![]() Gambling was illegal in Arkansas at the turn of the century, but Hot Springs judges and law enforcement more or less turned a blind eye. Former President Bill Clinton was born in Hope and put Little Rock on the map, but he lived in Hot Springs between 19. ![]() From its inception throughout the mid-1900s, Hot Springs was the favored hangout of such infamous mobsters as Frank Costello, Bugs Moran, Al Capone, and Lucky Luciano. ![]() Hot Springs’ medicinal waters-and the fact that gambling and horse racing were more or less tolerated in the area-also attracted gangsters. The view from the Hot Springs Tower gives visitors a 360-degree panoramic view of the park. Although the 216-foot-tall tower has an elevator, the more than 300 steps present a fun challenge I’m rewarded with a 360-degree panoramic view of the entire park from the observation deck. Accessible from Central Avenue, the West Mountain, Hot Springs, and North Mountain trails are popular the 10-mile Sunset Trail weaves through some of the more remote areas of the park.Īs I wander down Bathhouse Row, I take a short detour of the main path to the Peak Trail, which shoots up Hot Springs Mountain to a famous observation tower, open to the public since 1983. The rugged and green Ouachitas boast scenic drives, hot water cascades, picnic areas, and campsites at Gulpha Gorge Campground. Outside of Bathhouse Row, visitors can hike more than 30 miles of trails. In addition to soaking in the warm mineral baths at the spas, patients were encouraged to walk the trails around the city as part of their treatments. The outdoors has always played a major role in Hot Springs. It fell when the Ouachita Mountains were still young, and trickled slowly through the rock for centuries, rising in temperature, before finally seeing sunlight again in a world that is vastly different from what it remembered. I’m looking at water that might have fallen as rain before the pyramids were built in Egypt. But this is the first time the water has been exposed to the surface in 4,400 years.” Mineral hot water in Hot Springs National Park. That’s why the water here is so famous for its health benefits. It’s taking thousands of years to travel down, and it gets hotter and hotter, dissolving some of the minerals into the water itself. That water is going through the rocks for 6,000 to 8,000 feet beneath the surface. “Rain is hitting all over these mountains, right where we are. “Imagine a rainy day,” says park ranger Ashley Waymouth. Instead, a combination of time and pressure causes cold rainwater from more than 4,000 years ago to swelter into burning temperatures. Unlike those famously found in Yellowstone National Park-a prime example of how the boiling Earth’s core can create scalding water that rises to the surface-the hot springs in Arkansas are more subtle. One side of the main street includes hotels, boutique shops, and restaurants, while the other side belongs to the national park with its medicinal waters, miles of hiking and biking trails, and the historic Bathhouse Row. The resort town of Hot Springs, located about an hour southwest from Little Rock, is a hybrid of sorts. ![]() The park will celebrate its centennial all year long with a campaign that asks for 100 hours of volunteer work a challenge to walk, bike, or paddle for 100 miles in Arkansas’ wild places and hundreds of other activities. | Photo: ShutterstockĪlthough Hot Springs National Park was officially designated on March 4, 1921, the area received federal protections in 1832, making it one of the oldest of the 63 parks (the newest is West Virginia’s New River Gorge). The town is completely surrounded by the national park, one of the country’s smallest (5,500 acres), second only to Gateway Arch National Park. Known as “America’s Spa” in the early 1900s, Hot Springs was also the home of Major League Baseball’s spring training and Prohibition-era speakeasies. Hot springs created this southwestern Arkansas city, attracting health-seekers for the water’s medicinal properties. Originating on the hill near Grand Promenade and flowing down a steep cliff into two pools, it’s one of the only publicly-accessible hot springs in a town named after hot springs-one of 47 that ooze out of the mountains. Located at Arlington Lawn, this is one of the only visible springs in Hot Springs National Park. The water temperature averages 143 degrees Fahrenheit in this scalding puddle full of minerals that has seeped through the mountains for thousands of years. Nestled against the towering cliffs of Hot Springs Mountain in the Ouachita Mountain range, and across from the historic Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa, the natural pool of water looks soothing and inviting.īut looks can be deceiving. In the middle of downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas, a bricked-in pool of water steams in the cool fall afternoon.
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