#geothermal features

Grand Prismatic Spring

Poisonous Water

Happy Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

As part of the National Park, this hot spring in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas has been left in a natural state. Visitors can see how the springs looked before the area was developed as a bathing and health resort community starting in the early 1800s. The bathhouses capped many of the springs in the area so that the water could be used in their establishments. These capped springs are marked by green boxes and one can see quite a few of them both in the downtown area and along the trails that run above the town toward Hot Springs Mountain. The Grand Promenade Trail, which runs parallel to and above Central Avenue, is a short, easy trail dotted with both capped and free-flowing hot springs.  

The hot springs always steam slightly even on warm days but this particular video was shot in mid-February on a particularly chilly morning (it was trying to sleet on me while I was shooting this footage) so the spring was steaming particularly well. All of the thick green plant-like matter that you can see under the water is a type of heat-tolerant algae that calls these springs home.