North Rim of the Grand Canyon

A beautiful lodge was built here as part of the Golden Circle Tour

Nearly 5 million people visited Grand Canyon National Park in 2023 but only 10% of them visited the North Rim. Some people believe that the views are better there than from the South Rim.

View from Bright Angle Point at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Photo courtesy of NPS.

At twelve years old, I visited the North Rim and stayed in the historic lodge cabins for the first time. It was August, and to my surprise, there were a few snow flurries, marking one of the first times I had ever seen snow falling, coming from Southern California.

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

While it’s only a ten-mile distance as the eagle (or condor) flies from the South Rim, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon provides a different environmental and cultural experience for visitors. Driving from North Rim to South Rim requires a 4.5-hour drive of 220 miles. Additionally, the North Rim is 1,000 feet higher in elevation, giving it a colder, wetter climate. Because the area often gets heavy snows in the winter, the National Park Service (NPS) only keeps it open it from approximately May 15 to October 15.

Development of the North Rim

In some ways, development of the North Rim reflected that of the South Rim, though slightly delayed and on a smaller scale. The first concession did not open on the North Rim until 1917, almost three decades after the first businesses started on the South Rim. One reason was because the weather at the North Rim made investors less willing to develop facilities due to the shortened tourist season.

The railroad played a huge part of development of both sides of the canyon. The Santa Fe Railroad arrived at the South Rim in 1901, and the Fred Harvey Company developed many services there.

No railroad line ever ran directly to the North Rim. Instead, the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) established a train station 100 miles away at Cedar City, Utah. From there the UP established its subsidiary, the Utah Parks Company (UPC), that offered motor coach tours of the Grand Circle that allowed passengers to conveniently visit three National Parks: Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion.

Before the Lodge There was Wylie Way Camp

William Wallace Wylie originated the "permanent camp" concept in national parks, beginning with Yellowstone National Park in the 1880s. In 1917, the Union Pacific Railroad requested that Wylie establish similar camps at Zion National Park and Bright Angel Point on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

While William Wylie remained at Zion to run his camp there, he put the new enterprise at the Grand Canyon in the hands of his daughter, Elizabeth Wylie McKee. She ran the camp with the help of her husband Thomas, son Robert and a staff of local Mormon teenagers.

Wylie Way Camps were permanent with a central dining room and lodge surrounded by individual tent cabins. The tents generally had wooden floors covered by rugs, wood-burning stoves, beds, and other furniture.

Wylie Camp central dining room tent. Photo courtesy of NPS.

The camp was located about 100 yards northwest of the modern location of the Grand Canyon Lodge near Bright Angel Point. From 1917 to 1927, the Wylie Way Camp was the main concession at the North Rim. In 1927, the NPS opened bidding to find the first permanent concessionaire for services at the North Rim. None of the small entrepreneurs such as Wylie Camp could afford the improvements that the NPS required to award the contract. The NPS had purposely designed it so that the Union Pacific Railroad and its subsidiary the Utah Parks Company (UPC) would be awarded the 20-year contract.

Elizabeth Wylie McKee and the handful of other small operators had no other choice but to sell out to the UPC. At the end of 1927, the UPC bought up the Wylie Camp and moved it to the site of today’s campground while the new lodge was constructed.

Grand Canyon Lodge

Built in 1927-28, Grand Canyon Lodge has the same village concept as Zion Lodge with 100 standard cabins and 20 deluxe cabins surrounding the main lodge. Like Zion and Bryce, it was designed by renowned Los Angeles architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood.

Grand Canyon Lodge circa 1930 before the fire. Notice the Observation Tower that was not part of the rebuilt lodge.

A crew of 125 men worked through the harsh winter of 1927-28 to finish the project, earning 50 to 85 cents an hour. The UPC built a state-of-the-art water and power system on the North Rim in 1927-29 that still provides water and electricity at by pumping water nearly 4,000 vertical feet up to a 50,000-gallon water tank on the rim.

Fire of 1932

The original Grand Canyon Lodge and two of its deluxe cabins were destroyed by fire in 1932. The fire engulfed the structure within minutes.

The main lodge was rebuilt in 1936-37 utilizing much of what remained of the stone foundation, piers, walls and chimneys of the original building. The lodge’s new roofs were sloped and better able to handle the heavy snows.

Grand Canyon Lodge under heavy snow. Circa 1941. Photo courtesy of the NPS.

Today’s Lodge

The lodge and its cabins are pretty much the same as they were when they were rebuilt in the 1930s. As the automobile became travelers’ preferred mode of transportation, the Union Pacific signaled the end of an era when it ceased passenger operations in 1971, three years after the Santa Fe Railroad did the same on the South Rim. The lodge facilities were donated to the NPS and are currently operated by a concessionaire. In 1987 it was deemed a National Historic Landmark.

The Grand Canyon Lodge perched on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. NPS photo by Michael Quinn.

The Grand Canyon Lodge maximizes its prime position on the rim, featuring the Sun Room with expansive windows, an eastern viewing deck, and a dining room that also offers views of the rim.

Sun Room at the Lodge. NPS photo by Michael Quinn.

Brighty the Mule

Did you ever read the children’s novel Brighty of the Grand Canyon written by Marguerite Henry when you were young? Published in 1953, it presents a fictionalized account of a real-life burro named "Brighty", who lived in the Grand Canyon from about 1892 to 1922.

The real-life burro spent most of his life on the North Rim during warmer months and down in the canyon during winter. He gave rides to children staying at the Wylie Way Camp and carried water up to the rim from springs within the canyon.

A bronze statue honoring Brighty can be found in the lobby of the North Rim’s Grand Canyon Lodge. The sculpture is by artist Peter Jepsen. Legend has it that if you rub its nose, you will have good luck.

Life-size statue of Brighty in the Sun Room of the Grand Canyon Lodge. NPS photo by Michael Quinn.

In researching this topic, I found so much interesting information that will be a future post (give me a couple of weeks). Stay tuned.

How To Visit

Aramark is the current concessionaire of the Grand Canyon Lodge and other visitor services at the North Rim. Since it’s the only accommodation for miles around, it’s a good idea to get reservations well in advance.

Western Cabin exterior. Photo credit: Aramark website.

Next Time

It appears that we’ve completed the Grand Circle, visiting all of the parks and lodges along its path, including Cedar Breaks, Zion, Bryce and now the Grand Canyon. However, I only briefly mentioned a unique aspect of several lodges: the Singaway. This charming tradition involved the young employees serenading guests as part of the lodges' historical and romantic allure. I’d like to share this wonderful tradition of the past in my next post.

A lodge employee assembling a group to Singaway the departing buses.