Hot Springs

From Wikipedia – Hot Springs was established as a federal reserve by Congress on April 20, 1832—the oldest area managed by the National Park Service. Congress redesignated Hot Springs as a national park on March 4, 1921. Natural hot springs flow out of the Ouachita Mountains, providing opportunities for relaxation in a historic setting. Bathhouse Row preserves numerous examples of 19th-century architecture. Hot Springs is the first national park in a city and was the smallest national park until February 22, 2018 when the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial was redesignated Gateway Arch National Park.

• Established: 3/4/1921
• Annual Visitors: 1,506,887
• Size: 5,552 acres

Hot Springs National Park 10/28 & 29/2020

In all our travels through 24 states and now in our 22^nd National Park on this trip (31 for us in total), we have been pleased and impressed with the road conditions across the country, the well-manicured residences and businesses in the rural areas and the healthy-looking farmer’s crops earlier in our trip. We’ve mentioned it many times but we are seeing a lot of “Help Wanted” signs for manufacturing, trucking, restaurants and more. In the towns surrounding the National Parks, and in the parks, we are seeing tons of travelers spending money on hotels, food and in the park stores. Unfortunately, it’s in the cities, especially in the capitols where we see businesses shut down, fewer employees, less hours of operation and very quiet hotels that have reduced their rates drastically. With corporate travel at a stand-still, government workers and financial district employees working from home, the big cities we have been through are running at about 20% of normal. We liked the lack of people and the great food and lodging costs, but it’s sad.

We saw a great roadside billboard that read: “Live more, worry less”. And Gary saw a great sign that read: ” Instant cure for Corona Virus, turn off your TV!”. We are finding both those pretty easy to do as we enjoy life driving across the USA!

We took a rest stop in Pocahontas, AR. I had to look up the reason they called it Pocahontas. It was named after the historical woman as you would expect but the rest of the story was so funny I had to share. First interesting fact: Mr. Bettis, the founder of the town, had a daughter and named her Cinderella. And, when the town wanted to be named the county seat in the early 1800’s, the towns people gave out free liquor to all the people in the court house, from other towns vying for the seat as well, so when the vote came up …everyone in the room was passed out, except those from Pocahontas and the town won the county seat! And they have held it since 1835. Don’t mess with those in Pocahontas, Arkansas! : )

Little known facts about AR:

• It’s illegal to mispronounce Arkansas, while in Arkansas! (Ar-kan-saw)
• Alma, AR calls itself the Spinach Capitol of the World producing over 60% of all spinach in 1968) and has a statue of Miss Olive Oil’s love in Popeye Park.
• The only active diamond mine in the US is in AR
• Walmart came to be here in 1962
• Tyson Foods, started in 1935 by trucking chickens from AR to Chicago
• What later became Dillard’s Department Store started here in 1938
• More than half of AR is forestland
• Dover, AR has a double decker outhouse

…ok, last one…

• 47 hot springs run from Hot Springs Mountain at a rate of 700,000 gallons per day!… all averaging about 140 degrees in Hot Springs National Park!

We arrived in Hot Springs, Arkansas on 10/27/20 after driving from Gateway Arch NP, St. Louis, MO. Gary has been doing all the driving, even before my ankle injury in Mammoth Cave NP, but today was the first day in over seven weeks of travel that we drove all day in the fog and rain. We were going to go to Hot Springs NP for one day only, 10/28 but after looking at the clearer weather on 10/29, we called the Candlewood Suites in Hot Springs and added another day.

Since the rain was going to take over our first day here, we drove down Bathhouse Row (Central Ave) 3.5 miles from our hotel and checked out the visitor center to get a map. Many locations within this in-town national park are closed or have very limited hours or days of operation. But the visitor center placed maps and the ink stamp we get at each park on the front porch of this historic building, the old Fordyce Bathhouse built in 1915. It was the first bath house to close its doors in 1962 but by 1989 it had been fully restored and now houses the visitors center and a museum.

Some of the other bathhouses have been restored as well. Superior, built in 1916, closed as a bathhouse in 1983. It is now occupied by the only brewery in any national park, the dog friendly Superior Bathhouse, a brewery and restaurant. It is the only brewery in the world to use thermal spring water to make their beer! Hale Bathhouse is now a hotel, and the list of wonderful restorations goes on. It’s the first national park that we have been to where the main historic downtown and main street in the town, is actually the national parks buildings too.

Thursday October 29, 2020

We planned on driving roughly 8,000 miles on this trip. Gary calculated visitor center to visitor center for all 27 parks…we didn’t count on the wonderful roads through the parks which are often out and back drives; the side trips to the fabulous state parks near many of our stops; the historical sites and all the in-town jaunts to various take out places, bark parks, etc. We still have 2,000 miles to go (visitor center to visitor center) before we return home to Phoenix and we have put on 1,900 extra miles on the rental van so far!

Although today was not much clearer, nor much dryer than yesterday, it was not pouring and the forecast was for cloudy but no real rain as the day progressed. We took our traditional pic at the NP sign, although, like in St Louis, it is right in town. We parked on Central Street (“main street”) and I ventured off to Quapaw Baths and Spa and Gary and Rangeley went hiking on the Hot Springs Mountain Trail. The Quapaw, named after an American Indian tribe that used to live here, opened in 1922 and closed in 1984. The bathhouse industry drastically declined after WWII due to increase in modern medicine. The beautiful tiled dome historical building was reopened as a family-oriented spa. It was $20 to enter and walk-in only. There’s a locker room, towel service, very friendly staff and a great experience. You can stay as long as you want in the four pools, each a different temperature. Pool shoes and bathing suits are required as well as social distancing in the public pools. I kept my mask on but it is not required. I soaked in three of the pools starting with the 95 degree pool, then 98 degrees and finished in the pool kept at 102 which was hot enough for me. The forth pool is 104. The attendants were fabulous, assisting me with my crutch on the wet tile floors, providing water to anyone who wanted it and checking with everyone throughout their stay. There is a limit of 30 people in the large four pool room. It was a fabulous way to relax, emotionally and physically, quiet my mind and muscles. Gary will talk about their hike below.

The three of us met up after a couple hours and we drove the Hot Spring Mountain Drive to the Rix Tower, originally built in 1877. The structure now standing was renamed the Hot Springs Mountain Tower and is the third tower in this location opening in 1983. The first tower was lost to fire, the second deemed unsafe and torn down. It was very cloudy but the gift shop at the base of the tower was open, there are restrooms and I took the elevator to the top (183 feet high) since I am not able to due stairs or hike right now.

At the base of the mountain we stopped to fill our water bottles in the Happy Hollow Spring fountain. The mountain spring water is free. It is collected at this location at 2 gallons per minute and an average of 62 degrees. The sign there states the mineral contents of calcium, potassium, magnesium, and more. It tastes wonderfully healthy!

Our last stop in Hot Springs was at Superior Bathhouse Brewery. We were seated inside, all three of us, including Rangeley! There were two other dogs in the restaurant while we were there. Our meal was great, we enjoyed one of their beers, the staff is very dog (and people) friendly and we enjoyed looking out at the historic downtown district from our window seat.

Gary:

Rangeley and I took off on a great hike, starting from the visitor center in town. It is a fairly steep half mile to the top of Hot Springs Mountain where the tower is. We continued through the beautiful forest to do a loop around the mountain. The total distance was a bit over 3 miles. There were plenty of sticks for Rangeley, but true to form after about 4 or 5 he picks one out and carries it the rest of the way. The chosen stick was about 5 feet long which is a nuisance when he wants to pass me, so I broke it in half. His stick was at least 2” in diameter. The hikers we pass all seemed to have a comment about his “stick”, “prize”, “present”, etc. It is funny the comments he gets. In town while waiting for Elizabeth to come out from the bathhouse, a gentleman came up to me and said how Rangeley was the most beautiful dog he had ever seen and thanked me for letting him say hi. He didn’t even pet Rangeley, just literally said hi from 5 feet away. Later Elizabeth was in the Walmart parking lot waiting while I went in to get a couple things, and two separate parties went out of their way to talk with Elizabeth about what a handsome dog he is. We have never travelled with a dog before, but it has really surprised us how many people come up to talk to us about Rangeley.

We are on the road again tomorrow for a two-day drive toward Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas.