West Mountain Summit Trail

The West Mountain Summit Trail climbs to the highest point in Hot Springs National Park, offering panoramic views of the historic Bathhouse Row spa district below and the wooded ridgelines of the Ouachita Mountains extending in every direction. Hot Springs is one of the smallest national parks by area (less than 6,000 acres) but one of the most urban, situated within the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas — a resort town famous since the 1800s for the 143-degree thermal springs that pour forth from the west face of Hot Springs Mountain. The summit trail ascends through a classic Ouachita Mountain forest of shortleaf pine and upland hardwoods on a rocky, well-maintained path. Exposed novaculite outcrops along the ridge provide natural overlooks. The summit clearing at 1,320 feet above sea level gives a bird's-eye perspective on the grand National Park Service-listed Bathhouse Row — eight ornate early 20th-century Spanish Colonial and Renaissance Revival bathhouses that once drew presidents (including FDR) and gangsters (including Al Capone) for therapeutic soaks. The thermal springs themselves emerge at a consistent 62 gallons per minute and 143°F — a temperature produced by rainwater percolating 8,000 feet into the earth. Fall color peaks in late October; spring wildflowers including trillium appear as early as February in this mild climate.