We picked Hot Springs as our first stop (April 3–17) because it was 8 hours from Austin and right in the middle of a national park. We both love hiking so we wanted to kick off the trip somewhere we could get out in nature easily. We rented an apartment on Airbnb just a few blocks from Bathhouse Row, which is the old center of Hot Springs. The Grand Promenade runs behind the old bathhouses and is the starting point to many of the trails that snake up both Hot Springs Mountain and North Mountain, including the short but steep hike to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower.
Walking in the other direction from our apartment, deeper into the residential neighborhood, took us to a trailhead on the West Mountain. We could also access West Mountain trails by walking past Bathhouse Row and heading further north on the main road. The only drawback is all the mountains have roads cutting through them, so you see and hear traffic on much of the trails. It’s fantastic that the park is so accessible, but we weren’t unexpecting quite as much car traffic as we saw, heard, and smelled on the trails.
Hot Springs Mountain Tower
The first hike we did was up to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. We were able to walk over after work one evening and headed up the Peak Trail (0.6 miles). On the way down, we took a bit of the Hot Springs Mountain Trail, to the Shortcut Trail, to the Oertel Trail (about 0.5 miles cobbled together). It was a short hike, but it was pretty steep going up and down and was a nice way to get up to the Tower. The $11/person fee to visit the top of the tower seemed a little excessive, but the views up top were nice and there were a lot of plaques explaining the history of the area.
Goat Rock Trail
Laura hiked Goat Rock on the North Mountain one weekday morning while Andrew had to work. Just over 2 miles roundtrip, it was a great little morning hike and there where more deer on the trail than other humans. The trail in to Goat Rock was a gradual slope and an overall peaceful experience.
West Mountain Trail
On our first weekend in Hot Springs, we went for a slightly longer hike and visited the West Mountain for the first time. The south trailhead for the Mountain Top Trail was about 1 mile from our apartment, so we walked over there in the morning to start. Then it was about 0.3 miles to the West Mountain Trail South, another 0.7 miles to the Canyon Trail, and then .07 to Central Avenue downtown. Then we had a .06 walk through downtown to get home. All done, it was a little over 3 miles.
The Mountain Top Trail had some steep uphill sections, but then it leveled out on the West Mountain Trail South and the Canyon Trail. At one point near the intersection of the West Mountain Trail South and the Canyon Trail, we had to walk across car traffic. They had a crosswalk for us, but still not ideal hiking.
Caddo Bend Trail
On our second weekend in Hot Springs we drove 25 minutes out of town to the Lake Ouachita State Park to hike the Caddo Bend Trail. It was a beautiful, 4-mile loop along the lake and in the woods. Again, there weren’t many other people on the trail, despite it being a Saturday morning with great sunny, cool weather. This was our favorite trail during this stay for a few reasons. It was lovely to be along a lake, and we both appreciated the lack of car traffic nearby. There was a good mix of terrain and sights. The solitude and scenery were beautiful.
Hot Springs Hiking in Review
Overall, we’d both recommend a trip to Hot Springs for hiking and pizza and a massage (more on that to come). The hiking is accessible and beautiful, but it has drawbacks from the traffic. We’d highly recommend you look into trails outside the national park as well. And we didn’t even spend time at the lakes, which the region is known and loved for! There’s plenty in the area to scratch your itch to be in nature.
