The Bagby Hot Springs are natural hot springs located in the Mount Hood National Forest about 67mi southeast of Portland, Oregon, United States and about 41mi east of Salem, Oregon. The springs are within the Cascade Mountains in a heavily forested area at elevation 2280 ft (695 m). The springs are just outside the boundary of Bull of the Woods Wilderness area.HistoryBagby Hot Springs are rumored to have been a favorite site for Native Americans for hundreds of years. The springs are named after Bob Bagby, a prospector and hunter who found the site in 1880.The United States Forest Service built a small guard station next to the hot springs in 1913. The Bagby Guard Station was used to house Forest Service fire patrol crews during summer fire season. In 1974, the Forest Service built a new guard station. The original cabin was closed but was left standing. In 2006, the original guard cabin was renovated. Today, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but it is not open to the public.A bathhouse was constructed at the hot springs in the 1920s. The original bathhouse burned down in 1979 when bathers left candles unattended in the old wooden structure. The volunteer group Friends of Bagby (FOB) formed in 1981 to rebuild the bathhouses. Between 1983 and 1986, the Forest Service and FOB joined forces to build three new bathhouses at Bagby. A conflict among the leadership of FOB led to a rift within the group in the late 1990s, and the Forest Service terminated its contract with the group in summer 2001.
