Hot Springs National Park

Last spring, we spent a long weekend exploring Hot Springs National Park.

“But wait!” you might be thinking, “That’s not in Texas!”

While it is not actually in Texas, as the closest national park to many North- and East- Texans, we think it qualifies for a blog post.

Logistics

We stayed at the Arlington Hotel, which is in the middle of downtown Hot Springs.

One of the crazy cool things about Hot Springs is that the national park surrounds the downtown area. You can literally just walk around the street and be in the park. No long drives, no entry fees— you’re already there! This was a nice change from our usual experience where just driving to the campsite can be a harrowing adventure in itself (hello, Big Bend State Park).

This is a picture of our hotel. It was taken from national park property!

History

The Arlington hotel was really interesting—built in 1924, it was a favorite place of Al Capone and his gang and is reportedly haunted. Fortunately, we did not experience any paranormal activity, and are happy to report that the rooms were clean and water pressure was strong.

One of the must-visit things are the historic bathhouses. These are actually on national park property, lining Central Avenue (the main downtown street). These used to be real bath houses (i.e., old timey spas) where people would travel to bathe in the spring water, which was believed to be healing. Now they house the park's visitor center, a cultural center, gift shop, a hotel, a brewery (yes a brewery on National Park property!) and a couple of actual spas. We especially enjoyed touring the Fordyce Bathhouse, which has bathtubs, steam boxes, and other equipment from the old days.

We listened to the National Park After Dark episode on Hot Springs on our way there and recommend it if you are interested in more history of the area!

The Ozark Bathhouse houses the cultural center.

Trails

Now for the reason you’re all here— the trails, of course! (We’ve added the maps to the app!)

Hot Springs National Park’s trails are basically divided into two areas, to the northeast and southwest of downtown, plus one trail that winds around the entire park.

Our first day, we explored the northeast side, which is called North Mountain. We started out on the Oertel Trail and took the Shortcut Trail to get on the Hot Springs Mountain Trail. This route was quite a climb and took us to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower, which is a manmade structure you can go up in for a $10 free. (We opted not to-- the view from the nearby pavilion was good enough for us!)

We spent a few hours exploring the area-- it's the kind of trail layout with so many trails looping around each other in a small area, you could spend a long time exploring them all. The trails are very nice, shaded, and well-marked, with a few good viewing points and lots of wildflowers!

Looking south from North Mountain!

Our second day, we tackled the West Mountain Trails.

There is trail access off Central Avenue just south of the Mountain Valley Spring Company building. There are a little over 3 miles of wooded trail in this area, and the Mountain Top Trail connects to Whittington Park to the north, which is right next to a spring water filling station. We just walked around the park, but it could be a good picnic stop. This network of trails also connects to the Sunset Trail, the 12 mile loop that stretches around the park. (We didn't opt for that since we had to drive home that afternoon!).

My favorite part of this area was all the deer! We saw several deer, and while they weren't super close, they didn't seem particularly scared of us, so we got a good look at them.

Hello, deer.

Food and Drink

One nice thing about the park/city proximity is that you can get some good food and libations right after hiking! We particularly enjoyed:

Superior Bathhouse Brewing: Hot Springs National Park is the only national park with a brewery on park property. It’s located in the old Superior Bathhouse and has a great Czech Pilsner.

Kollective Coffee and Tea: Coffeshop with a variety of sandwiches and brunch items, including an excellent vegan BLT. It’s nice and bright and probably the most modern thing we encountered the entire trip.

Vibe

I was surprised that given the proximity to the national park, the atmosphere felt more party than outdoorsy. It was pretty crowded with lots of tourists exploring the downtown area. We encountered lots of bachelorette-party/spring break groups— think Panama City Beach in the woods.

It also very much feels like an old getaway that is well past its heyday. There are a lot of decrepit buildings around downtown, including the abandoned Army and Navy Hospital looming over the middle of downtown just begging to be the backdrop of a kitschy horror movie.

Everything combined together gives a historically creepy and ever-so-slightly sleazy vibe, which, to be honest, I kind of loved. But if you’re wanting a peaceful or luxury environment, you’re going to need to travel back in time about 100 years.

Summary

If you’re looking for a fun getaway weekend with a variety of things to do, Hot Springs is great— it’s got history, food and drink, along with some very nice hiking. However, if you’re a hardcore outdoorsy person looking to spend a weekend in nature or see some spectacular views, this is probably not the ideal place for you.