Some Like it Hot: Hot Springs National Park - August 22, 2019
Despite the heat in August, we decided to swing down to Hot Springs National Park on the way home from Giant City State Park in Illinois. The added miles and adventure were worth getting another National Park sticker for our sink cabinet! To keep the driving hours down per day, we first stopped for the night in Mountain View, Arkansas.
From Giant City State Park, we ignored Google Maps and worked our way over to Missouri before heading south into Arkansas on route 9. As we were crossing the Mississippi River, we noticed quite a few unplanted fields and a couple of other fields that were evidently flooded from high river levels. Route 9 was a fun, winding road, especially south of Melbourne in Arkansas. We spent the night at Blue Sky RV Park which had good reviews on our Allstays Camp and RV app. Blue Sky is just a couple of miles north of the downtown area of the small town of Mountain View. For $27.50 we had electrical hookups, a picnic table, flush toilets and hot showers. The spacing of the sites was typical of a private campground, but it was somewhat wooded and the campground was pretty empty while we were there. The owner of the campground is very friendly. Without us even asking, she gave us information of things to do and see in the area, including the Ozark Folk Center, free folk music at Washington Street Park and even where to find good ice cream. Our plan was to quickly make dinner and then head into town for ice cream and music. However, mother nature had a different plan. We managed to finish up dinner just before a big thunderstorm let loose, so we just hung out in the van the rest of the evening.
The following morning we decided to check out the Ozark Folk Center State Park since it sounded intriguing and we had missed the folk music the night before. We are so glad we went as we found it very enjoyable. The Craft Village at the Ozark Folk Center is a collection of working artisans who show off their skills, such as weaving, pottery and candle making, who honor the Ozark craftspeople of the past. The park was pretty empty the morning we were there, which allowed a rather intimate interaction with the artisans who were happy to answer our questions. The broom maker, Lena Larson, taught us that traditional brooms are made with broomcorn. The name of our hometown, Broomfield, Colorado, probably got its name from broomcorn which was grown in the area.
Usually there is live daytime music on the Blacksmith Stage outside in the Craft Village. Due to excessive heat on the day we were there, the musicians were inside in the White Oak Theater in the Administration Building. When we were ready to cool off, we went inside to listen to the Front Porch Pickers. We were the only ones in the theater, so they gave us a nice private concert. Right Buddy (RB) especially enjoyed the music since it was the type of music that her mother loved.
Before hitting the road towards Hot Springs, we had a picnic lunch in the gazebo in front of the Court House in town. For dessert, we walked over to Music Box Ice Cream. We then ate our ice cream in Washington Street Park, which was right across the street. No one was playing music in the park in the heat of the day, but we did see a small group of people who were hanging out and having some in-depth discussions. There were a few instrument cases near them, so they may have been musicians just waiting for an audience to show up. We did not feel disappointed as we got to hear folk music at the Ozark Folk Center, but we would have enjoyed listening to more music. Mountain View turned out to be a fun, unplanned stop. We would definitely visit it again if we find ourselves traveling through the area.
A three hour drive and more winding roads brought us to Hot Springs National Park. We had no problem getting a campsite in the Gulpha Gorge Campground within the National Park. Our site was at the end of the row and backed up to the Gulpha Creek. The campground has flush toilets, full hookups and a dump station but no showers for $30 per night. There is some traffic noise due to the campground’s location right along highway 7s, but the nice setting along the Gulpha Creek makes up for it. The campground host stopped by and recommended sitting in the creek if we wanted to cool off from the heat. It was tempting, but we passed. After dinner, we browsed the park brochures and planned out the next day of activities.
There are quite a few hiking trails on the North Mountain and the South Mountain, with Bathhouse Row (the main attraction) in between the two. The campground is located on the other side of the North Mountain from Bathhouse Row. Instead of driving into town to visit Bathhouse Row, we decided to hike the approximately two miles over North Mountain to get there. We took the Gulpha Gorge Trail up to the Hot Springs Mountain Trail and headed south towards the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. The map showed an overlook close to where we started down the Hot Springs Mountain Trail, but it was overgrown with trees so there wasn’t any views to see. However, the Pavilion next to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower has beautiful views of the surrounding landscape. By the time we reached the Pavilion, we were both feeling a little ill. Perhaps the climb in the heat was getting to us.
The Hot Springs Mountain Tower with its air-conditioned gift shop and cold drinks for sale drew us in. The tower has an elevator up to two different viewing platforms. The top platform is open air, with 360 degrees of unobstructed views of the surrounding mountains and town. The next platform down is air-conditioned and contains numerous displays explaining the history of the area. There is no charge to enter the Hot Springs National Park, but it costs $8 per adult to go up to the tower platforms, or $5 each with a National Park Pass. The view and the displays are definitely worth the price. Even though the top platform is not air-conditioned, there was a nice breeze up there which made the temperature comfortable. After spending some time in the air conditioning and drinking a cold Coke, we felt revived and continued our hike to Bathhouse Row.
From the tower, we took the Peak Trail down to the Grand Promenade. The Grand Promenade is a walkway on a terrace that runs above and behind the bathhouses of Bathhouse Row. The wide, brick-paved walkway is lined with trees and is nicely landscaped. The promenade’s peaceful setting is in sharp contrast to the busy Central Avenue, lined with shops in the city’s historic district, on the other side of the bathhouses. Along the promenade are concrete pads topped with green metal lids which were built in the 1930s to cover most of the springs and protect the water quality. We continued down the promenade to the Hot Water Cascade and used the Tufa Terrace Trail alongside the cascade to get down to Central Avenue, right across the street from the Arlington Hotel.
We headed back south on Central Avenue to view the bathhouses from the front. Of the eight bathhouses that are still standing on Central Avenue, only two of them are still operating as bathhouses. The Buckstaff Bathhouse has been in continuous operation since it opened in 1912 and still uses the traditional spa services. The Quapaw Bathhouse which reopened in 2008 provides a more modern spa experience. The other bathhouses are leased out to private companies under the Historic Property Leasing Program and provide other functions, such as a cultural center. The Fordyce Bathhouse, in the center of Bathhouse Row, is the Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center and Museum. The Fordyce has been restored to its early day splendor and can be explored for free on a self-guided tour. We normally are not museum people, but going at our own pace, trying to imagine what it would have been like to visit the bathhouse in the past, with its steam cabinets and massage tables, along with the luxurious rooms to socialize and relax in, was a fun experience. We opted not to partake in an actual spa experience at either the Buckstaff or Quapaw since it was a hot day.
After we had our fill of wandering around the Fordyce Bathhouse, a rain storm let loose. So we settled into a couple of Adirondack chairs on the covered front port of the Fordyce and ate our sack lunches as we waited for the storm to pass. After the rain stopped and the sun came back out, the temperature quickly rose back up along with an increase in humidity. A cool dessert of ice cream sounded like the perfect idea, so we set off to hunt down an ice cream shop. We reached our goal at Mamoo’s Paradice Cream, right across the street from the historic Arlington Hotel. RB felt the homemade Dark Temptation ice cream really satisfied her chocoholic cravings.
After completing our stroll down Central Avenue past the rest of the bathhouses, we stopped at one of the thermal fountains just outside the Park Administration Building at the south end of the Grand Promenade to fill up our water bottles. There are quite a few thermal fountains throughout the park where you can sample the water from the hot springs. The water at the thermal fountains is certified as safe to drink despite not being treated because of the high temperature of the water, about 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike many other hot springs around the country, the thermal water here has a very low mineral content and is pretty much tasteless. However, the thermal water was more refreshing later when we got back to the campground and the water had cooled down.
To get back to the campground, we hiked the lower trail called the Oertel Trail (note that some maps still call it the Dead Chief Trail). We did notice that the trails can get confusing sometimes. Usually trails within a national park are pretty well marked. These trails may have been well marked at one time, but some of the signs are damaged and/or missing, but, if you familiarize yourself with the surroundings, it is pretty hard to get lost. The Oertel Trail follows along the side of the North Mountain before joining into the Gulpha Gorge Trail that leads back to the campground.
After a full day of walking around in the heat, getting all sweaty and sticky, RB decided it was time to try out our outdoor shower since the campground did not have showers. When we say outdoor shower, we mean a garden hose nozzle accessible from the back of our van. We do not have any privacy curtains, but the hose is connected to our water pump with both hot and cold water. So RB threw on her bathing suit and flip flops and hosed herself down outside the back of the van. It felt so refreshing to remove the sweat and grime of the day and feel clean again.
The next day we continued our drive home by wandering some backroads over to Oklahoma, stopping for the night at an RV park along Route 66 in Chandler. As the soil around us turned red, we noticed signs for “Sac & Fox Nation”, “Choctaw Nation” and “Iowa Nation” in addition to the “Oklahoma Native America” sign as we entered the state. This got RB curious about how much of Oklahoma is tribal land, so she researched it while LB drove along. She found out that there are 39 tribal nations in Oklahoma. The tribal governments work collaboratively with the local and state governments of Oklahoma. Also, there is a Supreme Court case which has not yet reached a decision on whether the eastern half of Oklahoma is still considered an Indian reservation. From Chandler, we headed north to Hays, Kansas, one of our traditional stops heading home from a road trip. After having another wonderful dinner at Gella’s Diner & Lb. Brewing Co., we strolled up and down Main Street, enjoying the architecture of the historic buildings, including the Fox Theater.
For the night, we drove to Ellis, one town west of Hays, and camped in the Ellis Lakeside Campground which is run by the city. This was a great find on Campendium. For only $20 per night, we had electrical hookups, flush toilets, and hot showers. It is located along the Big Creek, just upriver from a small dam and is right in the middle of the small town of Ellis. Just across the creek is the beautiful St. Mary’s Catholic Church. It was a lovely little campground situated under some trees. However, what was starting to concern us was the weather. Each time we went into the bathhouse, the PA system inside was broadcasting the National Weather Service warnings of severe thunderstorms and flash flooding along with a long list of effected counties. Not being familiar with the counties of Kansas, we had no idea if those counties included the one we were in and the list was too long to memorize to look it up. Looking up the weather on the internet seemed to indicate that the large system of storms was passing through pretty much the whole state. Now sitting right on the banks of a wide creek didn’t seem like a very good idea, but we thought surely if the town thought we were in serious danger, someone would come by and warn us and the others that were camping here. However, we were not sure where we would have moved to, so we stayed.
Around midnight, the strong winds were swaying our van and the sound of the hail hitting the van roof just above our heads was pretty loud. At that point, all we could do was pray the wind and hail did not damage our van. When we got up the next morning, our van and solar panels were still in one piece. There were quite a few downed tree branches on the ground, but none had hit anyone’s campers. The wide creek had stayed within its banks. However, there was quite a parade of cars driving through the campground, stopping to check out the dam and then leaving. Were the locals concerned about the dam? Or was there just nothing else better to do on a Sunday morning than to check out how high the creek water was? Even after an exciting night in this campground, we would gladly come back again.
Since we missed hiking the Manitou Incline on our way out of Denver back in July, we decided to swing by and hike it on our way home. So we started out on I-70 to Limon, Colorado before taking US 24 down to Colorado Springs. Most of the campgrounds around Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs were expensive and did not have very good reviews on Campendium, so we opted to head into the mountains to some National Forest campgrounds near Woodland Park. We originally had our eye on Meadow Ridge Campground, but the road was dirt and a little rough so we pulled into the Springdale Campground, which was closer. However, the Springdale Campground does not have a water source, but we had plenty of water with us. For $18 per night, we had vault toilets, a picnic table and a fire ring. As we were driving around the loop, picking out a campsite, we noticed smoke rising from one of the fire rings. Not wanting to use up our water putting it out, we went and notified the campground host. Then, while we were sitting at our picnic table cooking our dinner, we noticed that our fire ring was starting to smoke. We used our pasta water to put it out. Two fires not completely out in the same campground on the same day? People need to be more careful, especially in the arid state of Colorado. Forest fires are serious business around here and it doesn’t take much of an ember for the strong winds to start a fire back up. Other than the smokey fire rings and lack of water, the campground was quite nice. The picnic table and fire ring for our site was down a little slope, in the woods. It was very peaceful sitting there, watching the birds, squirrels and deer entertain us.
The next morning we decided not to hike the Manitou Incline after all, again. LB had a pounding headache all night. The Manitou Incline is an extreme hike and not to be taken lightly. So we’ll have to come back when LB is feeling better. Instead of heading home via I-25 on the plains, we took the long way through the mountains. After over two months on the road, our loop around the eastern half of the United States was complete and we were back home. We now had two and a half weeks to rest and prepare for our trip to the Grand Canyon in September.
Check out our related video: Hot Springs National Park – August 22, 2019
(RB)