Wuksachi Lodge, Sequoia National Park/Delaware North
During our early years exploring the national parks it was difficult to imagine new lodging being constructed in the parks. Upgrades and maintenance, of course, but new lodges didn’t seem in the cards, at least to the two of us. It was as if the lodges we visited had been in place since the parks were established and would remain there forever.
We were wrong and several lodges would vanish during the two decades following our 1996 national park lodging tour. Everglades National Park's Flamingo Lodge was trashed by weather, two lodges on the Blue Ridge Parkway were closed for lack of concessionaires to operate them, two lodging facilities on Lake Mead closed when low lake levels made them less appealing to travelers, and a Yellowstone National Park lodge was traded for a new model. The loss of these lodges was discussed in our previous Traveler article of February 10.
Fortunately, the same two-decade period witnessed a number of parks benefiting from major investments in new and improved lodging. Glacier National Park properties, including Lake McDonald Lodge and Rising Sun, received impressive upgrades from a new concessionaire. Several modern replacement cabins appeared in Glacier’s Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, Grand Teton National Park's Signal Mountain Lodge, and Olympic National Park’s Log Cabin Resort. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel in Yellowstone is currently undergoing upgrades that will result in all of the hotel rooms having private bathrooms (and undoubtedly, be more expensive). The result will be a loss of 18 guest rooms at Mammoth.
Many Glacier Hotel interior with helical staircase in background/Xanterra Parks & Resorts
Major structural work resulted in partial or entire closure at Yellowstone’s Lake Hotel, Mount Rainier National Park's Paradise Inn, Glacier’s Many Glacier Hotel, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park's Volcano House. Considerable renovation accompanied the structural work on each property, especially Many Glacier, where workmen were able to restore the historic helical staircase between the main and lower lobby levels.
This is a brief rundown on national park lodging facilities that have come online following our 1996 trip.
Wuksachi Lodge (Sequoia National Park, California) – Sequoia’s replacement for the lost Giant Forest Lodge opened in May 1999 with three attractive cedar lodge buildings offering approximately approximately 100 guest rooms. A nearby registration building houses the restaurant, gift shop, small lounge, and comfortable lobby.
John Muir Lodge (Kings Canyon National Park, California) – Located in Grant Grove Village, John Muir Lodge opened the same month and year as Wuksachi. The rustic-style building contains 34 guest rooms on 2 floors. The building enjoys a large lobby with a huge wood-burning fireplace, but has no dining facility. Both John Muir Lodge and Wuksachi are open year-round.
Canyon Lodge and Cabins (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming) - The Canyon area of Yellowstone was transformed with five modern lodges replacing 350 Frontier and Pioneer cabins that had grown long in the tooth and were removed. The new lodges completed in 2016 were additions to two smaller but similar lodge buildings constructed at Canyon in the 1990s. The Western Cabins remain. The new buildings are quite attractive and a major improvement in what is the park’s most central visitor lodging location. The total number of guest rooms in Canyon remained unchanged.
Old Faithful Snow Lodge (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming) – The new Snow Lodge opened in 1999 as the first full-service lodge constructed in Yellowstone since the old Canyon Lodge was built in 1911 (and burned in 1960). Snow Lodge has 100 rooms and is located in a relatively quiet section of the Old Faithful area.
The Argonaut (San Francisco National Maritime National Historical Park, California) – The Argonaut opened in 2003 in a large brick building on Fisherman’s Wharf that originally served as a Del Monte warehouse. The converted warehouse is now a nautical-themed hotel with 252 rooms directly across from Hyde Street Pier.
Cavallo Point, The Lodge at the Golden Gate (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California) – This upscale resort is located just north of the Golden Gate Bridge on property that had once been a US Army post. The resort opened in 2008 with 142 guest rooms in historic military quarters and newly constructed contemporary buildings.
Inn at the Presidio (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California) – The Inn opened in 2012 with 22 guest rooms and suites in what was once the former military post’s bachelor officer quarters. In addition to guest rooms in the main building, the inn offers rooms in an officer’s family home from the 1860s. A complimentary breakfast and an evening reception are included in the cost of a room at both the Inn and the Lodge noted next.
Lodge at the Presidio (Golden Gate National Recreation Areas, California) – The lodge opened in 2018 with 42 guest rooms in a converted 1895 military barracks located on the Presidio’s Main Post. Like the Inn, the lodge offers a complimentary breakfast and evening reception. The nightly parking fee for both the Inn and the Lodge is a bargain for San Francisco.
Inn at Death Valley (Death Valley National Park, California) – Eleven duplex casitas (small homes, but without kitchens) were added to the Inn property and opened in 2018. We have not visited the new casitas, but in photos they appear similar to cottage units at Yosemite Majestic Lodge (formerly, the Ahwahnee). The casitas rent for about the same price as rooms at the inn.
Cedar Pass Lodge (Badlands National Park, South Dakota) - Twenty-three new cabins were brought into Badlands National Park’s Cedar Pass Lodge in 2012 and 2013 to replace 24 small cabins from the late 1920s. These new cabins are much larger and nicer than the cabins they replaced, but we had actually grown fond of the funky older units that seemed to put us in the proper mood for enjoying our favorite meal of Indian tacos in the Cedar Pass restaurant.
David and Kay Scott are authors of “Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges” (Globe Pequot). Visit them at mypages.valdosta.edu/dlscott/Scott.html.
Moran Lodge at Canyon, Yellowstone National Park/Xanterra Parks & Resorts
Comments
I don't know about some of these replacements. We stayed at one of the Pioneer cabins at Canyon Lodge in 2006 for $74 a night for 3. There was really nothing wrong with it even though it did seem a bit dated with linoleum floors and lots of paint layers. But it was clean, comfortable, and warm. The cabin was well maintained, didn't smell bad, and was all we really needed after a day in the park. To me this was a lot that was right about our national parks. This allowed us to stay inside the park on a tight budget.
I have fond memories of staying in budget accomodations, campgrounds, etc. I know the concessionaires don't necessarily want them if they can charge 2-3 times as much.
We always thought the interios of the cabins in Yellowstone were considerably nicer than would have bveen expected based on the exteriors. On the other hand, the cabins in the Canyon area had gone downhill, most likely because both NPS and the concessionaire expected them to be replaced. This had been the case with Giant Forest Lodge that had gotten in pretty bad shape.
Too bad the National Park Service hasn't added any AFFORDABLE accommodations. In fact, they seem to be disappearing. It is all about the money, honey.
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