Well this is officially my first blog post and I wanted to write about Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. I’ve been to this park twice in the past two years but only for 3 nights total. This park is somewhere you can experience to the fullest with one day of good planning. The first time I went to Hot Springs I felt like I missed out on a lot that I was able to experience the second visit. Both trips here were solo trips for me and this was actually my first campground destination I’ve ever been to on a solo trip. With this being my first location solo traveling in a home-made trailer I unsurprisingly was sidetracked by the most basic things such as not having any sort of organization with anything I packed and the lengthy task of figuring out how to cook with a portable backpacking burner.
Both times I’ve gone were similar in that I drove and stayed at the campground located in the park which is the Gulpha Gorge Campground. I really like the camp ground because it is older and has a lot of character to it, there is a creek that runs along the back of about half of the campsites and a lot of stonework throughout the camp ground. I’ve stayed in campsites both times that were along the creek and highly recommend that anyone planning on going there tries to get a site by the creek since it is so peaceful. Each site has a large paved area for campers and trailers to be parked but since it is an older campground maneuvering into some of these sites takes a bit of work. In my case my trailer is about 12ft. long so I had no problem getting into my site at all. The campsite is a short drive away from bathhouse row which is the main feature of the park.
Bathhouse row is a collection of historical bathhouses that are very fun to look at and photograph. One of the bathhouses has been turned into the visitor center, this is the Fordyce Bathhouse. I did a self guided tour of the visitor center bathhouse and it took me about half an hour. After the bathhouse tour I walked to the end of bathhouse row where you can view a pool of the thermal water, this pool was made to showcase the thermal water that flows throughout the area. The thermal pool is at the base of a set of stairs that leads up to the grand promenade which is a historical brick walkway. Another notable place is a cupcake place across from the bathhouses called Fat Bottomed Girl’s Cupcake Shoppe. I got the lemon lavender cupcake and some sort of chocolate raspberry cupcake and I honestly wished I bought more after I left. These were some of the best cupcakes I’ve had and I’m not someone that normally goes after sweets. After getting cupcakes I headed over to Superior Bathhouse Brewery to grab a beer to-go. This brewery is on the list for a lot of visitors since it is claimed to be the only beer in the world brewed with thermal spring water. The to-go can I got was a bit pricey but the beer was pretty good, I tried the wittington wheat beer. If I go back again I would sit down inside and get a flight of beers to try and find one I enjoy more. Lastly before leaving Bathhouse row I made sure I filled up my thermos with some spring water from the free public water fountains. The water from the fountain near the beginning of bathhouse row comes out steaming so I wouldn’t personally use a plastic water bottle. Many people swear by all of the health benefits of drinking the water from the hot springs fountains
Some other popular activities to do at the park include going and getting a bath at one of the bathhouses, there are two options for this. Unfortunately for me I was unable to get an appointment at the bathhouse I wanted to try since they were renovating some things while I was visiting so that is one activity I have not done yet. One bathhouse is a modern spa type bathhouse which is where I would have gone and then there is a bathhouse that offers a more traditional type of bath which I know would have been a bit too far out of my comfort zone. The other activity that is popular to do is to explore some of the trials. There is a trailhead at Gulpha Gorge campground that I started from on my last morning there. I hiked through light rain for a mile or so and then just as it started downpouring I reached a historical shelter in the woods where I sat and waited the rain out and had a snack that I brought before heading back to my car to pack up and leave for my next destination. Overall I enjoyed my time visiting Hot Springs, its such a unique park because of the mix of nature into the city.