Scenic Hot Springs is a privately-owned natural mineral spring in Washington state that is closed to the public. It is located south of U.S. Route 2, about 8 miles west of Stevens Pass and bordering the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. 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. The mineral spring water is slightly acidic with a natural temperature of about 50 °F (10.0 °C). The lodge heated the water and piped it to bathhouses, misleadingly advertising them as "hot springs". [1]
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 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 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 landowner 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. [2]
Today, the springs are privately owned, and may be accessed through a reservation system. [3]
Gage is a town in Ellis County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 433 at the time of the 2020 census.
Baring is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 255 at the 2020 census, up from 220 at the 2010 census. It is located on U.S. Highway 2 about 23 miles (37 km) west of Stevens Pass, along a very flat and straight three-mile section of highway that has been dubbed the "Baring Straight", since US-2 is otherwise hilly and curvy through the mountains. The settlement was first known as "Salmon", but by 1909 it was known as Baring.
Skykomish is a town in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 161 as of the 2020 census, down from an estimated peak of "several thousand" in the 1920s.
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The Great Northern Railway was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, it was the creation of 19th-century railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill and was developed from the Saint Paul & Pacific Railroad. The Great Northern's route was the northernmost transcontinental railroad route in the U.S.
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Stevens Pass 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 4,061 feet (1,238 m). The Pacific Crest Trail crosses the highway at Stevens Pass. The BNSF Railway's Cascade Tunnel lies 1,180 feet (400 m) below the pass summit.
Wellington was a small unincorporated railroad community in the northwest United States, on the Great Northern Railway in northeastern King County, Washington.
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Lester is a ghost town near Stampede Pass, just south of Snoqualmie Pass in King County, founded in 1892 by the Northern Pacific Railway. Lester is located along what is currently National Forest Development Road 54, on land owned by Tacoma Water, a division of Tacoma Public Utilities.
Lookout Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of the northwestern United States. In the Coeur d'Alene Mountains of the Bitterroot Range, the pass is on the border between Idaho and Montana, traversed by Interstate 90 at an elevation of 4,710 feet (1,436 m) above sea level.
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