Jeff Birkby - Touring Hot Springs Montana and Wyoming: The States Best Resorts and Rustic Soaks

Jeff Birkbys passion for hot springs began in the 1980s when he was hired as a geo-thermal energy specialist for the Montana state energy office. Jeff is a member of the Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau and often lectures on the social history of hot springs of the West. Jeff is also the author of Touring Washington and Oregon Hot Springs for FalconGuides, as well as Geothermal Energy in MontanaA Consumers Guide, published by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. He also published Images of AmericaMontanas Hot Springs through Arcadia Publishing in 2018.

Jeff consults with hot springs owners on how they can use their thermal resources for greenhouse, pool, and space heating, as well as for electric power generation.

More than a dozen soakable hot springs are within a 2-hour drive of Jeffs home in Missoula, Montana.

If you have comments, corrections, or fresh information about any Montana or Wyoming hot springs, send your insights to Jeff Birkby c/o Falcon Publishing, or e-mail Jeff at . Hell check out your information for future editions of this guide.

During a road trip to visit the ruins of a Montana hot springs resort, my brother Bob commented that its not easy to make a thriving business out of a puddle of hot water. Ive learned that its also not easy to write a book about those puddles of hot water, and it certainly would have been impossible without the support and expert assistance of many individuals. The fascinating histories that enrich the text were generously shared by hot springs owners throughout Montana and Wyoming, to whom I am grateful. Thanks also to the many museum archivists who helped me bring to light the buried stories of Montana and Wyoming hot springs. These individuals include Dave Walter and Lory Morrow of the Montana Historical Society; Lee Whittlesey, archivist for Yellowstone National Park; and the museum staffs of the Wyoming Historical Society, the Park County Museum (Wyoming), the Gallatin County Historical Society, the Hot Springs Museum in Thermopolis, and the Fremont County Historical Society (Wyoming). Also thanks to Jessie OConner of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce for sharing his knowledge of hot springs in the Jackson Hole area.

My thanks also to the awesome team at Falcon Guides for their hard work in guiding this third edition through the publication process. Special thanks to Acquiring Editor Jess dArbonne.

Im also grateful to my father, Robert Birkby Sr., and my mother, Evelyn Birkby, who taught me the joy of adventure and the pleasure of writing.

Finally, thanks to my many friends and colleagues with whom Ive enjoyed soaking in the warm water of the Rocky Mountains over the last four decades. The memories of all of those soaks are woven into the text of this guide.

The fifty-four hot springs listed in the previous sections all provide wonderful soaking opportunities. But there are also several other hot springs in Montana and Wyoming that for various reasons arent open for public bathing. In some cases, hot springs pools and resorts that were once open to all have been purchased by owners who closed the bathing options to the public (and in some cases have even removed the soaking pools entirely). Resorts have been transformed into retirement homes and even a state hospital. And some old spas have fallen into ruin, their empty pools and crumbling walls sitting quietly in open fields that were once filled with the laughter of soakers in decades past.

The nine additional hot springs listed below no longer provide a soothing soak to visitors, but they have such interesting histories that its worth including them in this guide (after all, this is a touring guide to hot springs, and not just a soaking guide!). If you happen to be near one of these closed hot springs, feel free to stop on public roads that provide a view of the closed resorts or old ruins. Savor the history from a distance, but dont trespass on private property for a closer look.