Saturday 4-3 Last Day at Hot Springs - Hiking to the Tower

 

Camping at Hot Springs National Park

The morning was a cool 42 degrees with a cloud covering. By the afternoon the sun came out and it became a beautiful 68 degree day.

We started the day out by going on a hike. We hiked about 3 hours and covered almost 4 miles. 

We thought about taking today off from hiking. Over the last two days we hiked 18 miles and my knee was a bit sore from my fall, but tomorrow we'll be moving on to our next destination. 

Todays hike started out on the white trail (Gulpha Gorge) until it Y'd off at The Ol' Swimming Hole sign, from there we picked up the red trail (Oertel). We followed the red trail until we got to the black trail (Short Cut) and then to the blue trail which took us to the overlook shelter. and observation tower. This was our first time on the Short Cut trail and it was very steep, we had to stop a couple of times to catch our breath. There were a few people at the overlook, I think all of them had driven up. Larry helped one group of folks take a picture of themselves, they were trying to take a selfie but it was impossible to get all of them in the picture. The shelter gave a great view of Hot Springs and the surrounding area. Next we walked to the observation tower. The gift shop was open, not sure if you could take the elevator to the top of the tower or not but with coronavirus we didn't want to be in a very small enclosed space with others. On our visit back in 2013 we took the elevator to the top of the tower and enjoyed the views. I took a picture of the tower and then we started our hike back to the campground. We took the paved road from the tower to an observation turn off where we could either take the white trail (Gulpha Gorge Campground) or the purple trail (Goat Rock). We decided to take the purple trail because it was longer. We have hiked this trail a few times so we were familiar with it except I didn't remember this piece of it. As we were hiking the purple trail we saw a lot of beautiful wildflowers (yellow, purple and red). Since we have been here we have seen lots of the purple flowers but the yellow and red are just starting to bloom. We saw a few people walking the trail but not as many as we have been seeing. Probably because were were earlier than we have been. We had another super hike. By the time we got home it was almost time for lunch.

 

Larry at the tower shelter

A view of Hot Springs from the shelter

 

The Observation Tower 

 

Yellow wildflowers on the trail

At the beginning of our hike my knee hurt when I had to climb some stone stairs. As we continued hiking I could barely feel it. When we got home I showed my knee to Larry. It was swollen and bruised. He told me to take some Tylenol to help with the discomfort and swelling. It will probably take a couple of days for it to heal.

After lunch Larry read and I did my Microsoft Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 51 minutes and 23 seconds, which put me in 10th place in my group. Then I did some Sudoku puzzles. The Gulpha Gorge Creek was busy with people playing in it and walking across it. People were hiking the trails with their dogs. They were taking pictures. The kids were running around having fun. Some people were enjoying the sun. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the Minnie. 

After dinner we walked around the campground. Then I did an evening hike for about an hour for 2.25 miles. I hiked the red trail and white trail. I saw a few people hiking. It was a very nice hike. When I got home I finished my 26,000 steps. This put me in 4th place in my group.

We have been camped at Gulpha Gorge Campground for seven days, this is the longest we have ever stayed at one campground while on a trip. During our stay we hiked all the Hot Springs Mountain and North Mountain Trails and three trails of the West Mountain Trails. The West Mountain Trails we did were Canyon, Oak and part of the West Mountain. We also did a Old Road Trail, that wasn't listed on the West Mountain Trails. We hiked a total of 45 miles.