Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs is a resort city in the state of Arkansas, located in the Ouachita Mountains among the U.S. Interior Highlands, and is set among several natural hot springs for which the city is named. The city takes its name from the natural thermal water that flows from 47 springs on the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain in the historic downtown district of the city. About 1,000,000 US gallons of 143 °F (62 °C) flow from the springs each day. The flow rate is not affected by fluctuations in the rainfall in the area. Studies by National Park Service scientists have determined through radiocarbon dating that the water that reaches the surface in Hot Springs fell as rainfall 4,400 years earlier. The water percolates very slowly down through the earth’s surface until it reaches superheated areas deep in the crust and then rushes rapidly to the surface to emerge from the 47 hot springs. “Lake Ouachita and Lake Degray are a couple of the best places to stargaze. They are far enough outside the city limits to allow all of the night sky to shine.” For stargazers who also have an interest in geology, the Hot Springs area offers amazing discovery and shopping opportunities. Crater of Diamonds is a one-of-a-kind experience, as one of the only places in the world where the public can search for real diamonds in their original volcanic source. You find a diamond, you keep it!