Park Amenities | Park Map | Photos | A Brief History

• NEW Pavilion!
• Accomodations for Large R.V.s
• 90ft. Pull Thrus / 30 & 50 amps
• Heated Pool & Spa (seasonal)
• Mini Mart
• Laundry (24 Hours)
• Shaded, Grassy Tent & Picnic Area
• Clean, Modern Showers & Restrooms
• Quiet & Very Peaceful
• Groups, Reunions & Weddings welcome
• Internet access
• Fax Service
• Physically challenged accessible
• Fishing
• Pets welcome
• Tourist Information
• Bird Watching at Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area and Nature Trails

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(click to enlarge)


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“A unique and scenic place for travelers to stop from ancient Indian times to the present”

Hot Lake has an interesting geological, pioneer, and medicinal history. The 2½ million gallons of hot (186�) water that flow out of the ground every day have always been a natural attraction for travelers in the Grand Ronde Valley. Seven Western Indian tribes used its "curative powers" and set it aside as a peace ground. The Hot Lake area was used for rest and healing of their sick and wounded, and as a summer rendezvous area.

Hot Lake was first seen by white men on August 7, 1812. The Wilson Price Hunt expedition was traveling from what is now Astoria, Oregon, to St. Louis, Missouri, and noticed the hot spring. This event was later described in the writings of Washington Irving:

“In traversing this plain, they passed close to the skirts of the hills, a great pool of water, three hundred yards in circumference, fed by a sulfur spring about ten feet in diameter, boiling up in one corner... The place was much frequented by elk, which were found in considerable numbers in the adjacent mountains, and their horns, shed in the springtime, around the pond.”

The Grand Ronde Valley was a very welcome resting point for pioneers traveling the Old Oregon Trail. At the edge of the Valley lay Hot Lake and its mineral hot springs - where the pioneers rested, bathed, washed clothes and nursed their sick and injured back to health before the hard trek over the Blue Mountains.

Samuel F. Newhart built the first hotel in 1864. Hot Lake grew, with bath houses for mineral and mud bathing. in 1884, a railroad linking Oregon with the transcontinental system was completed and passed through the Hot Lake property. Hot Lake had its own railroad station and post office. in 1906 the large brick hotel-resort-hospital was built and Hot Lake Sanatorium became known as the "Mayo Clinic of the West." Thousands of people traveled to the facility for expert medical attention and the benefits of the hot water. In this era Hot Lake boasted a ballroom, poolroom, restaurants, grill, barber shop, and solarium. The bath houses were used for soaking, sweating, mud, sauna and massage treatments. The hot mineral water was considered valuable for the treatment of arthritis, tuberculosis, rheumatism and similar ailments.

Hot Lake's heyday lasted into the mid 1930's. A devastating fire in 1934 destroyed all wooden structures. The 1906 brick building survived the fire and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The flow and temperature of the mineral water has not varied since first measured in 1878. Hot Lake's artesian waters rise along a fault line from extreme depths, where the spring is heated by the earth's core.

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