Sleeping at the South Rim: Grand Canyon’s El Tovar Hotel

This was maybe my fifth or sixth time at the Grand Canyon and, somewhat shockingly, my near-native-Coloradan wife’s first.

My first included a Brady Bunch-esque mule ride down the narrow, winding, cliffs-edge trails into the Canyon. My reaction was more akin to Bobby Brady or Cousin Oliver, though I imagine today it might be more like that of housekeeper Alice.

On my second trip, I slept on a plywood and 2×4 constructed bunk bed in the capped back of a pickup truck in early spring and woke up to snow.

Then, later, I spent much of a summer in Arizona installing a software system for a company in Flagstaff with branches in far-flung places like Kingman, Show-Low and Globe and spent weekends in Flagstaff, several of which included hikes into the Canyon.

This time, our stay was decided more relaxed and accommodations slightly more luxurious.

There are several lodging options in Grand Canyon Village, and we chose the El Tovar Hotel. The El Tovar was constructed after the Santa Fe Railway line to the Grand Canyon was completed and the hotel opened in January of 1905. It is named after Spanish explorer Pedro de Tobar who fought and then made peace with Arizona’s Hopi Indians in the 16th century. He is said to be the first European to have heard about the Grand Canyon, though he never laid eyes on it.

The Fred Harvey Company operated the hotel which had electric lights and its own steam generator at its opening. On-site, they operated their own dairy and grew fresh fruits and vegetables in greenhouses on the property.

Like any old hotel, it seems, El Tovar has a few stories of ghostly guests haunting its present ones. From a phantom crossing the front steps and disappearing into the ether or the kindly old ghostly gentleman greeting guests to a holiday party which did not exist, or the couple from L.A. who reported seeing a grey man peering at them out of their television set, ghoulish tales like these and those of deceased workers laboring near aptly named Phantom Ranch abound at the lodging accommodations of the Grand Canyon.

Today, the hotel is listed as one of America’s Historic Hotels. Our stay was decided non-supernatural. The hotel rooms have been remodeled, though notably probably not since about 1990. We probably should have splurged for a room with a view (because how often are you going to stay on the rim of the Grand Canyon?), but didn’t but the point really isn’t to be in the room anyway, right?

I was surprised to learn that the Colorado River, which carved the canyon, is about the same size and width as it was when it began its work digging deep into the ground. I had always assumed that the river was once much wider, but the river dug (and digs) mostly downward leaving erosion to finish the job and widening the canyon to its current grand span. I was also surprised to learn, after witnessing so many people, including many with small children not exactly within arm’s reach, that only a handful of people perish by falling into the canyon annually.

We spent our days from sunrise to sunset peering over the rim, watching the November light shift and cast its various tones against an ever-changing set of colors on the canyon backdrop, walking the Rim Trail and enjoying the beautiful common spaces of the hotel, smelling the scents of a roaring lobby fire, eating dinner in the grand old dining room and watching the chaos of Thanksgiving week unfold at the Grand Canyon, thankful for this life and all the amazing places we get to see.

Sources:

1. History of El Tovar hotel, El Tovar Hotel signage.
2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_de_Tovar
3. https://explorethecanyon.com/grand-haunted-history-canyons-el-tovar-hotel/
4. https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/el-tovar-hotel/history.php