Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas

We leave Petit Jean State Park, drive two hours through the rural Arkansas countryside and arrive at the Hot Springs KOA. Nice campground, so we set up, have lunch and then head over to Hot Springs. We stroll down the main street past Bath House Row and visit the National Park Visitors Center. We watch their movie and tour the visitors center.

Bath House Row:

Visitors Center:

Quapaw Bathhouse is be refurbished by National Park service and will open this summer:

Visitors Center refurbished men's bath:

Visitors Center refurbished solarium:

We walk to the end of bath house row to see the hot springs where the hot water which feeds the bathhouses originates. The water comes out of the ground at 143 degrees fahrenheit:

This is a very unusual National Park. Truthfully, I don't think it deserves to be a National Park. I guess the government bought these bathhouses years ago and didn't know what to do with them so they made them a National Park. The Visitors Center is a refurbished bath house. At best this 'park' should be a U.S. Historical Park. Anyway, we walk around the bath house area, drive around the loop behind the bathhouses and then return to the campground for the rest of the afternoon. We enjoy the pool at the campground and relax.

This was an interesting stop today, but I am perplexed as to why this row of bathhouses is a national park.