Story by Keri Porter, Photos by Cara McCellan, Rachael Garrett, Erica Scharer, and Danielle Noonan
We finished our 2023 wheelin’ season with a trip to Arkansas for our first experience at Hot Springs Offroad Park and our last Women’s Wheelin’ Weekend of the year. Nestled 15 minutes from the heart of Hot Springs, Arkansas, the 1200-acre park is open seven days a week and hosts many campsites, cabins, a camp store, a lodge, and many trails.
New owners purchased the park in 2020. You can see the pride of ownership in the work being done around the park; there are plans for more parking and a bigger office/store in the near future.
Our group of six trail guides utilized The Lodge as our basecamp for our large group of attendees. The Lodge is a newly built home sitting quaintly on a hill overlooking the entrance to the park.
The floor plan offers three bedrooms, two baths, and a very open living room/kitchen area that is great for gatherings. The front and back of the home had a spacious deck equipped with ample seating for a large group. The Lodge parking area is limited to four vehicles, but there is plenty of overflow parking in the trailer lot.
The park hosts 105 campsites, with 75% of those as RV sites; however, there is no dump station on site. Both the men’s and women’s restrooms hosted three stalls and showers each. There never seemed to be overcrowding in the restrooms, even on the weekends,
Now, let’s talk about trails…
The park offers a good map with a trail rating system based on what style of vehicle will be used to traverse it: full-size 4×4, quad, or dirtbike.
The system utilizes the numbers 0 through 5 to rate the difficulty level of each trail. If the trail has a rating of “0” for a style of vehicle, then that vehicle is not allowed on that particular trail. At the time of this story, the park had 155 named trails, with only five not designed for full-size vehicles. After spending two weeks at the park and navigating the trails, I wish the trail rating system was scaled to offer a “5+” rating. The difficulty level between a “4” rating and a “5” was pretty drastic. There were some “5” rated trails that a well-built full-size rig could accomplish, and then there were some that anything less than a buggy shouldn’t even try. It would be nice if the trail system allowed for a differentiation between the two. Each trail is labeled with its appropriate trail name, number, and rating. As someone new to the park, the signage made getting around the park a breeze!
The overall terrain style was new to me. There were quite a few small loose rocks with almost a pea gravel base, and under that were solid rock ledges or a boulder base. Sometimes, that base would be sticky, and sometimes, it would be slick. It was odd. Walking up and down the steep hills took skill.
Hot Springs Offroad Park is home to four Jeep Badge of Honor Trails; Snake, Fun Run, Rubicon Ridge, and Quartz Canyon. All four trails were fun, but expect them to be busy on the weekends.
Snake:
Low difficulty rating, but offers a couple of offshoot trails with a higher rating, so it perfectly accommodated a mixed group.
Fun Run:
was just that. It offered moderately technical obstacles without the fear of things heading south real quick. You know what I’m talking about; when you can eat snacks and wheel at the same time without spilling said snacks, but you don’t get bored.
Rubicon Ridge:
Starts with a long descent with a couple of ledges that could be sketchy if someone panics.
Quartz Canyon:
This is the newest of the BOH trails and is located in the riding area across the street from the park entrance. This newer area of the park is less traveled and was sometimes confusing to navigate.
While at the park, we managed to hit about half the trails. My favorite trails were Squid’s Jaunt, Ultimate Adventure, and Four Fingers.
Squid’s Jaunt:
A moderate connector trail between two of the haul roads that was a fun way to get from one haul road to the other.
Ultimate Adventure:
Rocks, boulders, and rock shelves. Fun times that proved to be a bit more difficult when it was just a little wet.
Four Fingers:
Rated level “5” that didn’t require a buggy. We first tried this when it was wet and didn’t come close to completing it. As we wrapped up our time at Hot Springs, we decided to give it one more go. I’m so glad we did!
When hosting our women’s events, I need to offer a great experience for the new driver with a new-to-her vehicle and a little excitement for the more experienced drivers. I also have a small group of ladies who want the crazy but still have to drive it home. With the trails at Hot Springs Offroad Park, I was able to accommodate our group’s needs successfully for the planned trail ride days.
I am looking forward to seeing the growth and changes the park will undertake between now and our next visit. Keep up the good work, guys!