WellSpring Spa and Woodland Retreat

Ashford, Washington

I found Wellspring the way some of the best travel discoveries happen — by necessity, after booking a Mount Rainier trip far too late

I first discovered Wellspring simply because it was one of the only places left to stay near Mount Rainier after a last-minute booking. The only remaining option was a tent cabin tucked into the thick woods. When I arrived, my key was pinned to a board near a gravel parking area beneath towering trees. Alongside my key was a simple map leading me down a short wooded path to my cabin.

What I found was not luxury in the traditional sense, but something increasingly rare: complete escape. There were no televisions, no radios, and no cell service — just forest, quiet and snowfall.  

Over the years, I’ve stayed in nearly all of the cabins at Wellspring, returning again and again for the same reason: Wellspring makes it possible to fully disappear into nature.

Here, keeping the fire going in a large stone fireplace becomes part of the experience itself, especially on snowy nights when the cabins glow warmly against the dark woods outside. The result is a kind of stillness and immersion that few places today manage to preserve.