At 9:00 on a Tuesday morning in the Snake River Canyon, the Leisure Pool at Astoria Hot Springs Park is the busiest water on the property. Toddlers in swim lessons and their parents fill the largest of the six pools. Farther down, the Waterfall Pool and River Pool stay quiet, as they are meant to. That split shows how Astoria works between now and the first week of December. The park runs four set sessions a day, six days a week, and its own programs each claim a particular pool, session or afternoon.
If you live south of Jackson, Astoria is the nearest soak. The question this time of year is which pool is free in which session. Here is the calendar, laid out so you can find the quiet hours.
The fixed frame
Astoria opens 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. every day except Wednesday, when it closes for pool cleaning and maintenance. Each day has four sessions: 9:00 to 10:45, 11:00 to 12:45, 1:00 to 2:45 and 3:00 to 4:45. Each session is capped at 70 people. Astoria strongly recommends booking ahead and takes walk-ins only when there's room.
On the hot springs page, Astoria spells out where the pressure falls:
"Weekend, afternoon, and evening sessions usually sell out in advance."
So a public day is 280 spots, split four ways, and the afternoon sessions go first. Everything below lands somewhere inside that frame.
A week on the late-fall calendar
| Day | What the calendar holds | What it means for a soak |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Fall Swim Lessons, 9 to 11 a.m., last date Nov. 15 | Busier Leisure Pool in the morning; the lower river pools stay quiet |
| Monday | Four public sessions | After the Nov. 9 buyout, nothing else scheduled for the rest of November |
| Tuesday | Fall Swim Lessons, 9 to 11 a.m., last date Nov. 17 | Same morning pattern as Sunday |
| Wednesday | Closed for weekly pool cleaning | Nov. 18, Nov. 25 and Dec. 2 are all dark |
| Thursday | Four public sessions | Closed Thanksgiving, Nov. 26 |
| Friday | Four public sessions | Planned reopening Friday, Nov. 27 |
| Saturday | Intro to Improv on Nov. 14, 2 to 4:45 p.m.; private buyout Dec. 5, 1 to 2:45 p.m. | Improv ends in the 3:00 soak; the Dec. 5 buyout closes the pools for that session |
The swim lessons are the longest-running item here. Astoria Park Conservancy and JH Swimming teach small groups of children from 6 months to 4½ years old, and a parent or designated adult is in the pool with each child. The fall session runs about $320 plus taxes and fees, or $40 a lesson. The child and one adult get a soak during the 9:00 to 11:00 window. After Nov. 17 the lessons stop, and the next session is expected in April and May 2027. For the rest of the season, Sunday and Tuesday mornings look like every other open morning.
Picking the pool, as well as the session
Once you've booked a session, where you sit is up to you. Astoria's six pools run at different temperatures and serve different purposes:
- Leisure Pool: the largest, about the size of the original Astoria pool that operated from the 1960s through the 1990s. It is the coolest of the four mineral pools at 100° to 102°F and is built for families and groups to soak together.
- Meadow Pool: 102° to 104°F, set beside the Cold Plunge for easy back-and-forth dips.
- Waterfall Pool and River Pool: the river-view area, which is Astoria's designated quiet zone. The Waterfall Pool's falling water lands on shoulders and necks.
- Children's Pool: about two feet at its deepest, 80° to 90°F, and filled with chlorinated potable water.
The four mineral pools are flow-through, so the hot spring water is constantly refreshed. When the Leisure Pool is crowded, as it is on lesson mornings, the river pools stay quiet.
Programs that end in a soak
Most of the rest of Astoria's fall programming follows one pattern: an hour of something in Johnny Counts Cabin or by the water, then a regular soak session. None of these programs closes the pools to the public.
Intro to Improv runs Saturday, Nov. 14. Chris Staron of Laff Staff teaches beginner-friendly improv from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. in Johnny Counts Cabin, and the group then soaks from 3:00 to 4:45. It costs $30 a person for the class and the soak, and no experience is needed. Sign up through the event page.
Morning Meditation Soak is a monthly Conservancy morning. In the Nov. 1 edition, Rooted Mind led meditation in the River Pool from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m., and participants then stayed for the regular 9:00 to 10:45 public session. Admission started at $30.
Yoga + Sound Bath with Medicine Wheel Wellness ran Sunday, Nov. 8. It paired breathwork, restorative yoga and crystal-bowl sound healing with a soak afterward, for $40 including admission.
The Frontline Resilience Program works the same way and is free for eligible critical service providers. It held a yoga and sound bath session in Johnny Counts Cabin on Nov. 8, followed by a complimentary soak. Eligible organizations include Jackson Hole Fire/EMS, Teton County Search and Rescue, the Jackson Hole, Snow King and Grand Targhee ski patrols, the WYDOT Avalanche Department, the Senior Center of Jackson Hole, Teton Literacy Center and the Teton Village Water and Sewer District. If you work for one of these organizations, ask your organization's administrator or point person for the private registration link.
The days the pools close
Programs share the water with you. Two kinds of dates take it away completely.
The first is the private buyout. On Saturday, Dec. 5, from 1:00 to 2:45 p.m., the hot springs close to the public and to members for a private group. The same happened on Monday, Nov. 9, in the 3:00 session. A buyout gives one group exclusive use of all six pools and the hot springs amenities for a single session. If you want a Saturday soak on Dec. 5, book the morning, or the 3:00 session after the buyout ends.
The second is the holiday. Between the publish date and early December, the dark days line up like this:
- Wednesday, Nov. 18: weekly pool cleaning.
- Wednesday, Nov. 25: weekly pool cleaning.
- Thursday, Nov. 26: closed for Thanksgiving.
- Friday, Nov. 27: planned reopening.
- Wednesday, Dec. 2: weekly pool cleaning.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 1:00 to 2:45 p.m.: private buyout.
Items two and three fall back to back. Astoria is closed Wednesday and Thursday of Thanksgiving week, so if you're hosting guests that week, your last chance to soak before the holiday is Tuesday, Nov. 24.
What a soak costs in late fall
Residents of Teton County, Wyoming and Idaho, and of Sublette and Lincoln counties in Wyoming, pay $18.75 per adult session instead of $26.25. Children 2 to 12 pay $13.50 instead of $19, and infants under 2 are free. Adults show proof of residency at check-in. For a household of two adults and two children, that's $64.50 a session at resident rates, versus $90.50 at standard rates.
Annual memberships for 2026 are sold out, so unless you already hold one, any soak for the rest of this year means buying a single ticket. Memberships run January 1 through the end of the calendar year. The 2026 adult membership cost $425, about 23 adult sessions at the resident rate. If you're near that many visits a year, that's the number to compare against. All ticket sales go to Astoria Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that stewards the park.
If you're shopping for the holidays, Astoria sells $50 and $100 gift cards. You can book tickets through the Astoria ticketing page, and the Welcome Center answers questions at 307-201-5925.
Knowing which part of the canyon is quiet on which day is part of how Jake Kilgrow sees the area south of Jackson, whether you're settling in or thinking about your next property here. If you'd like to talk about life between Hoback Junction and the Snake River bridge, Work with Jake and we'll start with the parts of the canyon you already use.
