Chief Shakes Hot Springs

Chief Shakes Hot Springs is a Tongass National Forest day-use site with no road to it. The Forest Service places it on the mainland, 28 miles northwest of Wrangell, up the Stikine River at Hot Springs Slough off Ketilli Slough, inside the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness. The way in is by boat or floatplane. A 0.3-mile trail off Hot Springs Slough provides access at lower water. When the river is below 16 feet, boat access is limited and visitors walk along the slough to reach the tubs. There are no overnight accommodations, and the Forest Service lists the fee as none. The facility is an enclosed redwood hot tub and an open-air redwood hot tub, with dressing rooms and benches. Two outhouses are on site. Potable water is not available. The Forest Service lists swimming as the water activity and says to expect crowds on weekends, holidays, and sunny days through the summer. Its page, last updated February 19, 2025, does not publish a temperature for the water in the tubs, and it does not describe a tub closure or a replacement project. NOAA's Thermal Springs List records Chief Shakes Hot Springs at 122°F. That figure is the surveyed spring, not a tub temperature, and water that hot at the source can scald. Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Open-File Report 127 (1980) measured the principal spring at 50.4°C, about 123°F, and a second spring at 45°C. The same report says part of the principal spring's water was piped about 100 meters downslope to a large wooden tub in an A-frame built by Wrangell residents. That is a 1980 description of how the water was delivered, not a description of the two redwood tubs the Forest Service lists now. The number stored here is NOAA's 122°F vent, and it should not be read as the temperature of the tub. The nearest point on the drivable road network is many miles away across the water. This listing does not treat that snap as a hike, because the Forest Service access is by boat or floatplane.

Sources: fs.usda.gov, doi.pangaea.de, dggs.alaska.gov

Chief Shakes Hot Springs is in Wrangell, Alaska. Boat or Floatplane (28 mi NW of Wrangell) is the way in; the road data has no drivable approach. Classed here as an undeveloped backcountry pool, though no source on file confirms that. The NOAA survey puts this vent at 122°F (scalding), well above typical soak temperatures. Entry is free and the listing records restrooms. Whether suits are required is not established in our sources; confirm locally.

Source: NOAA thermal springs survey — CHIEF SHAKES HOT SPRINGS, 122°F at the vent. The Forest Service does not publish a tub temperature. DGGS Open-File Report 127 (1980) measured the principal spring at 50.4°C, about 123°F.