Page 13 - February 2022

Getting Out of Hot Water
While small, HSNP is far from one dimensional. Unlike most U.S. national parks, Hot Springs is a blend of urban and natural settings. The heart of the park is Bathhouse Row, which links the north and south sectors of the city of Hot Springs. This small section of the park has a decidedly urban feel and only the historic nature of the bathhouses hint at being anywhere other than a typical small U.S. city. Otherwise, the city is divided by Hot Springs Mountain and West Mountain, which both lie within the park boundaries. Clockwise around the compass, Sugarloaf Mountain lies west and north of the city and Stonebridge Mountain (north and east) closes the ring-shaped layout of the park. While this ring completely encircles Hot Springs, it is within these modest mountains that the more traditional national park feeling takes hold.
Hot Springs Mountain and North Mountain are the more touristy of
the natural areas. The Hot Springs Mountain Drive is a loop. We began by driving up its switchbacks to reach its namesake tower, but one can also climb to the tower from town via Shortcut Trail. For a small fee, you can take the elevator to the top and get a 360-degree view of the park and city. This really brought the layout of the park into focus, allowing more targeted explorations later. A level below the exterior viewing area, an interior area provides the same views, combined with a great little museum detailing the history of the park.
Continuing the drive to the northern most point of the loop, we parked in one of the small parking lots and headed out onto Goat Rock Trail. If you are a hiker used to more expansive national parks, HSNP is refreshingly easy to hike. The trails are well marked and filled with beautiful vistas of both the city and the surrounding mountains and valleys. The hikes are not long
and we ended up stringing several of them together before eventually returning to our car. After returning to Bathhouse Row for lunch, we decided to explore West Mountain on foot. We walked Central Avenue (Bathhouse Row) to Whittington Avenue, which we followed west through an urban park area that connected with Mountain Top Trail. From there, we made connections with the West Mountain and Canyon Trails.
Due to time constraints, we had to skip the only truly long trail in the park. Sunset Trail heads west to Music Mountain and the highest point in the park (1,405 feet) and then turns northeast, loops through Stonebridge Mountain and eventually returns to North Mountain. Sunset Trail covers the most remote areas of the park, allowing hikers to take in wildflowers during three seasons and wildlife year around. The full trail is slightly over 10 miles, however if combined with other trails to
FEBRUARY 2022
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 11