ARKANSAS: LITTLE ROCK AND HOT SPRINGS

Friday, Nov 2, we're on the road again heading to a campground in North Little Rock, AR.  It was an easy drive day, less than 150 miles.

Saturday morning we drove about 45 minutes south to Hot Springs National Park.  During the 17th and 18th centuries, traders and hunters became familiar with this region, most likely from the American Indians who already knew about and bathed in the hot springs.  It's believed that the traces of minerals and an average temperature of 143 degrees give the waters whatever therapeutic properties they may have. 

Scientists have determined that the waters emerging from the hot springs are over 4,000 years old.  Rainfall is absorbed into the surrounding mountains.  Pores and fractures in the rock conduct the water deep into the Earth.  As the water seeps downward, gravitational compression heats it at the rate of about 4 degrees every 300 feet.  Eventually, the water meets faults and joints leading up to the lower west slope of Hot Springs Mountain, where it surfaces.

Hot spring behind the Fordyce Bathhouse
 

 During the Golden Age of Bathing in the 1920's over a million visitors a year immersed themselves in the hot waters at the monumental bathhouses that were built along Bathhouse Row.  The most elaborate of these was the Fordyce Bathhouse.

"Neptune's Daughters" stained glass ceiling in the Fordyce



 

The "Buckstaff" - one of two remaining active bathhouses

 

On the drive down, I was so amazed that the trees were still so colorful.  Then, while we were walking along the street in Hot Springs, I noticed these flowering bushes and asked the park ranger what they were because they looked like Azaleas.  She confirmed that they were.  She also said that the trees were, in fact, at their peak which would normally have passed by now.  She said that they believe the draught and warmer temperatures is causing these changes this year.



Azaleas blooming in November???

 

 Before we left, we drove to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower where I took the glass elevator to the top open-air observation deck at 216 ft. for an amazing view of the area.

Sunday is 'race day' again.  So, while Keith watched his race, I went for a walk to The Big Dam Bridge that was a short distance from the campground.  The park staff said that it is supposed to be the longest pedestrian bridge in the country (but I couldn't find any info to support the claim).  It spans the Arkansas River, for pedestrians and cyclists only. 

The Big Dam Bridge...connects Little Rock and North Little Rock