BANKS, IDAHO, Idaho — If you squint, you could convince yourself not much has changed at Skinny Dipper Hot Springs in Boise County.
There's still the steep climb up to the site, located a rocky scramble up a hill overlooking the Banks-Lowman Road. Hot water still dribbles down from the geothermic spring deep under the ground. Steam hangs low over the wet rocks.
In one spot, enough of the warm water collects to make a shallow pool.
But the crowds are gone. The pipes that routed the hot water are disconnected. The big concrete pool - once deep enough to submerge up to your neck - has been ripped out. The one-time chatter of visitors has been replaced with the wind in the pines, the trickle of water and the quiet whoosh of the highway below.
It's been five years since the Bureau of Land Management ordered Skinny Dipper Hot Springs to be shut down, citing a raft of bad behavior from users. People left trash, human waste, condoms, needles, discarded towels and clothing by and in the pools. The popular hot springs was the site of serious falls, sexual assaults, car break-ins and even one homicide.
The BLM ordered the springs shut down to the public entirely in 2016, tearing out the concrete and warning that visitors could be cited for trespassing. The agency said the site would be closed for rehabilitation for five years, until 2021, then reevaluated to determine whether it could be safely reopened.
Sandy Donnelly of Crouch isn't so sure that's a good idea.
"Since they have shut that down, it's been really quite a better situation," he said. "It’s been a terribly abused area for a number of years."
Donnelly has lived in Boise County since 1953. As the town and the surrounding area has grown, he said, it has changed in ways he's not particularly proud of.
"From the time when I was a kid and what we have there now, it's a shame," he said. "There's drug paraphernalia, there's condoms, there's dirty diapers."
Garden Valley Fire Chief Jon Delvalle said that in Skinny Dipper's heyday, it acted as a serious drain on his department's resources. Fire crews regularly were called out to the site to contend with intoxicated or injured visitors.
"I can only imagine if that was to open back up, how bad it would get," he said.
The BLM is not ruling out reopening the site, according to Brett Ralston, Four Rivers Field Manager for the Bureau of Land Management.
Ralston says it is up to the public to present a workable plan to prevent the garbage and problems from creeping back.
"The BLM has left the door open for those types of proposals, but we haven't received that would be a viable option to look at a different management option besides closure at this point," he said.
Holly Perazzo, who lives in Crouch, says if the hot springs is reopened, she'd like to see increased enforcement to crack down on bad behavior at the site.
"Patrol it and police it, make it a little bit safer and then maybe regulate people going up there with alcohol," she said.
But Ralston said the BLM does not have enough staff to dedicate someone to keeping an eye on comings and goings at the hot springs every day.
The agency plans to send out a survey later this month to gauge what community members would like to see happen at Skinny Dipper. Anyone with an idea that could allow the site to reopen safely is encouraged to bring it forward.
"We are still looking for any input that we have from the public if there are other viable options to go out there," he said. "We don't like to close down public lands for reasons but for public safety, we will do that."
Delvalle, the fire chief, said his mind is made up on the issue. He hopes members of the public take the Skinny Dipper shutdown as a lesson in keeping the natural places they enjoy clean and safe for everyone.
"I think having it shut down has been a great thing," he said. "I just ask that people do their part to keep the areas cleaned up and the sites cleaned up and whatnot, because it really is becoming quite a burden. The end result to that is the worse it gets, the more that's going to get shut down."
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