Seniors Warm Up In Hot Springs

 Hot Springs. There seem to be hot springs all over the country. One of my favorites is Hot Springs, Arkansas.  I’m confident that I would love this one as well. One of this senior’s all-time dreams was to own property with a hot springs stream flowing right through the front yard so that I could jump in whenever I wanted.

Well, Hot Springs, South Dakota is known as the Southern Gateway to the Black Hills. It has great water, small population, just under 4,000 and is the county seat of Fall River County.

Called Minnekahta (warm waters) by the original white settlers in 1879, the town’s name was changed to Hot Springs in 1886. Earlier, the Lakota and the Cheyenne Indian tribes fought for control of the natural warm waters. Wouldn’t you? Of course you already knew that Minne meant waters like Minnesota.

Hot Springs, Black Hills and Wooly Mommoths

The Springs is nestled in the southern Black Hills, surrounded with charm, scenic beauty and tons of friendly people. Hot Springs is home to soothing natural warm water springs, great year-round weather, fantastic outdoor activities, beautiful sandstone architecture, and the most inviting and friendly people you’ll find anywhere.

The Fall River County Courthouse, a unique red sandstone courthouse, was built in 1891 and is a major landmark in town. In 1890, Fred Evans established Evans Plunge and made the natural springs available to the public and today many senior visitors choose to take a plunge into the hot waters. The Plunge has been used to treat chronic diseases, arthritis, rheumatism, gout and other frailties.

The Springs is world famous for Mammoth Site.  More than 26,000 years ago, large Columbian and woolly mammoths were trapped and died in a spring-fed pond near what is now the southwest edge of town.  The Mammoth Site, as it is called, is a unique museum and paleontological site.

It houses the remains of fauna and flora preserved by the entrapment in a sinkhole where Mammoth bones were found in 1974. The world’s largest mammoth research facility, is open year round and features Ice Age geology and paleontology. It has the world’s largest and most  extensive collection of mammoth remains.

Seniors Discover Wild Horse Sanctuary

The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary was established to give undesirable and un-adoptable horses a quality environment in which to live. Seniors can pay a visit to the Pioneer Museum where the past comes alive in a beautiful 19th century four-story sandstone building that was used as a schoolhouse until 1961.

If you are into spelunking, visit Wind Cave National Park established in 1903. It is the fifth longest cave in the world at 137 miles in length. Oh my, I almost bypassed Angostura Reservoir, a water-lover’s haven with breathtaking, scenic views, offering crystal clear waters, 36 miles of shoreline, and some of the finest sandy beaches in the state.  So swing on by Hot Springs for some assured fun and great warm waters.  jeb