Olympic Hot Springs is located in Olympic National Park, which is an expansive park that occupies much of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. The springs site is considerably removed from the main attractions of the huge park. It is accessed first through a secondary park entrance then by a long hike along a backpacking trail for serious hikers that is off the radar of most park visitors. Furthermore, the park service does not promote the springs in its literature. All these aspects have contributed to a strong culture of nude soaking at the springs.

To get to the springs, most of the hike is along an old road that was closed to vehicular access years ago, supposedly because it lies on an earthquake fault; the road is indeed crumbling in places. Access is now limited to foot traffic only (i.e., no bicycles). The hike is long but easy and takes about 45 minutes to an hour, and you will leave the main trail near the end of the hike and take a short spur trail to the springs. (The main trail connects to other trails that are deep in the interior of the park where there are no driving roads, and these trails are so long that they require overnight hikes.) The entire walk is through a thick, lush forest.

The hot springs site was a small resort throughout the first half of the 20th century, but the resort closed in 1966 and all the buildings have been removed. There are now seven soaking pools of varying sizes and temperatures located along the spur trail. Some of the pools are hidden, so you have to explore a little to find them.

Despite the long hike, the site is very popular and usually has at least small crowds. Nude soaking is well established, but it is best to choose another soaking pool if a particular pool is occupied only by textiles. Occasionally park officials post notices that nudity is prohibited or not condoned by the park service, but these signs do not daunt nudists, who often tear them down. Rangers do not bother nudists unless someone complains about nudity, and that is an unlikely occurrence. There are no amenities nearby, so come prepared. There is a primitive camping area for backpackers not far from the springs, and there is a pit toilet at the camping area.

Olympic Hot Springs is about 100 miles from Seattle, assuming you take a ferry across across Puget Sound: either the Seattle-Bainbridge Island ferry or the Edmonds-Kingston ferry, both of which are toll ferries. You'll have to add about 50 miles if you detour through Tacoma to avoid the ferry.

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GPS: 47.9764N, 123.6868W

city, county, state, country  (remote), Clallam, Washington, U.S.A.

classification  2 (traditionally nude)

There are 6 placemarks related to this site.