Granite Hot Springs Road Dispersed Camping

If I could, I would start a business where this forest road meets the highway, renting ATV's to people to drive the 9 miles up to the Granite Hot Springs pool, waterfall, and campground. Alas, no such business exists. So my main recommendation is DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS ROAD if you're in a camper van with normal clearance or anything that is a low clearance vehicle. 4 wheel drive and high clearance is the only way I would ever do this again, and even so, I'd still be worried about wrecking the suspension on it.

Believe the reviewer before me. As they said, we hoped the road would get better, but no, it got worse. Way, way, way worse. So much worse. The potholes were SO deep (and completely filled with water) that I had to send my son into the road to step in them so I could tell whether I was going to bottom out my generator. The 9 mile road was probably closer to 18 miles on my odometer because I had to zig zag across the road, from one side to another, in a vain attempt to avoid the potholes.

Imagine, if you will, slicing open an English muffin, toasting it, and using it as the model for your road surface. There were more potholes than roads.

One mistake we made, and I cannot blame USFS for it, is that we used the built-in navigation in our van to guide us to the Granite Hot Springs pool, and it was WILDLY wrong. Like the reviewer below, I considered bailing after one mile, but I kept thinking it couldn't possibly get worse, and by the time I was 2 miles in, I figured I was halfway there because the nav told me I had only 2.5 more miles to go. At this point, I knew there was no chance I was going to risk camping here because a steady drizzle had started and could continue off and on overnight, so adding inches more deep mud to the massive ruts and potholes was seriously risking me getting stuck on this road with no cell service. But I had come that far, and I really wanted to try the first hot springs of my life, so I forged ahead, telling myself that I was more than halfway there and would be rewarded with a blissful soak.

Unfortunately, when we reached the point where my navigation system said the pool would be, there was nothing there, and no room anywhere to turn around -- there were drop-offs on one side of the road, and there was no way I was going to do a 26-point turn and risk sliding off the road in mud. So on we continued, figuring the pool had to be just around the corner, just over the next rise, almost there, almost there. Well, no. It was another FIVE MILES. At some point, I reached some kind of a fugue state fueled by spite and stubbornness, where I was just gripping the steering wheel. determined to get to the pool come hell or high water (both of which were in the potholes).

It took 90 minutes to drive those 9.5 miles. 90 minutes. And when we finally reached the parking lot for the pool, it was teeming rain and we had to walk a quarter mile in mud from the parking lot to the pool. Now, in fairness, the experience of the hot springs pool was really cool. But it was NOT worth the damage I might have done to my van, and it was absolutely not worth the 3 hour slog up and back through a rutted, muddy, English muffin road.

Since I bailed on driving beyond the pool to more dispersed camping sites, I can't review the sites themselves, but If you are reading this and STILL want to try going up to the hot springs pool, do NOT take the right fork in the road where you see the hot springs waterfall. Both forks will get you up to the pool parking lot. The left fork is actually a fairly decent stretch of road (we took it on the way down) but the right fork has the deepest ruts I've ever driven over...they were crevasses, really, with treacherous big sharp stones sticking up 7-8 inches above the mud. I made it to the top, barely, but I would never, ever do it again without high clearance, 4 wheel drive, off-road tires, and traction boards.

In the end, we did enjoy the soak in the hot springs. It's a quirky, weird place, and the water was just right. We walked down to the falls, too, where you can also soak in a small pool on the opposite side of the creek. But my enjoyment of what should have been a relaxing soak was ruined by my terror at the prospect of haivng to drive back down that road. I apologized profusely to my van the whole way down. I feel like I owe my van money. I know this is wordy, but you have been warned. I was warned by the Campendium reviewer before me, but I didn't want to believe it could have been that bad, since so many other reviews were great, and it's an extraordinarily beautiful area. But it is THAT BAD. You have been warned. Twice.

What a disappointment for us! At the very beginning, 10 feet in we saw the road was bad, we held out hope it would get better, NOPE only worse. We pull a 40’ fifth wheel and after 6 miles and over an hour just couldn’t handle the road anymore. We backed into a somewhat level spot and headed out! 3 hours wasted because the damn forest service hasn’t maintained the road. Super disappointed!

Beautiful area with plenty of spots near rushing streams. The Hot Spring pool and grounds were very picturesque and the people we met along the way were nice and quiet, excepting one fellow who zoomed on his four wheeler and target practiced with his pistol until 9:30 pm. This spot is approx 30 miles from Jackson and there was no cell service.

When you think Wyoming. This is the picture in your mind. Absolutely beautiful. We would have stayed longer but no cell signal and I’m working on thecraftedcarrot.com so no time for no signal. The road is good for any size rig down to the campground. The campground was empty of nearly empty the entire time we were here. Probably because there are so many boondocking spots on the way. Enjoy your stay ❤️