Hot Springs National Park

Hot Springs National Park occupies 5,554 acres in the Ouachita Mountains of central Arkansas, entirely surrounded by the city of Hot Springs. The park is built around two distinct elements: 47 geothermal springs that emerge from Hot Springs Mountain at a steady 143°F, and Bathhouse Row, eight ornate buildings on Central Avenue constructed between 1892 and 1923, when Hot Springs was the most fashionable spa destination in the United States. The park extends beyond the downtown corridor into forested ridges with about 26 miles of hiking trails. Free to enter and ranking 17th of 63 national parks by visitation, it draws about 1.7 million visitors a year, most of them drawn first to the bathhouses and then to the mountain trails.

Bathhouse Row: eight Beaux-Arts and Spanish Colonial Revival bathhouses lining Central Avenue, several open for tours or spa services; the Fordyce Bathhouse is the park visitor center and museum, preserving the original marble interiors and mechanical bathing equipment. Thermal springs at 143°F: 47 springs flow from the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain year-round at a constant 143 degrees Fahrenheit, collected and piped to the bathhouses and to public jug fountains where visitors can fill containers with free thermal water. First federally reserved public land: Congress set aside the springs in 1832 as Hot Springs Reservation, 40 years before Yellowstone and 44 years before the NPS itself, establishing the precedent for public ownership of natural wonders. Sunset Trail: a 10-mile backcountry loop through the wooded ridges above the city, completely removed from the urban setting below.

By car The park's Central Avenue entrance is in downtown Hot Springs, accessible from U.S. Highway 70 and Arkansas Highway 7. From Little Rock, take I-30 west to Highway 70 west, then Highway 270 to Hot Springs, about 55 miles and one hour. From Dallas, take I-30 east to Arkadelphia, then U.S. 67 north and Highway 270 east, approximately 290 miles.

By air Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport (LIT) in Little Rock is about 55 miles northeast of the park. Rental cars are available at the airport; no direct public transit serves Hot Springs from Little Rock. Amtrak does not stop in Hot Springs.

The Ouachita Mountains formed about 300 million years ago when ancient tectonic plates collided and folded layers of marine sediment, primarily novaculite, sandstone, and shale, into parallel east-west ridges. Novaculite, an extremely hard microcrystalline silica rock, caps many of the ridges and gives the local hills their sharp profiles. The Ouachitas are among the few east-west trending mountain ranges in North America, a product of the direction of the ancient collision.

The thermal springs have nothing to do with volcanic activity. Rainwater falling on the ridge tops seeps through fractures in the rock and descends roughly 8,000 feet underground over the course of an estimated 4,400 years. At that depth, the normal geothermal gradient of the Earth's crust heats the water to over 200°F. The water then rises along fault zones, cooling slightly as it climbs, and emerges from the western face of Hot Springs Mountain at a constant 143°F.

The springs produce about 850,000 gallons of thermal water per day. Most of the original spring outlets were capped and enclosed during Bathhouse Row's development; the water is piped through an underground collection system to the bathhouses and to a series of public jug fountains on the promenade. A display cascade on the Grand Promenade lets visitors see and touch free-flowing thermal water.

White-tailed deer are the most visible large animal, frequently seen on the forest trails of Hot Springs Mountain and West Mountain in the early morning and at dusk. Wild turkeys forage in the wooded sections of the park year-round and are sometimes spotted near the Gulpha Gorge Campground. The mixed oak-hickory forest on the ridge trails supports a range of songbirds including wood thrushes, red-eyed vireos, and warblers, particularly active during spring migration in April and May.

Barred owls call from the wooded stream corridors at night. Eastern box turtles cross the mountain trails in warm weather. Various native snake species, including the non-venomous rat snake and the venomous copperhead, inhabit the rocky slopes; watch your step when leaving the paved surfaces. The urban setting of the park limits large mammal diversity, but the forest patches on the upper ridges provide enough cover for a functioning woodland community within city limits.

Native peoples including the Caddo, Quapaw, and Osage knew and used the springs for at least several thousand years before European contact. The springs may have served as a neutral gathering place between groups that otherwise competed for territory in the region. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto's expedition is traditionally credited with reaching the springs in 1541, though the exact route of his journey remains debated by historians.

Congress passed legislation on April 20, 1832, setting aside the springs as a federal reservation, the first time the United States government reserved natural land specifically for public benefit. For decades the Hot Springs Reservation was administered by Army officers who tried, with limited success, to prevent encroachment by bathhouse operators and souvenir vendors. A resort community grew steadily on the surrounding private land throughout the 19th century.

The grand bathhouses on Central Avenue were built between the 1890s and 1920s as the town reached peak popularity as a health resort and gambling center. Babe Ruth and other major-league baseball players trained in Hot Springs each spring from the 1880s through the 1940s, using the baths for conditioning. Al Capone operated from his suite at the Arlington Hotel in the 1920s with minimal interference from local law enforcement. Congress redesignated the reservation as Hot Springs National Park on March 4, 1921. President Bill Clinton, who grew up in Hot Springs, cited the park as formative in his early interest in public lands.