CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

National Park Service · Olympic National Park · WA

Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground

Reservable, and full this SaturdayEvery one of the 61 sites on offer is taken this Saturday, and the record lists no site held back for a walk-up. read 16:57 UTC

We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →

Watch for a cancellation Book on recreation.gov ↗

Right now: Taking bookingsSites offered on 16 of the next 16 nights read 16:57 UTC
A night: $40–$65Across the site types the agency prices
Sites: 96All of them booked ahead

Photos · Aramark photo

50 ftLongest rig

1,660 ftElevation

245 ftWater · Sol Duc RiverBay · 12.9 mi · to Agate Bay

18.4 miSW of Port Angeles, WA

81%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices

In the agency’s own words

For up to date pool schedule information, please visit our website here . Pool access fees are $19 for adults, $15 for children ages 4-12 and $15 for seniors over 62 years old per session. Towel rentals are $5. You may bring your own towel. Lockers are available, but locks are not provided. Located along the Sol Duc River, Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground is on the "edge of the backcountry in the heart of the Olympic National Park" with hot spring pools and access to many hiking trails. Keep reading

In the late 1800s, settlers found the hot springs and called them "Sol Duc" a mispronunciation of the Quileute word for sparkling waters. The first hotel was built at Sol Duc in 1912 but burned down in 1916. The resort was rebuilt on a more modest scale in the 1920s, and completely rebuilt in the 1980s, which reflects how the resort looks today. Recreation.gov offers reservations for 76 of the resort's 82 tent sites and for all 17 of the resort's RV campsites, all nestled under a lush green canopy of old growth forest. Reservations for the remaining 20 tent sites are made directly at the campground as walk in reservations. Advanced reservations are recommended to guarantee a campsite. Multiple hiking trails are accessible directly from the property, with the most popular taking guests to spectacular Sol Duc Falls. Book tent and RV campsites here on Recreation.gov (using the buttons on the right to view sites and availability). Visit the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort website to book reservations for the cabins.

Recreation

Reinvigorate your spirit: Hike through dense, old-growth forest to Sol Duc Falls or explore the famous Lover's Lane Loop Trail. The Olympic Peninsula is prized for its wide assortment of hiking trails suitable for all ages and abilities. Multiple treks are available, such as a 1.6 mile (2.6 km) round-trip hike to Sol Duc Falls from the resort. Watch salmon fight their way up the Sol Duc River at the Salmon Cascades Overlook during autumn. Relax: Soak in the Mineral Hot Springs located at the resort. Swim in the large swimming pool, also located at the resort.

Facilities

The campground currently offers two tent camping loops that accommodate 82 tent campsites plus 17 RV campsites. Nearby comfort stations in the campground or lodge loops offer flush toilets and potable water. Each site offers a picnic table, fire ring and paved access.

Natural Features

Sol Doc offers three mineral hot spring pools with temperatures typically between 98-107F (37C - 40C) and a large freshwater swimming pool that ranges from 50-85F (10C - 29C). Sessions can be purchased at the front desk of the main lodge. Mineral Water Wading Pool: approximately: 98F / 37C / 6-8' deep Large Mineral Fountain Pool: approximately 101F / 38C / 3' deep (meets accessibility standards) Medium Mineral Pool: approximately 104F / 40C / 3' deep Freshwater Pool: Varies seasonally between 50F - 85F / 10C - 30C / 3' - 10' deep (universally accessible) All pool temperatures may vary due to weather and natural changes in the hot spring well temperature. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (360) 207-1258.

Nearby Attractions

Guests can visit the Olympic National Park Visitor Center and Port Angeles. On the way to Sol Duc from Port Angeles, experience self-guided hikes at Marymere Falls Trail, Mt. Storm King, or the Moments in Time Trail. Headed past Forks? Visit the historic Lake Quinault Lodge: Plan to join a rain forest tour and finish the day with lakefront dining. Forks: Movie buffs will enjoy this town -- the setting of the famed Twilight series, as well as the Timber Museum. Ruby Beach: Don't miss a Pacific Coast beach walk with tide pools and sea stacks.

Charges & Cancellations

Cancellations must be submitted atleast 72 hours prior to arrival.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

The Mineral Hot Springs & Pool access will be in sessions: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM 2026 pool access fees are $19 for adults, $15 for children ages 4-12 and $15 for seniors over 62 years old per session. Towel rentals are $5. You may bring your own towel. Lockers are available, but locks are not provided. Children under the age of 4 may only access the smallest hot spring pool and the swimming pool.

Rule

Caution: Wildlife including bears and raccoons frequent the area. All food and coolers (regardless of contents) must kept in approved animal proof containers.

Rule

Pets must be kept on a leash up to 6 feet in length at all times. Pets are not allowed on National Park trails at any time.

Everything else this campground posts · 4

Rule

No loud music or sound (including generators) between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Rule

Please verify you know your site prior to arrival. If you have any questions or concerns, speak with the front desk at the resort or the camp host.

Rule

The National Park Service charges entrance fees at the entrance station on Sol Duc Road. Refer to the park Fees and Passes page.

Rule

Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 96 · 1 group
Hookups: 17 electric, 17 water
Longest rig: 50 ft
Paved pads: 78 of 96
Accessible sites: 3
Pets: Allowed at 95 of 96 sites
Campfires: Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade: Every site

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Flush Toilets; “…in the campground or lodge loops offer flush toilets and potable water. Each site offers a picnic table,…”
Drinking water: Yes; “…or lodge loops offer flush toilets and potable water. Each site offers a picnic table, fire ring and…”
Dump station: Yes; recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
Camp host: On site; recreation.gov lists “Host”

Source: National Park Service and agency records

Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water: Hot springs, Lake, River, Beach, Coast; Accessible Swimming; Amphitheater; Backpacking; Birding; Fish Viewing Site; Fishing; Hiking; Historic site; Hotel/Lodge/Resort Fs Owned; Information Site; Mountain Climbing; Mushroom Picking; Picnicking; Wilderness access
Night sky · 165th darkest of 400 in WA: Bortle 3

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Full this Saturdayread 16:57 UTC

How full the weekend is nationally.

OpenBooked

Every one of the 61 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 80 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 16:57 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t

Booking windowThrough October 31Bookable now through October 31, 2026, the end of this reservable season, and again for March 20, 2027 through April 16, 2027. Tomorrow at 10 AM ET, availability opens through April 17, 2027.recreation.gov

Max stay14 nightsthe facility record

A night$40–$65plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

A weekend$88–$138DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservation; this campground publishes its own terms toorecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itNational Park ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

Watch for a cancellation

Watch this campground

One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.

Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Tell me when the season opens

Watch for the season to open

One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.

Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Book on recreation.gov ↗

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 17

What you actually pay

The sign priceNational Park Service

A night, per site$40–$65

Standard Nonelectric$40

RV Electric$65

Standard Electric$65

Group area, a night$50

Rates for the season the campground is in now, Mar 20, 2026 to Oct 31, 2026.

Interagency Senior and Access pass discounts are not available for RV Electric Sites but will be applied for tent sites.

Group Campsites: The fee for group sites is $50 per night for up to 8 people plus $2 per night for each additional person.

The booking feerecreation.gov

Reservation fee, booked online$8

One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.

Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.

What a stay costs

One nightDerived$48–$73

A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$88–$138

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $40–$65 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

If your plans changerecreation.gov

Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10

Cancellation fee$10

Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night

No-show$20 + your first night

“Cancellations must be submitted atleast 72 hours prior to arrival.” · this campground’s own terms

Who keeps the booking fee

The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →

How we know this receipt · 6

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Sep 10, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

This campground’s own terms: recreation.gov facility cancellation policy for this campground, quoted verbatim. Recreation.gov states that policies listed for specific locations supersede its site-wide policies. · Sep 9, 2026

The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

recreation.gov availability, read 16:57 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

97 records

All 97 records

SleepsTakes aUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 96 of the 97 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.


20' RV Site	RV001	rv electric	20 ft	50 amp		$65
26' RV Site	RV002	rv electric	26 ft	50 amp		$65
26' RV Site	RV003	rv electric	26 ft	50 amp		$65
26' RV Site	RV004	rv electric	26 ft	50 amp		$65
26' RV Site	RV005	rv electric	26 ft	50 amp		$65
26' RV Site	RV006	rv electric	26 ft	50 amp		$65
26' RV Site	RV007	rv electric	26 ft	50 amp		$65
26' RV Site	RV008	rv electric	26 ft	50 amp		$65
36' RV Site	RV009	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp		$65
36' RV Site	RV010	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp		$65
36' RV Site	RV011	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp		$65
36' RV Site	RV012	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp		$65
36' RV Site	RV013	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp		$65
36'SLIDE OUT RV Site	RV014	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp		$65
36'SLIDE OUT RV Site	RV015	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp		$65
36'SLIDE OUT RV Site	RV016	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp	yes	$65
36'SLIDE OUT RV Site	RV017	rv electric	36 ft	50 amp	yes	$65
GROUP	GROUP	group standard nonelectric	50 ft			$50
Loop A	001	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop A	002	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop A	003	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop A	004	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop A	005	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop A	006	standard nonelectric	18 ft			$40
Loop A	007	standard nonelectric	18 ft			$40
Loop A	008	standard nonelectric	10 ft			$40
Loop A	009	standard nonelectric	10 ft			$40
Loop A	010	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop A	011	standard nonelectric	25 ft			$40
Loop A	012	standard nonelectric	25 ft			$40
Loop A	013	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop A	014	standard nonelectric	45 ft			$40
Loop A	015	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop A	016	standard nonelectric	32 ft			$40
Loop A	017	standard nonelectric	40 ft			$40
Loop A	018	standard nonelectric	40 ft			$40
Loop A	019	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop A	020	standard nonelectric	50 ft			$40
Loop A	021	standard nonelectric	25 ft			$40
Loop A	022	standard nonelectric	26 ft			$40
Loop A	023	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop A	024	standard nonelectric	35 ft			$40
Loop A	025	standard nonelectric	25 ft			$40
Loop A	026	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop A	027	standard nonelectric	35 ft			$40
Loop A	028	standard nonelectric	40 ft			$40
Loop A	029	standard nonelectric	40 ft			$40
Loop A	030	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop A	031	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop A	032	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop A	033	standard nonelectric	36 ft			$40
Loop A	034	standard nonelectric	26 ft			$40
Loop A	035	standard nonelectric	26 ft			$40
Loop A	036	standard nonelectric	24 ft		yes	$40
Loop A	037	standard nonelectric	18 ft			$40
Loop A	038	standard nonelectric	18 ft			$40
Loop A	039-Host	host pad	40 ft
Loop B	040	standard nonelectric	36 ft			$40
Loop B	041	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop B	042	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	043	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	044	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	045	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	046	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	047	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	048	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	049	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop B	050	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	051	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop B	052	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	053	standard nonelectric	24 ft			$40
Loop B	054	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	055	standard nonelectric	25 ft			$40
Loop B	056	standard nonelectric	24 ft			$40
Loop B	057	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop B	058	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	059	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop B	060	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	061	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop B	062	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop B	063	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop B	064	standard nonelectric	24 ft			$40
Loop B	065	standard nonelectric	26 ft			$40
Loop B	066	standard nonelectric	34 ft			$40
Loop B	067	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop B	068	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop B	069	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop B	070	standard nonelectric	24 ft			$40
Loop B	071	standard nonelectric	26 ft			$40
Loop B	072	standard nonelectric	32 ft			$40
Loop B	073	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	074	standard nonelectric	25 ft			$40
Loop B	075	standard nonelectric	20 ft			$40
Loop B	076	standard nonelectric	25 ft			$40
Loop B	077	standard nonelectric	28 ft			$40
Loop B	078	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40
Loop B	079	standard nonelectric	30 ft			$40

The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Sep 11, 2026

25 of 97 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate47.96675, -123.85783

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone1 (888) 896-3818

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near here

Fairholme CampgroundOlympic National Park · 7.7 mi

Hoh Rainforest CampgroundOlympic National Park · 8.3 mi

Klahowya CampgroundOlympic National Forest · 14 mi

Mora CampgroundOlympic National Park · 14 mi

Heart O' the Hills CampgroundOlympic National Park · 20 mi Klahanie CampgroundOlympic National Forest · 21 mi

Getting there

Sol Duc is in the northern part of Olympic National Park, 28 miles west of Port Angeles and west of Lake Crescent.

3 1/2 hours from Seattle

5 hours from Portland

3 hours from Victoria, BC

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today68°Mostly Sunny2% rain

Tonight46°Light Rain87% rain

Saturday52°Chance Light Rain then Partly Sunny35% rain

Saturday Night37°Mostly Clear

NWS forecast for Port Angeles, WA

Source: National Weather Service, SEW forecast office · Oct 16, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless

Mt. Baldy3,557 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Rugged Ridge4,358 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: USFS Inventoried Roadless Areas via MTJP Roadless Map · Jul 29, 2026

Who answers for this land

Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground is in Washington’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, Emily Randall (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

Who can change it · 3

Write to somebody who can change it

Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.

The member who votes the moneyEmily RandallU.S. Representative · Washington’s 6th district
Open their contact form ↗Their record →
Your senator, on the same appropriationMaria CantwellU.S. Senator · Washington
Open their contact form ↗
Your senator, on the same appropriationPatty MurrayU.S. Senator · Washington
Open their contact form ↗

Read the draft, or change the wording

For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.

To Emily Randall

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington

Dear Emily Randall,

I’m a constituent in Washington’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington, and couldn’t.

All 96 sites at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 61 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground (Olympic National Park, Washington) via campanac.com

To Maria Cantwell

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington

Dear Maria Cantwell,

I’m a constituent in Washington. I tried to camp at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington, and couldn’t.

All 96 sites at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 61 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground (Olympic National Park, Washington) via campanac.com

To Patty Murray

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington

Dear Patty Murray,

I’m a constituent in Washington. I tried to camp at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington, and couldn’t.

All 96 sites at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 61 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground (Olympic National Park, Washington) via campanac.com

How we know this · 4

Contacts: Contact forms from @unitedstates/congress-legislators · Sep 9, 2026

The figures in these drafts: Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report RS20643) · Updated December 4, 2025 · “The ship’s final procurement cost was $13,316.5 million (i.e., about $13.3 billion) in then-year dollars.”

The figures in these drafts: Salary Table 2026-GS, Incorporating the 1% General Schedule Increase, Effective January 2026 (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) · Effective January 2026 · “Grade 5, Step 1: $34,799 (annual rate, before locality pay).”

The figures in these drafts: Update to Civilian Position Full Fringe Benefit Cost Factor, Federal Pay Raise Assumptions, and Inflation Factors used in OMB Circular No. A-76 (OMB Memorandum M-08-13) · March 11, 2008 · “the civilian position full fringe benefit cost factor needs to be adjusted downward, from 36.45 percent to 36.25 percent”

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: recreation.gov is offering sites on 16 of the next 16 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026, November 2026 and July 2027. It names 96 of the 96 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 12, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Coast: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest ocean, bay, sound, estuary or tidal flat to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 9, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.11 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 400 rated federal campgrounds in Washington · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Cell signal: the Park Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026