Leaving St. Louis on April 30 with a full charge—thanks to the Destination Charger we enjoyed during our visit to Gateway Arch—we headed south and west through Missouri and Arkansas for our next National Park, Hot Springs, the 10th stop on our electric road trip to all 51 National Parks in the Lower 48 states.
Hot Springs Reservation was established in 1832, long before the National Park concept existed, to protect the natural thermal hot springs.
Hot Springs Reservation was established in 1832, long before the National Park concept existed, to protect the natural thermal hot springs. It was the first time land had been set aside by the Federal government for use as a recreation area. It was established as a National Park in 1921, making it one of the earliest National Parks.
Hot Springs is the only National Park that is a city. It consists of the historic bathhouses, fed by the natural hot springs, and the surrounding mountains, which include hiking trails.
Hot Springs is the only National Park that is a city. It consists of the historic bathhouses, fed by the natural hot springs, and the surrounding mountains, which include hiking trails. Hot Springs was America’s smallest National Park until Gateway Arch was re-designated from a monument to a park. Hot Springs has about 1.5 million annual visitors.
Hot Springs was the home of Major League Baseball spring training in the early 20th century. It was also the childhood home of President Bill Clinton.
Arriving in the early evening, we were able to squeeze in a few activities—walking down bathhouse row, strolling along the Promenade behind the bathhouses, and checking out the lobby of the historic Arlington Hotel before enjoying a good dinner in town.
The Hot Springs Visitor Center is located in one of the old bathhouses, providing an opportunity to see what the inside of the historic bathhouses looked like.
The next morning we had breakfast at The Pancake Shop because we were told it was a “must do” activity. We also explored the Visitor Center, which is located in one of the old bathhouses, giving us an opportunity to see what the inside of the historic bathhouses looked like.
The centerpiece of Hot Springs National Park is Bathhouse Row—eight unique, turn-of-the-century bathhouses all built over naturally occurring hot springs.
Before visiting the park, our assumption was that the hot springs were an outdoor activity where you could just jump into a pool to experience the natural hot springs. Much to the contrary, the centerpiece of Hot Springs National Park is Bathhouse Row—eight unique, turn-of-the-century bathhouses all built over naturally occurring hot springs. In the early 20th century, Hot Springs became famous for its supposed therapeutic benefits and developed into a well-known resort.
Quapaw, which is one of two bathhouses still operating, looks more like the ancient Roman baths, with a set of three large public baths.
Most of the bathhouses featured private rooms with a bathtub, like the ones in the building that now serves as the National Park Visitor Center. But the Quapaw, which is one of two bathhouses still operating, looks more like the ancient Roman baths, with a set of three large public baths with different temperatures in each of the three pools.
The hot water that emerges from the mountain to feed the baths entered as rainwater or snow melt more than 4,000 years ago.
A fun and mind-boggling fact about the springs: the hot water that emerges from the mountain to feed the baths entered as rainwater or snow melt more than 4,000 years ago.
The water emerges from the springs at about 144 degrees and has to be mixed with cooler spring water so that it is not too hot for bathing. The National Park Service oversees the operations of the springs to ensure their health and safety and to regulate the amount of water use.
The Observation Tower provides a commanding view of the town and the surrounding mountains.
After breakfast and our tour of the bathhouses, we worked off the pancakes by hiking up to the Observation Tower, climbing—and counting—all 300 steps. The tower provides a commanding view of the town and the surrounding mountains. There’s an elevator if you don’t want to climb the stairs.
The mountains behind the bathhouses feature a network of trails. Goat Rock is the highlight.
We also hiked 6 miles on the networks of trails on the mountain behind the baths. Goat Rock was the highlight.
Though not a typical National Park, Hot Springs features both the historic bathhouse row and some nice hiking trails on the mountains behind it that serve as the recharging zone for the hot springs and are protected as part of the park. In it heyday, Hot Springs was once the most visited National Park.
In all, Hot Springs was worth a quick visit to see the historic bathhouses, and the hiking trails on the mountain were an added bonus.
Lodging
For our visit to the Hot Springs, we elected to stay in a hotel a few miles outside the main town, the Doubletree by Hilton Hot Springs. This is a great hotel, modern and clean, with spacious rooms and a small restaurant, as well as Destination Chargers. The Doubletree is just a few miles from the historic area of the town, and we were glad we got away from the noise and traffic of the main town after a long day visiting the park.
Doubletree by Hilton Hot Springs, located a few miles outside the main town, is modern and clean, with spacious rooms and a small restaurant, as well as Destination Chargers.
In planning our electric road trip, we also considered the historic Arlington Resort Hotel, which has several Destination Chargers. But we were glad we had elected to stay outside the noisy historic area.
For dining in Hot Springs, we enjoyed Tex-Mex food the first night at the Colorado Grill. The second night we decided to relax and have dinner at the Doubletree, which provided a limited menu but a good meal.
The highlight of eating in Hot Springs is breakfast at the famous Pancake Shop in the historic area.
The highlight of eating in Hot Springs is breakfast at the famous Pancake Shop in the historic area. They provide friendly service and huge pancakes, and breakfast there should be part of a complete visit to Hot Springs. But don’t even think about ordering more than one pancake. The pancakes fill an entire plate, so a pro tip offered by the servers is to carve out a hole in the middle of your pancake for the syrup.
Charging
We had our first charging challenge on the trip from St. Louis to Hot Springs, Arkansas, on April 30. The day started typically with a full charge as we departed the Destination Charger at our hotel in St. Louis. We reached the first Supercharger in Miner, Missouri, without difficulty, despite high winds long the way.
We had our first charging challenge on the trip from St. Louis to Hot Springs, Arkansas, on April 30.
The Supercharger in Miner told us we had enough charge to continue our trip at about 261 miles of range, but a few miles down the road, the car told us to go back to the Miner Supercharger for more charging.
Our next leg was to the Supercharger in Brinkley, Arkansas, a distance of about 200 miles. The Supercharger in Miner told us we had enough charge to continue our trip at about 261 miles of range, so we started on our way even though we were not fully charged. A few miles down the road, the car told us to exit, which we thought was strange. We soon realized it was telling us to go back to the Miner Supercharger.
We had learned earlier in the trip to listen to the car when it told us to stop for a charge, so we turned around and returned to Minor, putting in 15 more kilowatt-hours to give the car a full charge and nearly 300 miles in range.
As we continued on our way to Brinkley—still experiencing high winds—it was clear that we were expending miles on the range indicator much faster than the miles on the odometer. Even though the speed limit was 75 mph, the car soon started advising us to limit our speed to 70 mph in order the reach the Supercharger in Brinkley.
As our range margin continued to diminish, we decided to stop for lunch at a location that had a Level 2 charger, allowing us to “top off” with another 20 miles of range while eating. By the time we reached Brinkley, we had less than 40 miles of range remaining, so we probably would have made it without the topping off, but the extra range gave us more security and didn’t cost us much time because we were ready to stop for lunch anyway.
After the Supercharger stop at Brinkley, we had plenty of range to reach Hot Springs, where a Destination Charger at our hotel would greet us. Nevertheless, it was a much longer travel day than we had anticipated, and the uncertainty along the way had added stress to the day’s travel.
We drew a few conclusions from this experience.
The car showed that we had about 300 miles of range, but it could barely make the 200-mile leg to the next Supercharger.
First, it was good we listened to the car and returned to Miner to add more range. But the car was in error in sending us on our way the first time, costing us time and annoyance. In addition, the range estimates shown on the car are inaccurate for high-speed highway travel and should be adjusted. The car showed that we had about 300 miles of range, but it could barely make the 200-mile leg to the next Supercharger, even though we were traveling at or below the speed limit the entire time. This is an area that could benefit from a software update by Tesla.
Speeds of 70-80 mph on today’s highways eat range must faster than the advertised range numbers. At those high speeds, our Tesla is not capable of traveling 300 miles on a full charge.
Second, as we had noted previously, speeds of 70-80 mph on today’s highways eat range must faster than the advertised range numbers. At those high speeds, our Tesla is not capable of traveling 300 miles on a full charge. A better estimate is 200-250 miles, depending on conditions. And we probably had a worse-than-usual experience that day due to the high winds.
Third, if we had been traveling on a route with more Superchargers, we would not have had these challenges. Tesla tries to locate Superchargers at intervals of no more than 150 miles. Unfortunately, in this case, there were no other Superchargers along the 200-mile route between Miner and Brinkley. Although the Supercharger network is excellent—and is the only reason we can make this trip—Tesla still has some work to do in filling in the density of the system in some places.
Level 2 chargers, operating at 240 volts, can’t do the whole job on a long-distance trip, but they are a great supplement if you run into difficulties.
Fourth, our experience showed the value of Level 2 chargers, which are far more numerous than fast chargers like Tesla’s Superchargers. Level 2 chargers, operating at 240 volts, can’t do the whole job on a long-distance trip, but they are a great supplement if you run into difficulties. And, as shown in the PlugShare map, Level 2 chargers are nearly ubiquitous.
When we reached Hot Springs, our hotel, the Doubletree by Hilton Hot Springs, had a great set-up with three Tesla Destination Chargers. That took care of our needs during our visit and gave us a full charge when we left for Texas on May 2.
In addition to the Doubletree, there are other options for Destination Chargers in Hot Springs. The historic Arlington Resort Hotel, right in the heart of town, has several Destination Chargers, as does the Hotel Hot Springs and Spa.
As another option, there is a Supercharger in Little Rock on Route 30, about 50 miles on the way southwest toward Hot Springs.
Destination Charger at Hampton Inn-St. Louis Arch, St. Louis, MO
Supercharging at Miner, MO (49 kWh @ $0.34) $16.66
Supercharging at Miner, MO (15 kWh @ $0.34) $5.10
Level 2 ChargePoint at Best Western, Marion, MO
Supercharging at Brinkley, AR (53 kWh @ $0.35) $18.55
Destination Charger at Doubletree by Hilton Hot Springs
Total Supercharging for the trip $258.09
Hiking Trails and Other Activities in the Parks
The most obvious activity to enjoy in Hot Springs is to stroll along the row of bathhouses and the promenade behind them. Before our visit, we did not appreciate that there are also lots of nice hiking trails in the mountains behind the bathhouses.
Bathhouse Row and Promenade .5 miles
Peak Trail to Observation Tower, Hot Springs Mt Trail,
Goat Rock Trail, Upper Dogwood and Honeysuckle Trails 6 miles
Total Hiking Miles for the trip 67.2 miles
Impressions
Hot Springs is not a typical National Park, featuring a historic town and the bathhouses built over its natural hot springs. The bathhouses are interesting both for their architectural and historic value and for illustrating how our understanding of therapeutic treatments has evolved over time. We would have enjoyed the town more if it were less commercial and if cars and loud motorcycles didn’t race up and down Central Avenue, the main road through town.
The observation tower and hiking trails on the mountain behind the bathhouses were an added bonus for our visit, allowing us to get away from the noise and traffic in the town.
Visit Duration: Hot Springs National Park can be seen in a day or less. The historic bathhouses and surrounding areas can be covered in a couple of hours, and the remainder of the day can be used for hiking on the mountain trails or enjoying one of the bathhouses that continues to operate. For the latter activity, reservations are recommended.
On the morning of May 2, we left Hot Springs, heading southwest through Arkansas for Texas, where we would enjoy our first break in the electric road trip before heading to our 11th National Park, Big Bend in west Texas.