Sunset Trail — Attraction in Hot Springs

Mountain vibes! We trekked the Sunset Trail in Hot Springs National Park on 22nd March 2025 to experience the beauty of the Hot Springs’ mountains. This is the longest trail in this National Park which is moderately challenging because of its length. The trail spans three major roads making it a sort of segmented route: West Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, and Stonebridge Road. We began the trek from the Gulpha Gorge campground in an anticlockwise direction. This is a 13.5-mile loop trail type with 2385 ft elevation gain that leads us through town, along roads, and across several other trails. There were large stretches of flat terrain and long, gentle ascents throughout the route. We really liked the characters in the Sugarloaf mountains and Balanced Rock trail. Throughout the trail we found variety of wild flowers and branches with light pink blossoms. With the stunning views, we relished our snack on the Balanced Rock trail. After around 10-mile of trekking we crossed two scenic overlooks to reach the Canyon trail. As the trail descends it leads to the historic town of Hot Springs where we stopped at the hot water cascade to see the area's ancient geological past and some of its famous landmarks including the Arlington Hotel. We then proceeded to the campground via the Upper Dogwood and Gulpha Gorge trails. The Gulpha Gorge trail features good descent and switchbacks. The entire trail is well maintained and properly marked. It took us about 9 hours to finish the trek. Overall, the whole trail doesn’t have much impression on us but we had a good time. Suggestions-

1. Please check the weather forecast and check the trail conditions from the park's website.
2. Start the trek little earlier.
3. Please wear sturdy shoes. Although we didn't use hiking poles on every section of the trail, but we believe it would be wise to have them on hand in case knee support is required.
4. Please bring snack and adequate water for this trek.
5. Please follow the principles of...

Good long hike!! Makes the most of the mountains in the park. We started at the balanced rock trail head instead of grapa gorge. This hike had some strenuous up hill sections as well as some nice long gentle slopes. be warned the the actual sunset trail is only a portion of this hike as sunset trail only runs from west rim look out to grapa gorge campground. This loop takes you through town, along roads, and across a number of other trails to make it a loop. easy to get lost or turned around if you arnt paying attention. Over all a good hike. Lack of clarity on the trails and the long sections along roads and through town is a little lackluster but i think it makes the most of this relatively small...

Left out around 7:00am...went to balancing rock...right at about 5 miles...10 miles total round trip. Two 40 year olds and a 11 and 13 year old. Some good up and down but nothing too bad... mostly short lived up/downs. Took about 4 hours of hiking. We did stop and hang some hammocks behind a little shed about 2.5 miles from trail head on the backside of our trip. Mostly a ridge hike, so some great views both sides of the trail the majority of the way which is one of my favorite type hikes. Trail easy to follow, mostly loose rock well packed or well worn 3ft path. We did see a few...