Hot Springs National Park is located at Hot Springs, in the central west area of Arkansas. It protects all the hot springs in the area. The park maintains several thermal water jug fountains and two cold spring jug fountains. Many visitors and local residents collect the water in jugs and take it home with them.
People have used the hot spring water for therapeutic baths for more than two hundred years to treat rheumatism and other ailments. Over the years it has attracted both the wealthy and needy health seekers from around the world. Today the park protects eight historic bathhouses. The former luxurious Fordyce Bathhouse houses the park visitor center. Apart from protecting the 47 hot springs and their watershed, the National Park Service enables visitors undertake leisure activities such as hiking, picnicking, and scenic drives.
A visit to Fordyce Bathhouse in the middle of Bathhouse Row gives a unique and exhilarating feeling. One gets transported back to times immemorial. Guided tours through this marvelous structure enables one to learn about the origin of the thermal waters and how they are used and how the federal government protects the 700,000 gallons of thermal water that gushes uninterrupted from the earth every day.
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Display springs let one feel the temperature of the water. At the northern end of Bathhouse Row there is a beautiful cascade of thermal water where many dip their feet and relax while enjoying the beauty of Arlington Lawn Park.
Behind the bathhouses lies the Hot Springs Mountain. A twist and turn ride up takes one to breathtaking Hot Springs Mountain Tower. Whisked by elevators one can reach the top and take spectacularly beautiful birds eye view of the city, mountains, forests and lakes that surround Hot Springs 40 miles in all directions.
On the northern side of the mountain is the beautiful Gulpha Gorge Campground. This place offers camping amenities in a cool and tranquil natural setting on the banks of Gulpha Creek.
From the Grand Promenade their spans a 26 mile of hiking trials to the rugged mountain treks which crisscrosses the park.
At the Buckstaff Bathhouse, on the southern end of Bathhouse Row one may relax under the supervision of the Park Service in much the same manner as the other bathhouses in their heyday.
So Hot Springs National Park is the most sought after spots in Hot Springs.
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