Sol Duc Hot Springs RV Park & Campground

We have a senior pass, so our cost may not be the same for everyone. We arrived on Sunday of Labor Day weekend it was not too crowded at the RV camp.

This is inside of Olympia National Park along the Sol Duc river and within a short walk of the Sol Duc hot springs facility. The roads in are typical natioal park mountainous roads; paved, narrrow, hard to turn around but basically safe. The camp itself is a rectangular parking lot with a row of campers on each side and the camp hosts and some over large spots along the back. It's not very big. The spots are standard size and the center space allows easy maneuvering to back in. The camp host was very helpful. The back end of the camp and the picnic table was right on the edge of the forest. There are paths to the hot springs and to the tent camping from behind the camp. We had no hookups. There are bath houses and toilets in the tent camping area and those are well maintained. Some of the tent sites have really beautiful views and privacy.
You can actually walk a few miles in a loop on those trails between the facilities without going out on the road and it's quite lovely. That's what we used to walk our dogs.

There is an honor system dump station near the camp for $5. We just paid the ranger as we left the park.

The hot springs was $12 for a 2 hour pass for Seniors. I think normal price is twice that. Very clean facility with showers and locker rooms and a few different hot pools, a cold pool and one large chlorinated pool. The temperature varied with hottest on one end. Beautiful views from the hot pools. Short walk from the RV camp through the woods and across the bridge. Definitely recommend.

There is a sulfer smell in some spots in the area, but it is not a sewage problem, it's the chemicals from the hot springs.

There are NO cellphone towers inside the park and even the hot springs office and store did not have wifi that we could detect.

The office of the hot springs has some gifts, but it's not really what I would call a camp store. We went up there hoping for books or magazines but there was nothing except children's stuff and bird watching books.

The Hot Springs Fall trail is worth the walk although the dogs could not come along as on most National Park trails so we took turns with that. There are a few other nature stops on Sol Duc road that the dogs could join us on. Lots of hiking trails in that area of Olympia and it's not too far to some national forests which also have trails.

We were there in mid September and the campground was full. Many (perhaps most) of the sites in Loop A seem best suited for tent or van campers. We could not get level in site A33 even using all of the leveling blocks we carry. The sites in the RV loop appeared to be reasonably level. It is about a 10 minute walk from the A loop to the hot mineral pools. The RV loop is closer to the pools. The Ancient Groves Trail about 3 miles north of the campground is definitely worth hiking. Although not marked on the road, there is RV parking for the trail at the Scndry Trailhead which is shown on Google Maps. I downloaded an offline map of the area from Google Maps before the trip.

Because of the negative reviews from the RV sites, I booked Loop B Site 66 which fit both our 29’ hard-sided popped up trailer and our Ford F-150, no problem. The site is a double wide site and has two levels, with the picnic table down a few steps from the campsite. It’s right next to the path that goes to some really clean bathrooms that have soap and hand dryers, and there is a place that you can fill up water and wash dishes as well. The sites are surrounded by beautiful old growth trees and stumps - it’s really quite lovely and magical, but also dry camping, of course. Most of the sites are short and can be unlevel, so make sure you look ahead of time on the site for information about length.

Because you are surrounded by tent campers that seem to go to bed right at 10am, you feel compelled to be quiet, which is nice if you like peace and quiet! At our picnic table, we had cell service which was surprising, but absolutely no Starlink due to the trees. We have the on board generator on our truck, so we parked the truck in the Resort parking lot, and got the Starlink to work for an hour during the day.

Even though it was July 4th and 5th, the place wasn’t full, so it was nice that it wasn’t overly crowded. We easily got a spot for the Hot Springs and although the showers aren’t private, at least they have hot water (women’s has 5 shower stalls that are open to the room). The restaurant also wasn’t crowded, and although the food was pricey, the portions were pretty big and tasty. They sell ice and some necessities, but don’t expect any real food in the grocery section of the Resort. They had a charcuterie board and hot dogs, and that’s all the meat. Lots of different drinks and typical necessities.

If you can fit your trailer or RV in the loops and are ok with dry camping, I would highly recommend camping there instead of the RV sites.

We reserved two nights in the Sol Duc Campground A loop, site 30 the first night and site 17 the second night. There was no site that we could reserve two consecutive nights one week in advance. We looked at the RV Park and saw that it is a tightly packed parking lot with water and electricity (50A) pedestals. We chose the campground and it was the right choice for us.

We arrived at the campground on Tuesday around 1 pm and the campground was almost full. We hiked to Sol Duc Falls Tuesday afternoon. The next day we drove to Sol Duc Trailhead and hiked to Deer Lake and went to Sol Duc Hot Springs to soak in the hot pool afterwards. We enjoyed our stay in this campground. We used the dump station and filled the fresh water tank Thursday morning when we left the campground. The dump fee was $10 ($5 with my Senior Pass). You pay the fee at the entrance gate when you exit.

We have a Verizon phone and T-Mobile phones. We had no Verizon signal. We had a weak T-Mobile signal but with WeBoost signal booster we got 2 to 3 bars and we were able to make use of our signal although the data speed was rather slow.

We paid $18.25 per night with my Senior Pass 50% discount.

Giving three stars is subjective, but I can't give it a higher rating for RV camping because of how tight the spaces are. The park itself it worthy of 5 stars easily! The rate we paid was Senior Pass, so know that standard rates are higher. The RV lot is really crowded. You do have a picnic table and fire-ring, but the next one is 15 feet away. At times it can feel like you are at an RV rally being held in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Before you drive your rig in here, I highly recommend you drive up the road about 50 yards and park in the dump-station lot, then walk back and scout out where your spot is and if you have a clear path to park. All spaces require backing in and you will often have to ask someone to move their vehicle so you will have enough room to manuever. If you look up Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort on Google Maps and do the Satellite view, you can see the RV campground directly across the river from the pool at the hot springs (they are within easy walking distance to each other). I've also attached two parking lot pictures. Cell phone coverage for T-Mobile (two bars) is available about 3 to 4 miles down the road, and at various places along the road all the way down to the entrance booth near 101. You won't get 4 bars until you go half-way back to Port Angeles. There was no cell signal in the RV campground or the Hot Springs resort.

Here are some pros and cons and you can decide for yourself:

Pros: Olympic National Park is absolutely beautiful, and there is so much to see for everyone. There are several hikes that are easy enough for almost everyone (Rain Forrest, Sol Duc Falls, etc.), and several that are just nice by car. Of course there are a lot of options for serious backpackers. The Hot Springs are open (as of May 2021) and you can reserve a time for them every day you are staying in the RV spaces. The park is absolutely beautiful and to see everything requires a lot of driving, so you can use your spot here as a base camp. The Sol Duc Falls are a relatively easy hike and are nearby. No matter what campground you stay at in Olympic National Park, be prepared to drive a lot to see other parts of the park. The hot springs are nice, relaxing, and you can reserve a spot when it is not overly crowded as they have reservation times for RV campers. Also, despite the very crowded campground, most people were very nice and cooperative, and things quite down around 10PM each night. The dump station I mentioned above is also open.

Cons: There is no campground host and the area gets little to any supervision from the resort front desk. We did not have issues with other campers as some of the other reviews mention, but after reading them I think I would recommend anyone staying here request the resort have someone come through the RV area a bit after 10PM to quiet-down anyone being rowdy. The RV spacing is very minimal. We have an Escape19 trailer (no pop-outs) and when we extended our awning, there was about two or three feet left before it encroached on the RV space next door. One experienced camper pulled in next to us so that when he extended his pop-out it went half-way over the log separating the two spaces. There are no bathrooms, so make sure you at least bring a porta-poty if you are in a smaller pop-up or trailer that does not have one. There are NO RV spaces in any of the nearby campgrounds at Sol Duc, so if you have an RV and want to camp at Sol Duc, this is where you are going to camp. Also, if your electrical outlet is not working, check with the desk at the Hot Springs as they apparently fail sometimes due to the air from the hot springs. They were very prompt at fixing our outlet. The hot springs emit a sulfur odor just like you would experience around an active volcanic area like volcanoes national park in Hawaii.

Bottom line is the park is awesome and if this is the only RV space you can get, or if the hot springs are very important to you, then by all means stay here. Glad we did it, but I would try to stay elsewhere if at all possible if we go back. I had a difficult time finding any detailed information about the campground on-line so I just want to make this info available about the RV lot so people are not surprised when they arrive.

While staying in the PNW, we found a couple of nights available at this so called "resort". It is definitely not a resort. Lets get to the pros and cons of this place:

Pros:
- Water and Electric hookups
- Beautifully situated in the Sol Duc Rainforest

Cons:
- No Sewer
- No Verizon service (and by what I heard, no service from other providers)
- No access to Pool or Spa (Due to COVID)
- Managed by Aramark
- The tiniest, tightest spaces you will ever stay at (no, your car won't fit if you are pulling a trailer)
- Cars parked in front of trailers (you need to arrive early to stand a chance to have the space to back in your trailer)
- Spot 7 is not leveled
- $10 fee to dump ($5 if you have an Access pass or Senior discount)

After visiting this campground and seeing the lack of amenities for the price we paid, we were terribly disappointed. This campground is highway robbery for what they charge. The dry camping area next door is a better value. The sites at the end of the loop are the hardest to back into. You will probably have to go in reverse from the beginning of the loop and reverse your way in. There is not enough space at the very end of the loop, and we only have a 23' trailer. We decided to cut our losses and left that same afternoon. We found a more spacious spot (probably about the size of 4 of the RV spaces in Sol Duc "Resort") in Lake Crescent for half the price.