Bear Valley Hot Springs from Fir Creek Campground

Horrible trail, not clear at all and many spots are blocked by boulders that must have fallen during the March earthquake. The hot spring itself was chalk full of mites and ticks, I also contracted a rash after soaking for just 30 minutes. Maybe it was cool before but now it is miserable and not worth the effort.

Terrible trail conditions. The spring isn’t hot and filled with mites. Not worth it!

The trail itself had good views, but the walk to the hotsprings was not worth it. It would have been, but the hotsprings have been overrun by bugs and mites and trashed by people. Very sad

This hot spring is not good. There are lots of mites in the water. It’s not hot and not deep. Do not recommend.

Completed only the 3.5 mile part of the trail from Fir Creek Campground to the hot springs. There is about 0.8 mile of the trail that is super sketchy but doable if you are not carrying heavy or wobbly backpacks. A sign of an arrow on a tree with HS carved above it directs you towards the surreal hot springs. If ever in doubt about which way to go, make sure you are going down the river.

Started to hike to Bear Valley Hot Springs beginning at the Fir Creek Campground. Trail was on the South (or right) side of the river. Made it a little under 1.5 miles in and couldn’t go any further. Came to the part of the trail where the incline is intense and the decline even more so... had to take packs off and regroup. Sent someone ahead without a pack to scout the trail ahead of us just to find out it got worse. So... we reluctantly turned back. We had a very mixed group of people. My sons, 6 & 12 did fine (until the sketchy part), a couple 30 yr olds and a couple 50 yr olds. We also had a couple 58 yr olds that struggled a bit. We all ended up camping at the Fir Creek Campground instead and decided we will try again later this year, but... we will start about a quarter mile up river at the bridge and take the trail in the North (or left) side of the river, as we were told by many people along the journey that that side is much easier. The Fir Creek Campground was very nice and we had a great time regardless of it not going at all as planned. ***Also, time on my recording is incorrect as I forgot to stop it until later in the day. Took about 3.5-4 hrs at a very slow pace. Mileage is correct.***

Awesome trail. You can climb down the hot springs to the river. Be careful with dogs at the top as the water is HOTT! Recommended camping overnight at springs.

This trail had some difficulties for us. We backpacked with packs around 30 pounds. We started from the Fir Creek campground and hiked straight out of there, leaving our car next to the outhouse. The trail was super easy for the first 0.1 miles, then quickly turned sketchy. The trail climbed up about 40 feet from the river and was only about a foot and a half wide where you had to put one foot in front of the other. It was also composed of loose dirt and rocks causing us to slide. This was sketchy AF because if we went down we were going straight into the river with heavy packs on. This part of the trail lasted about 0.8 miles. I have backpacked a lot of trails and this was probably the most nervous I have ever been. Once this part is over, the trail is easy. We had a little bit of difficulty following the All Trails trail once we got close to the hot springs and walked in circles. Some advice, stay on the trail to the left instead of trying to follow the map (which I downloaded on the app). You will arrive at the top of the hot spring 'river' which leads down into the real river. You will know you are there because it smells of sulfur. There are 3 small manmade pools built into this. We hiked down and followed the river east. There is a great camping spot here between the two hot springs area. We set up camp for the night. We decided to take the other way back which involved the river crossing. We had been told by some day hikers that the river crossing was super easy. However, we could not find the section that they were talking about. We used the AllTrails map and the trail it had marked was not off any trail. We had to bushwhack to follow it and once we got to the river, it was too deep to cross. We walked on another trail that lead to the river. It looked decent to cross but it was wide. I'm 5' 4" and the water was up to my waist. We had my dog with and he had to swim but started floating down river from the current. I ended up slipping because it got too deep and the water was flowing pretty fast. I went face down with my pack on. I was able to get up pretty quickly but was soaked. Once we got to the other side, we again tried finding the trail marked on the map with no luck. We followed another trail which took us on a roundabout way to the main trail. This way added an extra mile on to the hike, as we had to hike down to the foot bridge then back to the campground. Some advice: if backpacking I would recommend hiking out of the Bluebunch/Marsh Creek Trailhead. You can park in the parking lot there. I think the river crossing will be easy to find if you start from this way and use the GPS. If day hiking you could go out of the Fir Creek campground. The trail will be easier without packs but it is still sketchy. The hot springs are clean and hot! I brought my ThermoCell for mosquitos which helped a lot. Deep bug spray didn't seem to do enough.

Nice Hike in late Sept. Hiked in via the normal trail that requires crossing the river; and returned via trail on same side of the river. Clean perfect temp hot spring.

A little hard to follow the trail as it is not really clear when you get into the thick of it but it is worth the hike :) beautiful and felt amazing.

Hiked this on 9/20/18. This was about a 7 mile round trip hike to the hot springs from the Fir Creek Campground. Walking through the meadow along the river was gorgeous this time of year. A couple of muddy areas but easy to navigate around. There was one stretch that was really steep with loose rock and sand and made me a little nervous with our 3 month old so I wouldn’t recommend with a baby or any kids. Apparently there is another way but requires crossing the river. Did not run into any other people. Lots of hot spring pools at the end to choose from!