I would like to know if anyone has recent (2010) knowledge or interest in this hike.

There was a trip report last year that said the route was highly difficult, however, it might have been a bit of an oversell. That or he took the wrong route. He also refuses to share any info.

I have not done the trip, but have some beta on it and a burning desire to do it, though nearly no time. Lots and lots of bear, from what I am told. And not really hot springs so much as fairly warm springs. I could probably hook you up with some sources of information, too. And if your timing was right, I might be able to do it with you.

Might.

There's someone else round here who I was talking to about the trip, but can't seem to find his email address right now, so forget who it was.

After the third effort, Deer River Hot Springs became a reality.I will do a trip report soon.

The trip report is ready, and can be found at http://hotspringsnick.blogspot.com/

Great TR. This part had me laughing out loud. It makes me feel better about bears to know they would be so close to your tent and not bother you.

"Needless to say I did not sleep a wink. At daybreak, I unzipped my tent door and stared a bear right in the face, about 15 metres from me. I had to make a quick decision, should it be the camera or the bear spray? The camera was in the bottom of the backpack and the bear spray directions were in French. I sensibly opted for the Bear Banger, I loaded the unit and it went off with the loudest explosion I ever heard, I almost pooped my pants. I never saw a bear run so fast in my life."

We have a few people here wanting to find these springs if others wanted to join us. We live close to the location already so timing is very open to us.

The location of these hot springs is not exactly secret. Out of curiosity I did a Google search and found a couple of sites that provide actual coordinates for the springs. Checking Google Earth confirmed that one of the sites had the exact coordinates of the big pool, which shows up nicely as a 25-30 m wide circular lake. Knowing the exact location should be useful, since it looks like you might be able to bushwack up the west side of Deer River on a fairly flat plateau that would be pretty direct and avoid bushy riparian terrain. Then the river crossing should be easier because you're farther upriver.

I've seen the same pool you speak of, though when I did my last search, the coordinates were not online (that was the better part of a decade ago; still haven't done the hike, still want to, someday).