Two couples who bought Hot Springs Off-Road Park in 2021 have worked to make the park more tourist-friendly and inclusive over the past year.
Gabe and Marci Livingston, originally from Louisiana, and Andy and Melissa Dettmer, originally from Texas, purchased the park in April 2021.
"We've been friends for 20 years," Melissa Dettmer said. The two families lived in the same town for a few years before one family moved away.
"After about five years, we moved away and we both started growing our families, and so we'd meet back up for vacations and we'd go off-roading at different national parks," Melissa Dettmer said.
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"We decided one day that we were thinking about buying an RV Park and we wanted to add off-road trails, and as we were researching, we found that this park was for sale," she said, noting it was an off-road park that had RV spots and tent spots and cabins, "so it was like the perfect fit.
"Once we found it, I sent it to the four of us and we said 'That's the one,'" she said.
"I thought it was perfect," Gabe Livingston said. "This much land and everything's already built, it just needed a few improvements. I thought that this was the one also."
The park, Melissa Dettmer said, was built by a group of investors in 2001 "who just loved to get outside and go off-roading, so they have built something that's very solid, here for us, and like Gabe said, we are just improving what was already here."
While they had been to Hot Springs in the past, none of the four had ever been to the park before they learned that it was for sale, Andy Dettmer said. "Our first time to the park was October of 2020."
Upon seeing the park for the first time, he said, "We fell in love with it, especially the views. Once you get up to the top of the mountain, you can see downtown Hot Springs and the lakes nearby ... we just fell in love with the land and the great people that live not just here at the park but also through the area."
The park has around 100 trails for off-road vehicles such as Jeeps and side-by-sides to use.
As far as the appeal of off-roading, Gabe Livingston said, "Getting outdoors, I think, is the biggest thing, and it's just fun having an adventure, exploring the outdoors."
"Since I was a kid I was driving four-wheelers probably shortly after I could walk," Andy Dettmer said. "Like Gabe said, we just love the outdoors and we get tired of our kids being on screens and this is a good way to get them outside."
The park is available to a wide range of skill sets.
"We have 1,240 acres, we have trails from all levels from beginners all the way to experts, for rock-crawling buggies, we have trails for Jeep moms who are just starting out or soccer moms who just purchased a new Jeep," Melissa Dettmer said.
"All our trails are rated one to five on a diamond rating scale. One is the easiest, five is the most difficult, and so really anybody at any level could come out here and explore the trails," she said.
"A growing population that comes out here is the side-by-side population," she said, noting one new thing they have added to the park is side-by-side rentals.
"It's a two-hour guided excursion that you follow our expert guide on our favorite trails and it's kind of a custom-designed excursion so he or she will take you on trails that will take you to the next level, whether it's a level one or a level four."
With the addition of these rentals, she said they are hoping to raise local awareness of the park.
"So before we started adding our side-by-side rentals, we didn't really have anything to offer tourists unless you already had an off-road vehicle, so now that we have that, we are trying to get the word out that we're here and we're ready to have you out on our trails and we're excited to let our community know about our park," Melissa Dettmer said.
"The other thing we offer is every Saturday at 9 o'clock, is an off-roading 101 workshop," she said, noting the workshop usually lasts between 30 and 45 minutes.
"And then often what people will do is go ahead and schedule either a rental or a guide right after that."
The park is also available to dirt bikes, mountain bikes and hikers/runners.
Attendance has "been steady, I'd say," Andy Dettmer said. "We've definitely seen a little bit of an increase, I think mainly due to -- when COVID hit, there was obviously a little bit of a slowdown -- but there's definitely a big push for people to get outside, still feel like they're social distancing being outdoors, and so over the last year we've seen steady growth, which is great."
He said the growth has allowed them to work on the facility.
"We've been working on our parking lot, growing has caused us to have a parking problem, and that's a good problem," Marci Livingston said. "My husband loves using big tractors and excavators and tearing down trees, so we've been able to make a nice new parking lot."
"We've added about five new acres of parking. Along with adding the parking, we were able to add a 10-acre lake to the property, so that's in the process of filling up," Gabe Livingston said. "Hopefully by summer, we'll have fish and swimming."
"We've also added a few new trails to just give people who are kind of in the intermediate level that want to slowly step up to the more challenging trails, make sure that we have a good variety. We have a lot of the really challenging trails, we have a lot of the really easy trails, we've been adding some of those intermediate trails as well," Andy Dettmer said.
Marci Livingston said they are working to make the park, and the sport, more inclusive.
"For me, the one thing I wanted to see was more moms and more children coming out here," she said, noting they are "trying to think of what families need to feel good about coming here so it doesn't just feel like this is a man's sport, that this can be a family friendly place and this can be a family friendly opportunity to get out and do something as a family."
She said she wanted women to feel comfortable coming there and bringing their children, noting, "One of the things that I think is important is Melissa and I are the women of the place. We've got ladies running the (gift shop) so I think through that we are showing this is a place where women are welcome and then with each of us having four kids, obviously we think children should be welcome, too."
Melissa Dettmer, front, and Marci Livingston are two of the co-owners of Hot Springs Off-Road Park, which offers side-by-side rentals. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
From left, Marci and Gabe Livingston and Andy and Melissa Dettmer are shown at Hot Springs Off-Road Park, which the two couples bought in 2021. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record