Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
After returning to the North Rim Drive and turning right, you'll find the Canyon Camp-
ground and Canyon Village before reaching Canyon Junction in less than a mile (0.8 km).
Continuing on the Grand Loop Road 14.5/0.9
A side road leads west to the
Canyon
Horse Corral,
from where guides will take you on one- or two-hour horseback rides along
area trails during the summer months. Cascade Meadows here is a good place to see bison,
elk, and birds of prey.
15.4/0.0
Canyon Junction. Canyon Village to the east; Dunraven Pass, Tower Fall, and Tower
Junction to the north; Norris Junction and Norris Geyser Basin to the west; Fishing Bridge
Junction to the south.
FACILITIES AT CANYON VILLAGE
NOTE: See the Canyon Area map on
page 179
.
At the northeast corner of Canyon Junction is a full-service gas station, including
towing and maintenance.
Most of Canyon's facilities are arranged in a semicircle south of the gas station.
First is the
Canyon Visitor Center,
whose two floors include a large bookstore and displays
about Yellowstone geology and the Native American Indian presence in the park—all well
worth a visit.
Canyon Hotel
The famous Canyon Hotel, incorporating an earlier hotel, opened to guests in 1911. Argu-
ably the all-time gem of Yellowstone Park hotels, this was the largest and most elaborate
one ever built in Yellowstone.
Designed and supervised by architect Reamer, who had completed the Old Faithful
Inn seven years before, Canyon Hotel was a massive and elegantly appointed hotel whose
foundations were said to measure a mile around. It was five stories high and had 430
rooms, a huge lobby, and a spiral staircase reputedly copied from the Paris Opera House.
The author of this guide remembers passing by as a child with her parents and being told
we couldn't go there, because it was a hotel for rich people.
