Sol Duc Hot Springs in Olympic National Park, Washington

Sol Duc Hot Springs is the approachable counterpart to Olympic's wilderness seeps. Set along the Sol Duc River in an old-growth pocket of Olympic National Park, the resort operates under a National Park Service concession and centers on three mineral soaking pools, tested daily, alongside a freshwater swimming pool. Unlike the park's primitive backcountry springs, this is a developed destination reachable by road when the resort is open, about 40 minutes west of Port Angeles.

The valley around it is one of Olympic's most rewarding. A walk of roughly one mile through old-growth forest reaches the Sol Duc Falls overlook, and the campground sits right along the river under a canopy of towering trees. With 82 tent sites and 17 RV sites, most reservable through Recreation.gov, it is among the most camper-friendly hot-spring settings on the peninsula. The resort and campground generally run from late March through the last weekend in October.

For RV travelers, Sol Duc is close to ideal: drive in, plug into a forested site, and have mineral pools and a marquee waterfall hike within walking distance. It also makes a comfortable basecamp for exploring the wider Sol Duc Valley and the rainforests and coastline beyond. A rented motorhome turns the trip into an unhurried Olympic Peninsula loop.