Garland Mineral Springs is a historic hot-springs site in the Skykomish River country near Gold Bar, Washington — once a bustling mineral-spa resort, now a quiet, privately owned ruin with a fascinating past. First known as Starr Hot Springs, it was renamed and developed in the 1930s into a full spa-resort built around the therapeutic hot mineral water, complete with a lodge, some 22 cabins, stables, and an Olympic-size pool fed straight from the springs.

For decades it drew visitors seeking the soothing warmth of the mineral water, and plenty of memories were made here — one couple who honeymooned at Garland in 1958 went on to more than sixty years of marriage. Beginning in 1953 the property also served as a youth camp and church conference center. Then, in January 1961, the lodge was destroyed by fire, and the resort never recovered. In the years since, the cabins fell into ruin, the river worked its way into the old pool, and the site slowly returned to the forest.

Please note: Garland Mineral Springs is now on private property and is closed to the public. The old resort is not an open destination, and the spring water is far too hot to soak in directly — you can often see it bubbling up at the source, a clear signal to keep away. It's best appreciated from a distance and as a piece of Washington history rather than as a place to visit.

Where the scalding spring water eventually flows down and mixes into the cooler creek and river below, it does take the chill off the water, but this is not a developed or maintained soaking spot, and access to the property is restricted. If Garland intrigues you, the respectful way to enjoy it is through its story — a window into the golden age of Pacific Northwest mineral-spring resorts, most of which have long since faded back into the woods.