Sight · Hot Springs National Park
A tiny spring display with a long Bathhouse Row history.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Hot Springs Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Hot Springs National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Fordyce Bathhouse: Beyond the Baths“You're approaching Fordyce Bathhouse, now the visitor center and a free museum. I'd start here to see what a bathhouse visit used to involve.”
Plays as you drive up to Maurice Historic Spring Area in the Parkwolf Hot Springs Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Maurice Historic Spring Area is a small outdoor spring display between the Hale and Maurice Bathhouses on Bathhouse Row. Dripping Spring and Tunnel Springs sit among natural tufa and stonework, with a small stairway and platform. Keep it as a brief pause on a Bathhouse Row walk: this is a modest spring display, not a cascade or an outdoor soaking spot.
The spring area pairs natural tufa with built stonework, and it is also a drinking-water stop. For a close photo, frame the dark opening and curved basin with some of the pale stone around them; that gives the small outlet context. Outdoor soaking is not allowed anywhere in the park.
Thermal springs drew visitors here for drinking water after the reservation was established in 1832. Maurice Spring became the park’s first display spring, and the stonework in this area was completed in 1903 as the springs and fountains were protected during Bathhouse Row’s development. Historic photographs show visitors filling jugs at Dripping Spring.
Wildlife
71 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
11 sightingsGroundhogMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsMexican Long-nosed ArmadilloMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
16 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around noonSighting map
40 sightingsCardinalMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
27 sightingsSummer TanagerMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Hot Springs. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModeratePeak Trail1.2 mi · 40 min · At the trailheadA 400-foot climb rewards you with summit overlooks and a tower.
ModerateOertel Trail1.4 mi · 45 min · At the trailheadA steep, bumpy gravel climb links downtown with mountain trails.
EasyTufa Terrace Trail0.3 mi · 24 min · 0.1 mi awayA short paved climb to pale tufa beside the thermal cascade
ModerateOak Trail1 mi · 35 min · 0.2 mi awayA short dirt climb from Bathhouse Row into West Mountain’s trails.
ModerateCanyon Trail0.7 mi · 36 min · 0.2 mi awayA short downtown climb that gets steep on the mountain side.
EasyGrand Promenade0.5 mi · 45 min · 0.3 mi awayBenches, spring views, and bathhouses on an easy half-mile walk.
ModerateLower Dogwood Trail0.7 mi · 30 min · 0.3 mi awayBoulders mark a brief mountain climb before the loop drops downhill.
EasyHot Springs Mountain Trail1.7 mi · 1 hr · 0.4 mi awayAn easy loop above Hot Springs, with a view between the trees.
Sight · At the trailheadStevens Balustrade and Thermal FountainsA shell fountain tucked into Bathhouse Row’s grand stone entrance.
Sight · At the trailheadMaurice BathhouseA historic bathhouse built for 650 daily bathers.
Lodging · At the trailheadHale Bathhouse and Hotel HaleA historic bathhouse where spring water fills your private tub.
Sight · At the trailheadDisplay SpringWatch thermal water spill into a shaded shallow pool.
Restaurant · At the trailheadSuperior Bathhouse BreweryThermal-water beer in a 1916 Bathhouse Row landmark.
Sight · At the trailheadFordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center and MuseumA free tour from marble lobby to the basement spring.
Restaurant · 0.1 mi awayThe Ohio ClubA 1905 bar with live music, a Reuben, and a casino past.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayQuapaw Baths & SpaThermal pools under stained glass in a 1922 bathhouse.Parkwolf’s Hot Springs ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
