History

Loon Creek Hot Spring

River mile ~50.06 — GoRafting: springs ~1 mile up Loon Creek from Big Loon confluence ~50.06

Mapped at 44.7988, -114.8057.

Loon Creek Hot Springs lie about a mile up Loon Creek from its Middle Fork confluence near Big Loon Camp (about mile 50). Loon Creek was the scene of the 1869–1872 Oro Grande placer boom and later the Lost Packer Mine era—events that defined early Euroamerican mining in the Middle Fork basin. The springs themselves are a natural geothermal stop used by floaters; the surrounding drainage carries a well-documented mining and Chinese-labor history in USFS cultural overviews.