Hot Springs National Park

Hot Springs National Park protects 47 thermal springs that rise at the base of Hot Springs Mountain in the city of Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas. The National Park Service gives the average water temperature as 143 degrees Fahrenheit and says the park goes through about 700,000 gallons of the water per day. The heat is not volcanic. Rain seeps into the surrounding mountains, moves through fractured chert and novaculite to depths of 2,000 to 8,000 feet, warms in the rock and returns to the surface; the park's hydrology summary dates the water emerging today to rain that fell more than 4,000 years ago. The park covers about 5,549 acres.

Federal protection began on April 20, 1832, when President Andrew Jackson signed legislation reserving four sections of land around the springs as Hot Springs Reservation. The park calls it the oldest area among current national park units, set aside 40 years before Yellowstone. The reservation came under the new National Park Service in 1916 and became the 18th national park on March 4, 1921. Bathhouse Row took its present form between 1912 and 1923, when brick and stucco bathhouses replaced wooden Victorian ones; the Lamar was the last to open, in 1923. The row was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987. A government free bathhouse operated on the reservation until 1948.

Today the Fordyce Bathhouse at 369 Central Avenue serves as the park visitor center and museum, open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except Thanksgiving, December 24 and 25, and New Year's Day. The Lamar Bathhouse holds the park store, and the other buildings on the row are run by private and nonprofit businesses that set their own hours. The park has no entrance fee and does not charge for its brochure, junior ranger program or ranger-led tours. There are 26 miles of trails, open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Grand Promenade, a National Recreation Trail, runs half a mile behind Bathhouse Row and connects to the Hot Springs Mountain trails. Peak Trail climbs 0.6 mile and about 400 feet, from 644 to 1,044 feet, to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower, where a concessioner charges a fee for the elevator. Hot Springs Mountain Trail circles the summit for 1.7 miles with several overlooks, and Goat Rock Trail on North Mountain runs 1.1 miles with views over the recharge area for the springs. Dogs must be on a 6-foot leash. Gulpha Gorge Campground has 40 hookup sites at $34 per night, reserved through Recreation.gov.