Hot Springs National Park

Hot Springs National Park is in central Arkansas, in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. The 5,839-acre park, the smallest U.S. national park, envelops most of the city of Hot Springs. It was created in 1921 from what had been designated a federal reservation in 1832 and a public park in 1880. Its 47 mineral hot springs, the principal attraction, are located along a geologic fault that serves as a conduit for heated, mineralized groundwater percolating upward from great depths in the Earth's crust. The water temperature averages 143 degrees F year round; it contains more than 20 chemical compounds.