HERMITS REST

The Hermits Rest arch & bell, pictured through the bus windshield.

This last week, and the coming week, 4 of my 5 work days have been spent driving on the Hermits Road. From the Grand Canyon Village, it's approx. 8 miles out to Hermits Rest, with the road on the edge of the canyon for most of that distance. It's a spectacularly scenic drive, and if I had enough seniority, I would probably be on this route every day throughout the summer. But, I don't, and I will only be driving on the Hermits Road, Red Route for 2 days a week, starting in a few more days.

This is my bus yesterday, parked at the Hermits Rest Bus Stop.

The name Hermits Rest is appropriate, as there really was a sort of Hermit, who lived close to where the current building is now located. For close to 20 years before the Santa Fe Railroad built a road out to Hermits Rest in 1912, Louis Boucher, a French Canadian prospector, lived in a rustic cabin a short distance down from the rim of the canyon. He catered to a few tourists, who gained access to the canyon on Boucher's primitive Hermits Trail, and he continued to work his mining claims in the area.

In 1914, when the current Mary Colter designed Hermits Rest building was constructed, the increasing wave of tourists began, and that spelled the end of Mr. Boucher's hermit lifestyle. Today, and particularly during the summer months, Hermits Rest is such a popular destination, our shuttle buses pictured above, drop off several hundred people every hour. I think the drive along the Hermits Road is equally attractive, and I get paid to drive along this spectacular route several days a week. I know, it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it!