Road in town has an honor-box outdoor pool plus tent, RV and rustic lodging.
• Alameda’s Hot Springs Retreat: Alameda’s is a 1930s spa-motel in town where every suite has its own mineral bath.
• Symes Hot Springs Hotel: The 1930 hotel two blocks off Main Street has rooms, cabins, outdoor pools and individual tubs.
• Kalispell and Polson: For chain hotels, full services and restaurants, head toward Flathead Lake.

Safety notes

• Scalding water: The wells run up to about 128°F53°C. Always mix and test a plunge with your hand before you climb in, and turn the hot valve off once it is where you want it.
• Closed plunges: Use only plunges that staff say are open. In 2020 a woman was found dead in one of the pools here, and a Flathead Beacon report said that pool had been ordered closed by the county.
• Footing: Old concrete and stock tank edges get slick. Step in slowly and wear sandals between tubs.
• Remoteness: This is a rural property with limited staff. Soak with someone else, keep sessions short and drink water.
• Iron staining: The minerals can mark light-colored swimsuits and towels.

Nearby stops worth adding

The town of Hot Springs has several soaks within a few minutes of each other. The empty Camas Hot Springs bathhouse, a 1940s tribal building that closed in the 1980s, is worth a look from the street. Rose’s Plunge, in the old Camas Recreation Center at Spring Street and North Road, and Big Medicine’s outdoor pool are a short walk away. A morning at Wild Horse followed by an afternoon in town is an easy day.