The Lodge of the Grand Canyon of Almost Centenario at the end of Arizona was a shelter for the ambitious hikers and adventurous tourists anxious to enjoy the magnificent views of one of the most remote and renowned landscapes in the world.
But a forest fire whipped by the wind reduced him to a skeleton of himself in a few hours during the weekend, devastating the many who saw him as an intrinsic part of the North Belly National Park of the Grand Canyon. Fortified with the Kaibab limestone and the logs of the surrounding ponderous forest, sat on the edge of the canyon, mixing and improving the natural environment.
“It’s tragic, it really is,” said the Historian Chief of Service of Robert K. Sutton.
The shelter himself told a key part of history for both the Grand Canyon and for the National Parks Service.
Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who designed the shelter in 1927, sought to submerge residents in the landscape that now attracts millions of visitors annually from around the world with a rustic and organic architectural style. He designed similar accommodations in the National Parks of Zion and Bryce in Utah, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Yosemite National Park in California, according to the Parks Service.
The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only accommodation within the north edge of the cannon, was built at a time when the Federal Department was anxious to find ways to involve the public with the best natural offers in the country, Sutton said.
For a place as remote as the North Rim, that was not an easy task. The shelter was a winding trip of 212 miles from the most popular southern tire, where 90% of tourists go. Hiking from one place to another is even more arduous to more than 20 miles with steep ascents at the end. But the tranquility of the historic building is a fundamental part of its appeal.
“You’re alone. It’s just a completely different atmosphere,” Sutton said.
The trip to the north edge was an opportunity to see a flock of bison that wanders through the distant sections of Northern Arizona. The road ended at Grand Canyon Lodge, built just to the edge of the edge. On the other side of the lobby inside and lowering the stairs, the visitors obtained a picturesque view of the Grand Canyon framed by the windows of the “Sun Room” furnished with luxurious sofas. Navajo woven carpets hung on the walls and the elaborate roof lamps.
In the corner of the room, he sat brilliantly, a donkey who lived in the cannon and inspired a book for children, immortalized in a statue as a kind of pet for the north edge.
Jen Pinegan, 47, trained for months to walk from the southern edge to the north edge in May 2024. He started before the sun rose to avoid what can be the ruthless heat of Arizona. After 12 exhausting hours, he arrived at North Rim, stayed the night at Grand Canyon Lodge and woke up with a view that she said she had “an indescribable magic.”
Other hikers also celebrated, creating an “electric” atmosphere while soaked in the views, he said.
“I think there is what made it more incredible, it is knowing that many people do not see it,” said Pinegan.
He returned to the shelter during the weekend of July 4 to take his youngest daughter and two children to lunch at the restaurant known for his Alce Chile. She said they led her to cry when she listened to him burned.
For those who enjoy a good road trip, such as Erik Ammerlaan, the hostel had an elusive appeal. He has traveled to approximately 30 countries, but tells his stay at the Grand Canyon Lodge in 2016 as one of his most memorable trips.
“It was as if you were looking at this movie, but it’s just nature,” he said. “You are really just one with nature”
The forest fire caused by a ray that consumed the shelter and dozens of other structures on the northern edge began on July 4. The national parks service had been driving it to clear the fuel landscape when the winds changed and ran to the shelter. Hundreds of people were evacuated.
The fire was not the first time that the shelter was destroyed. In September 1932, only five years after its opening, Lodge’s employees and residents observed how a kitchen fire grew and exceeded the structure, according to the parks service. It was rebuilt in 1938.
Sutton, the historian of the retired parks and others are optimistic, the Grand Canyon Lodge will get a new life.
“I suspect it will regenerate,” he said.
