Cross Country Trip 2017: Hot Springs National Park

We visited Hot Springs National park today. The park is built around the 47 hot springs that flow from the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain. The water chemical composition, along with a temperature of 143 degrees, are credited with giving the waters therapeutic properties. An interesting fact is that scientists have determined that the waters gushing from the hot springs are more than 4,000 years old and flow at an average rate of 850,000 gallons a day. Over the years, the water was collected by a row of bathhouses that would give therapeutic baths to clients to treat rheumatism and other ailments. The entire “Bathhouse Row” area is a National Historic Landmark District that contains a collection of bathhouses. The National Park itself is the smallest of the 59 national parks in existence. I went to the top of the Hot Springs Mountain Tower which stands 1060 ft above the mountain. You could see the city and the Ouachita mountain range that borders the city. Tomorrow we are planning to visit "Bathhouse Row" and maybe get our own therapeutic bath 😀😀😀