Idaho and Montana share a distinction no other pair of states can claim: between them they have zero operating landed naturist clubs, and yet they hold some of the most celebrated clothing-optional places in North America. Everything here is water, forest, and federal land, and the tradition survives on custom rather than signage. That makes it the purest backcountry naturism in the United States, and the one most dependent on the courtesy of the person arriving at the pool after you.
Jerry Johnson: The Counterculture Spring
Jerry Johnson Hot Springs sits off US Highway 12 at milepost 152 near Lolo Pass, on Warm Springs Creek in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. It was popularized by the counterculture wave of the 1960s and 1970s and built a deep clothing-optional tradition across three clustered rock pools. You reach it by crossing a pedestrian suspension bridge over the Lochsa River and walking a flat 1.3 miles. A Forest Service recreation pass is required at the trailhead.
The current arrangement is a compromise. In 2009 the Forest Service removed the official “clothing optional” signs and imposed day-use-only hours, closing the site between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. to curb overnight partying and trash. Clothing-optional soaking remains the widespread informal norm, but it is no longer designated, and the working rule is the one we recommend everywhere: carry a swimsuit, and cover up if a family or a ranger arrives.
The Rest of the Idaho Circuit
Weir Creek Hot Springs, at milepost 142, is a steep 0.7-mile climb to a cliffside pool with a strong clothing-optional tradition and the same overnight closure. Goldbug Hot Springs in the Salmon-Challis National Forest is a strenuous two-mile hike to terraced waterfall pools above the Salmon River valley, heavily used and effectively clothing-optional by custom, though high traffic means courtesy toward clothed hikers is part of the deal. The developed sites run the other way: Kirkham Hot Springs charges a five-dollar parking fee, posts “no nudity,” and strictly requires suits, and Pine Flats and Bonneville want swimwear near their campgrounds, with tolerance only at the secluded river pools further out.
Idaho’s landed history ended when Sun Meadow Resort in Worley, the state’s former flagship AANR park, was sold and permanently closed in late 2021. There has been no replacement.
Montana: The Private-Bath Exception
Montana’s commercial hot springs are almost uniformly textile. Elkhorn near Polaris requires suits in its outdoor mineral pools. Chico, Jackson, Fairmont, and Quinn’s all do the same. The one genuine exception is Boulder Hot Springs, the historic geothermal inn, where the main outdoor pool wants a swimsuit but the indoor plunge baths offer gender-segregated or private suit-optional soaking. The saddest entry in the region is the Boiling River in Yellowstone, closed permanently by the Park Service after the June 2022 floods destroyed the riverbed and access trail.
Montana’s Montana Naturist Society was always a non-landed social network, so there is no club to visit either. Backcountry water is the entire scene.
The Law
Idaho Code § 18-4116 prohibits willful and lewd exposure of genitals in a public place or where others may be offended, and the state has tightened its public indecency definitions in recent sessions. On federal land, Forest Service rangers use 36 C.F.R. § 261.4 for disorderly conduct, which in practice means enforcement follows complaints. Montana Code Annotated § 45-5-504 requires knowing exposure under circumstances likely to cause affront or alarm, a misdemeanor for a first offense. In both states, the operative test is the same one that governed Washington and Pennsylvania: is there an unconsenting person likely to be offended? In a remote canyon, usually not. At a roadside pool on a July weekend, often yes.
What that produces is a region where the etiquette is the law’s real content. Pack out everything. Keep voices low. Put something on when the trail delivers strangers. And treat the pool as borrowed, because in Idaho and Montana it always is.
Flying in? Missoula (MSO) is the gateway to the Lolo Pass corridor and the Jerry Johnson cluster, with Lewiston (LWS) and Spokane (GEG) as alternatives, and Bozeman (BZN) for Montana’s springs. Search and compare fares on Kayak. Disclosure: affiliate link – if you book through it, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Where to Stay Near the Springs
The map below centers on the Lolo Pass corridor along US-12, the spine of the Idaho hot springs circuit.
Disclosure: this map contains affiliate booking links. If you book through it, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Related Guides
The same wilderness-hot-spring logic appears in our Colorado guide and our Washington guide, where Baker Hot Springs runs on identical Forest Service ground rules. For the Canadian side of the same tradition, see the British Columbia guide.
Sources: Idaho Code § 18-4116; 36 C.F.R. § 261.4; Montana Code Annotated § 45-5-504; Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests (Jerry Johnson, Weir Creek); Salmon-Challis National Forest (Goldbug); Payette National Forest (Kirkham, Pine Flats, Bonneville); National Park Service (Boiling River closure, 2022); Boulder Hot Springs; Sun Meadow Resort closure (2021).
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