#10 of 24 sights in Hot Springs
Sight · Hot Springs National Park
Bathhouse Row and downtown open up below the road.
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
West Mountain: Town Views and a Stone Shelter“West Mountain's lower and picnic overlooks are ahead, with views back over Hot Springs.”
Plays as you drive up to West Mountain Lower Overlook 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
West Mountain Lower Overlook is the first drive-up stop on West Mountain's Summit Loop, above Bathhouse Row and downtown Hot Springs. Hot Springs Mountain Tower rises on the neighboring ridge, and the former Army-Navy Hospital sits below it in town. If you’re making one stop on West Mountain, I’d keep this one for the town view.
Start with Bathhouse Row, then look out across downtown and the hills around it. The tower and former hospital help anchor the broad panorama. For a photo, use a wide frame that keeps the town in front and the tower on the skyline.
The park sits in the Zigzag Mountains, part of the Ouachitas. The range formed about 300 million years ago, and erosion has softened its ancient peaks into the rounded ridges you see today. At West Mountain’s summit, an Arkansas novaculite outcrop links the landscape to its human history: Caddo people used the dense stone for tools and weapons, and European settlers later used it for whetstones. That outcrop is at the summit, not at this lower overlook.
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
41 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
ModerateOak Trail1 mi · 35 min · 0.2 mi awayA short dirt climb from Bathhouse Row into West Mountain’s trails.
ModerateOertel Trail1.4 mi · 45 min · 0.2 mi awayA steep, bumpy gravel climb links downtown with mountain trails.
ModeratePeak Trail1.2 mi · 40 min · 0.2 mi awayA 400-foot climb rewards you with summit overlooks and a tower.
EasyTufa Terrace Trail0.3 mi · 24 min · 0.3 mi awayA short paved climb to pale tufa beside the thermal cascade
ModerateCanyon Trail0.7 mi · 36 min · 0.3 mi awayA short downtown climb that gets steep on the mountain side.
EasyGrand Promenade0.5 mi · 45 min · 0.4 mi awayBenches, spring views, and bathhouses on an easy half-mile walk.
ModerateLower Dogwood Trail0.7 mi · 30 min · 0.4 mi awayBoulders mark a brief mountain climb before the loop drops downhill.
EasyWhittington Trail1.2 mi · 30 min · 0.4 mi awayA flat gravel loop past Whittington Creek's old bridges.
Picnic area · 0.1 mi awayWest Mountain Picnic OverlookA shaded picnic stop with city views and a 1924 stone shelter.
Restaurant · 0.2 mi awayThe Ohio ClubA 1905 bar with live music, a Reuben, and a casino past.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayFordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center and MuseumA free tour from marble lobby to the basement spring.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayMaurice BathhouseA historic bathhouse built for 650 daily bathers.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayQuapaw Baths & SpaThermal pools under stained glass in a 1922 bathhouse.
Lodging · 0.2 mi awayHale Bathhouse and Hotel HaleA historic bathhouse where spring water fills your private tub.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayMaurice Historic Spring AreaA tiny spring display with a long Bathhouse Row history.
Sight · 0.2 mi awayOzark BathhouseA hands-on look at thermal water, built for curious kids.Parkwolf’s Hot Springs ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
