HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK IN ARKANSAS

FORDYCE BATHHOUSE

QUAPAW BATHHOUSE

OZARK BATHHOUSE NOW A COFFEE SHOP

ME TESTING THE WATERS

ROY LIKED THIS ONE ITS GOING TO BE A BREWERY

We arrived at Hot Springs National Park and got a pretty site on the small Park campground with electric, water and dump for $12.
Water is what attracts people to Hot Springs. Hot Springs thermal water began as rainfall over 4,000 years ago so the scientists say. Do I really want to bathe in them? 

We had a fabulous hour and half tour of Fordyce Bathhouse with a Ranger. This is the Visitor Center but because of technical problems had to be closed for 9 months to repair but they are still able to do tours twice a day at the moment.
It was fascinating and so informative - you had to have a doctors prescription to go to the bathhouse. The Ranger took us from room to room explaining all the different procedures and treatments - and by the time she had finished I knew I didn't fancy a treatment!
We ended the tour with a drink of the hot thermal water which tasted - odourless, colourless and clear - pure water!
But I must say I did feel envigorated as she told us the water we were drinking was probably rainwater which dropped around the time the pyramids were being built!

LAMAR BATHHOUSE NOW VISITOR CENTER

FORDYCE TOUR - NEEDLE SHOWER

SITZ BATH AND VAPOUR BOX

A NEW SHOWER - LOOKED LIKE TORTURE TO ME

ONE OF THE BATHS

BATH FOR HYDROELECTRIC THERAPY AND EMBALMING TABLE - ASK ME WHEN YOU SEE ME WHAT ITS USED FOR

SUN AND FREEZE BOXES

NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER - CEILING IN MENS BATHHOUSE

FOUNTAIN OF LIFE IN MENS BATHHOUSE - IT STARTED AS A MANS THING!

EXPLAINING WHERE THE WATER CAME FROM

We have bathed in many volcanic hot springs over the years but these are not volcanic. Water is heated by continuous thermal processes occuring deep in the earth. Rainwater seeps through the earth's crust and forms pools far below. Pressure and the decay of radioactive material heat the pools of water. Because the Ouachita Moutain bedrock is full of cracks and fissures, the hot water finds
its way back to the surface so quickly that it doesn't have time to cool.

There are two bathhouses still open, Buckstaff and Quapaw both privately run and exorbitently priced - so yes you guessed right - we gave it a miss! I can think of better things to spend $286 on.

QUAFFING THE ELIXIR!

LOVELY CAMPSITE AT GULPHA GORGE NEAR HOT SPRINGS

CARDINAL BIRD AT HOT SPRINGS

The whole area is a mass of trails, originally made to compliment the treatments prescribed by the bathhouses - we just enjoyed them!

We have been watching the news with interest regarding Hurricane Sandy and now demoted to a cyclone- once again we missed the disaster that has happened. Arkansas is enjoying clear blue skies and slowly warming up. 

 We are now in north west Louisiana at Lake Bistineau State Park with hardly any lake as they have drained it to get rid of invasive  species and no hiking trails as they have closed them for logging.
But its a beautiful place - we are  surrounded by Cypress trees draped in SpanIsh moss, egrets, herons, woodpeckers and butterflies.
And we can get a TV signal so will be watching the Country Music Awards show tonight after a day in the sun.

ROY LOOKING FOR THE LAKE AT BISTINEAU LAKE

BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES AT BISTINEAU

OUR BISTINEAU LAKE SITE