Honeymooners Mike and Erica Grotte of Portland, Ore., were staying in a Crater Lake campground, but for drinks and dinner they opted to come to the national park's historic lodge.
"A beautiful place," Erica Grotte said, as the couple sat on the hotel terrace drinking in the panoramic view of the lake.
Indeed it is. Recently restored at a cost of $15 million, Crater Lake Lodge is one of a handful of early 20th century park lodges that have become tourist attractions in themselves. Not only does the lodge command a stunning view of the incredibly blue lake from its perch on the crater rim, but its stone-and-wood facade and its pine-paneled interior impart a warmth and a sense of history that no modern park motel can match.
The same is true of America's other historic park lodges. Most were considered rustic accommodations when they were built in the early years of this century. Now the lodges are so venerated by visitors that thousands are turned away every year.
To book a room in Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn, for example, you must make reservations as much as a year in advance. So many people want to have Christmas dinner at Yosemite's Ahwahnee Inn that the management runs a lottery to choose the 1,675 lucky diners. Visitors willingly climb as many as four sets of stairs at Glacier National Park's elevator-less Many Glacier Lodge, just so they can have a room with a view of Swiftcurrent Lake and the striated mountains behind it. Visitors clamor to stay at Grand Canyon's El Tovar even though very few rooms offer a look at the famous gorge.
Typically, America's historic park lodges were built from local stone and wood by railroad companies or park concessionaires to accommodate the tourists who were just beginning to discover the wonders of the West in the early years of this century. Many have soaring lobbies supported by giant log columns and beams, enormous fireplaces and Indian motifs in their decor. Guest rooms tended to be small and Spartan -- and some still are.
Most of these lodges have superior locations -- including some that might not be countenanced if they were being built today. El Tovar, for instance, is just 20 feet from the rim of the Grand Canyon. Crater Lake's lodge perches on the caldera's rim, and Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn sits a short stroll from the famous geyser.
So distinctive is the rustic style of these historic lodges that something called "national park architecture" has crept into our language and contemporary life. When Walt Disney World built its Wilderness Lodge a few years ago, it deliberately copied styles from the real lodges. It has great columns painted to look like wood logs, a huge stone chimney reminiscent of the one at Old Faithful Inn, heavy wood furniture similar to that in many lodges, and even an artificial geyser to put guests in a national-park frame of mind.
As authentic as Disney's lodge might seem, there's nothing like the real thing. Here's what you'll find when you visit some of America's best known park lodges.
Old Faithful Inn
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.
Huge lodgepole pine columns support the soaring lobby of this most famous of all national park lodges. Tiers of balconies -- all made with logs and planks of Douglas fir -- circle the atrium, and dominating the lobby is a 40-foot-high, four-sided stone chimney.
Near the top of the 75-foot-high atrium is a platform called the Crow's Nest, which offers a dizzying view of the lobby. It's closed to visitors now, but once in a while the management relents, as it did a couple of years ago to let a young couple say their marriage vows there.
The lobby is Grand Central for day visitors to the park as well as hotel guests, so don't expect quiet if you're staying in the hotel. On the other hand, the inn is close to several major thermal fields and makes a fine base for exploring the area.
The gabled inn, which dates to 1903, has 325 rooms. Some have views of the famous Old Faithful geyser, which is close by, but even the best rooms are somewhat Spartan. Not all of them in the old central building have bathrooms.
Rates range from $54 to $154. The hotel is open May 7 to Oct. 11 this year. Information and reservations: 307-344-7311; Web site: www.travelyellowstone.com
Crater Lake Lodge
Crater Lake, Ore.
In 1935, a breakfast of bacon and eggs cost 35 cents at the Crater Lake Lodge. The price is considerably higher today, but the superb view of the lake is the same.
Built in 1910, the lodge underwent a $15 million renovation in the 1990s that shored up its shaky structural supports and reduced its guest rooms from 150 to 71.
Its Great Hall is in the best tradition of park lodges. Douglas fir logs (with their bark left on) support the ceiling; large picture windows open onto the lake. The two large fireplaces were rebuilt with the original stones. The dining room, also with large windows looking over the lake, is a cozy place.
Outside, the long porch facing the lake has benches and rocking chairs (which reportedly cost the government $3,000 each); waiters will bring you a beverage as you gaze at Wizard Island and the 6-mile expanse of lake 2,000 feet below.
Guest rooms vary in size and shape. In the reconstruction, each room was remodeled to give it a private bathroom, a welcome change.
Close to the hotel are rim hiking trails, which provide ever-changing views of the lake. The park runs a boat tour to Wizard Island, but only a small percentage of Crater Lake's visitors take it because there's only one way to get to and from the boat dock: a rather strenuous hike.
The hotel, which is at an elevation of about 7,000 feet, is open May 20 to Oct. 20. Rates are $111-$200. Information: 541-830-8700.
Many Glacier Hotel
Glacier National Park, Mont.
Situated on the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake and ringed by jagged, snow-covered peaks, this five-story lodge is considered one of the most scenic in the national park system.
Wooden balconies overlook its four-story lobby, which has a stone fireplace as well as another conical metal fireplace suspended from the ceiling. Some rooms have balconies that face the lake.
The 211-room hotel has a long tradition of hiring music students during its summer season, and at dinner, the waiters and busboys take off their aprons and become performers. There's always a choir and many remarkably talented soloists. Many Glacier's musical dinner is the highlight of any stay. Rates are $103-$190; the lodge is open June 5 to Sept. 21. Information: 406-732-5516 or 602-207-6000.
Two other hotels in the area deserve mention.
n The 1913 Glacier Park Lodge, just outside the park, has a spectacular lobby with giant fir and cedar columns that weigh as much as 15 tons each. Some of the Douglas fir logs are between 500 and 800 years old. Rates at this lodge, which also has entertainment by music students, range from $126 to $233. It is open May 22 to Sept. 27. Information: 406-888-7800 or 602-207-6000.
n Adjacent to Glacier National Park, in Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park, the 88-room Prince of Wales Hotel stands atop a hill overlooking Waterton Lake. This seven-story alpine chalet, a striking structure, offers panoramic views of the lake and surrounding mountains. It also serves afternoon tea in the lobby -- a somewhat incongruous touch of old England, considering the locale. Its rates are about $119-$230; the lodge is open May 1-Sept. 25. Information: 402-859-2231 or 602-207-6000.
The Ahwahnee
Yosemite National Park, Calif.
After the Old Faithful Inn, this is probably the most famous national park lodge. Built in 1927, the Ahwahnee is also one of the most expensive, with room rates reaching almost $250 a day in high season.
"What makes the hotel is the Great Lounge," said the hotel's Keith Walknet.
The room is best known for its beautiful stained glass panels above each of the 10 floor-to-ceiling windows. "It's also known for its two oversized fireplaces, large enough to have seats in them," Walknet said. Afternoon tea with piano music is a tradition in the lounge. The 34-foot-high dining room, too, is distinctive, with massive trestle sugar pine columns and beams.
A popular event at the Ahwahnee is the Bracebridge dinner, a pageant modeled after the Christmas Day of 1718 described by Washington Irving in his "Sketch Book." Five dinners are held, two on Dec. 22, one on Dec. 24 and two on Dec. 25. Diners are chosen in a lottery; one year 60,000 applied for the 1,675-seat total (335 per dinner). It's too late to request an application for this year's dinners. (Send requests for applications to Yosemite Concessions Services, 5410 E. Home Ave., Fresno, Calif. 93727 or call 559-252-4848.)
The hotel, which underwent a $5 million makeover after the destructive floods of 1997, is usually booked up nine months in advance, longer for holidays and weekends. As in many historic lodges, the rooms are not large.
Room rates are $247 peak season, $224 off peak. The hotel, which has 99 rooms in the main lodge plus 24 adjacent cottages, is open year-round. Information: 209-372-1407; reservations, 559-252-4848.
Paradise Inn
Mount Rainier National Park, Wash.
At an altitude of 5,400 feet, the Paradise Inn is often shrouded in fog. Snow drifts can block the hiking trails behind the inn as late as August, and a sweater is necessary almost any time of year.
But inside the Paradise Inn, it's toasty warm in the stuffed chairs and sofas in the vaulted lobby, with fires blazing in the stone fireplaces at each end of the room. All the furniture is made of wood and logs, including chairs, benches, coffee tables and two massive banquet-sized tables made from a single huge slab of Douglas fir. Indian weavings hang from the log ceiling beams, and the lamps wear shades made of animal skins. There's even a grandfather clock made of logs.
In the dining room, where meals are served by cheery young waiters and waitresses, you can gaze through large windows on the snowy bulk of Mount Rainier rising 9,000 feet above.
Outside, subalpine plants and flowers bearing such vivid names as false hellebore, Jeffrey's shooting star and avalanche lily line the walk to the nearby visitor center. In late summer, broad fields of wildflowers near the inn burst into color.
Most of the inn's 117 rooms are in the annex, added in the 1920s. Rooms in the original 1917 lodge do not have private bathrooms. The inn is open May 21 to Oct. 3. Rates are $104-$139. Information: Mount Rainier Guest Services, P.O. Box 108, Ashford, Wash. 98304-0108; 360-569-2275.
El Tovar
Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz.
Naturalist John Burroughs, it is said, met a woman at the Grand Canyon's legendary El Tovar Lodge who "thought that they had built the canyon too near the hotel." There's no doubt that El Tovar's location on the rim of the canyon, as well as its classy ambience, make it a highly desirable place to stay.
The Swiss-chalet hotel was built of Oregon pine and local stone in 1905 by the Fred Harvey Co. to accommodate affluent clients used to elegant accommodations. Though it had only 78 rooms, it offered such features as a barbershop, solarium and music room, as well as steam heat and electric lights.
A three-month renovation last year has put the hotel back in top shape, and the restaurant has added new menu choices, among them blue cornmeal and buckwheat pancakes with honey pistachio butter for breakfast and shaved tenderloin with roasted peppers, bacon and cheese for lunch. From the bar you can step onto the veranda, just 20 feet from the canyon's edge. Few of the rooms look out on the canyon and, as is true of many of the historic lodges, most rooms are small.
The hotel is open year-round, and reservations are accepted up to two years in advance. Room rates are $130-$295. Information: Grand Canyon National Park, P.O. Box 129, Grand Canyon, Ariz. 86023; 520-638-7888. Reservations, 303-29-PARKS.
Pub Date: 07/04/99