 |
Best National Park Lodges
Jeff Wallach June 9, 2008
Article Controls
If your idea of a wilderness adventure is kicking back in a cushioned Adirondack chair by a roaring fire while wildlife does its thing safely outside the window, you may find staying in an old-school National Park lodge to be the perfect mix of nature vs. nurture. Especially in the West, some of the wildest park environments are softened by some of the most beautifully constructed and comfortable lodgings this side of paradise (Paradise Inn, in Mount Rainier National Park, that is).
David Scott, with his wife Kay, wrote the book on park lodges: "The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges." “The National Parks are special places," he says, "and staying in these lodges gives you a chance to actually live in the park and feel that you’re a part of it. The settings are spectacular, they’re close to activities and attractions, and many have great histories themselves.”
See our slideshow of Best National Park Lodges.
Several of the oldest and most classic lodges were built by the railroads to entice civilized folk to venture out to see the Wild West—and by so doing increase rail traffic. While some of the earliest hostelries were as rough as the men who built them, that began to change in 1903 with the construction of The Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. Designed by architect Robert Reamer for the Northern Pacific Railway, the muscular log structure featured a design clearly inspired by the grandeur of the surroundings. The lobby, with over-hanging balconies, soars 65 feet above a four-sided rhyolite fireplace. Reamer wanted the asymmetry of the building to reflect the wildness of nature, so railings are made of contorted Lodgepole pine.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad soon followed Northern Pacific’s lead. It built the El Tovar in Grand Canyon National Park to serve as a marketing ploy both to attract more visitors (and train riders) and to help preserve and protect the park. The Great Northern Railway got into the act a few years later with several chalet-style lodges in Glacier National Park.
Michael Collier, an inventor from Portland, Ore., recently visited several Canadian park lodges on a summer trip with his wife Jan. “You can feel the craftsmanship and attention to detail of the people who built these places,” he says. “You feel like you get to go back in time, and there aren’t many places that let you do that.” He adds, “I was impressed that every lodge has a unique character, story, setting and experience.”
In addition to the many aesthetic, architectural and historic attractions, there's also the experience of wild solitude that such destinations originally provided. It's becoming harder to find in the parks. As Kay Scott says, “A lot of people—busloads of people—go into the parks for a day and then leave. If you’re staying at one of the lodges, in the evening you have the place to yourself from around dinner time until the early morning. Especially in a busy park like Grand Canyon, you can walk along the edge of the canyon in the evening without the hordes of people.”
See our slideshow of Best National Park Lodges.
Whereas in the early days National Park lodges were meant to bring more people to these remote locations, today, that’s not a problem—and thus some lodges book up months in advance. According to the Scotts, calling far ahead not only gives you a better chance of getting a room at all; it improves your chances of getting a great room. At the same time though, just because you’re visiting a busy park in high season doesn’t mean it’s not worth asking about a vacancy.
Bob Jones worked as a ranger at Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park and as a firefighter in several western parks. He got a lucky break while visiting one of the system’s busiest locations. He recalls, “After spending a day in Yellowstone some years ago traipsing through meadows blazing with post-fire wildflowers, we stopped by the famous Old Faithful Inn to visit the geysers. Generally, you have to reserve a year in advance to have any chance of getting a room, so when my fiancé suggested we ask about a room late in the day I just laughed. But they’d just had a cancellation, and of course we took the room.”
In larger parks, such as Yellowstone, the Scotts recommend staying overnight in several different lodgings to have ample opportunity to explore all the attractions. They also suggest performing some research before your visit. David Scott says, “All these facilities are different—they don’t necessarily have spa tubs or even TVs or phones in the rooms. And many are expensive because they have lovely rooms where you’re definitely not roughing it.”
But who needs a TV when you can watch the light show right outside your lodge room window, and maybe listen to a soundtrack of wolves howling in the distance?
See our slideshow of Best National Park Lodges.
