HOT SPRINGS, BUMPY ROADS, AND SERENE LAKE CATHERINE
Just outside of Little Rock lies the old town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, one of our 63 National Parks that is completely different from most other parks, in that it isn’t a park at all but rather an odd little town with a row of bath houses dating back to the 19th century. Bathhouse Row contains eight historic bathhouses which were built between 1892 and 1923, two of which are still in operation today.
The oldest has been turned into the park’s Visitor’s Center and another into a brewery. Across from the historic buildings is a quaint Main Street with bakeries, and souvenir shops, and the anticipated hippy-dippy crystal rocks, healing waters, and ironically, soap shops.
The Bathhouses have been turned into museums, where at every turn of the corner, antiques and oddities await. The ancient “medical” devices and “therapeutic” contraptions of the 19th century appeared more like torture devices straight out of any horror movie!
The idea was that these underground springs would bring relief and had healing powers. So, the rich and powerful, and the poor and hopeful would flock to these bathhouses for miracle cures and seek relief from minor aches and pains to more serious ailments like arthritis and amputations. Down the street from these bathhouses was the Army Navy Medical Center for many years. Grand hotels popped up as well.
As is also the case in any Southern town, the baths had been segregated from both blacks and the poor rural folks who had to fight for their rights to experience the healing baths for themselves. Afterall, they built the houses, worked in the houses, but couldn’t use the houses. That was until 1914 when the first bathhouse for blacks was built and stayed in successful operation until the 1960’s; segregation had ended, but sadly, so did the need for a separate bathhouse.
Gary and I tasted samples of waters from three different water spring sources, one being hot from the thermal springs far below the surface, the other two samples from different cold springs. Funny, but as much as I drink hot tea, I just had to spit out the hot water.
I’ve been to one of these baths before, many years ago in Saratoga, New York. Sadly, I just didn’t enjoy sitting in a porcelain tub with warm water and no bubbles. Especially when your tub is three feet away from other anonymous bathers separated by only a sheet!
The park does have a mountain tower that sits over 1,200 feet above sea level and provides a gorgeous panoramic, 140 square miles of mountains and countryside views. Gary and I chose (wisely) not to climb the ten plus stories but rather opted for the elevator ride up and down.
Lake Catherine is a serene and quiet lake that we called home for our four nights in Arkansas. Our site was right on the lake front, which is very peaceful. However, aside from wading in the waters, we chose (again, wisely) not to swim in the lake. There was a foreboding, rusty, ancient power plant directly across the lake, and, well, let’s just say, I’ve been reading too many stories lately about brain-eating bacteria and decided to play it safe. Canoeing on the lake was a much better option.
One morning, we went to an off-road park to go 4 wheeling with our Jeep Wrangler. Gary decided to stick to the trails designated level 1 and 2 and not to venture onto the much more difficult and scary trails. Oh my God, we thought we were going to flip the Jeep over a few times on our little level 2 trails – I cannot imagine what the level 5 trails would feel like. And when I say trail I mean boulders, rocks, mud ravines, steep cliffs up and down, and hair-pin curves! But it was FUN! And exhilarating. I was proud of us two old folks taking a risk and being daring.
Taking the two dogs (Lola and Fiona) on some hikes was fun, as well. They are 13 years old now and don’t travel as far or for as long as they did 6 years ago when we dragged them all over the country. But hey, who am I kidding, neither do we.