Scenic Hot Springs Hotel, Scenic, Washington, ca 1900 (HESTER 0)

Scenic Hot Springs is a privately-owned natural

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage unde ...

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washingto ...

that is closed to the public. It is located south of U.S. Route 2, about 8 miles west of

Stevens Pass Stevens Pass (elevation ) is a mountain pass through the Cascade Mountains located at the border of King County and Chelan County in Washington, United States. U.S. Route 2 travels over the pass, reaching a maximum elevation of . The Pacif ...

and bordering the

Alpine Lakes Wilderness The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a large wilderness area spanning the Central Cascades of Washington state in the United States. The wilderness is located in parts of Wenatchee National Forest and Snoqualmie National Forest, and is approximately bo ...

. Nearby, the Great Northern Railway had a stop for travelers to experience the springs. Near the railroad, in the 1890s, a lodge known as Madison Hot Springs, was built to accommodate visitors to these mineral baths who arrived by train from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. The mineral spring water is slightly acidic with a natural temperature of about . The lodge heated the water and piped it to bath houses, misleadingly advertising them as "hot springs". The name of the lodge was later changed to Scenic Hot Springs and it survived as a commercial venture until 1928. Construction by the Great Northern Railway of an 8-mile

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

under Stevens Pass dumped rubble into the front yard of the lodge and effected its destruction. Largely forgotten until the 1980s, it then became a popular gathering spot for

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases. T ...

bathers who constructed several tubs of various temperatures. In October 2001 the King County Sheriff shut down the springs and threatened to arrest bathers for trespassing, at the land owner's request. The land owner was apparently not aware of what was taking place on the property. Activities occurring at the springs were a liability risk and the fact that the area is environmentally protected and no building permits had been issued was used as a reason to demolish the decking. It is not clear that the springs will ever be available in the form they were before the incident in 2001. Large amounts of vandalism and bad weather has caused its deterioration . On top of it, Federal and State regulations are making it difficult to restore the springs to their original working condition. Scenic on NorthWest Hotsprings
/ref> Because this is private land, the owner must first grant permission to the visitor. Requests to access this private property can be made through the ''Scenic Hot Springs'' blog. Visitors who the owner did not grant permission to risk legal liabilities such as trespassing charges.

References

{{coord, 47.709, -121.138, type:landmark_region:US-WA, display=title Springs of Washington (state) Bodies of water of King County, Washington