The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges
by David L. Scott & Kay W. Scott

Publisher:  Globe Pequot Press
ISBN:  0762701196

The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges provides information on 89 properties at 32 national parks throughout the country, from Alaska to the U.S. Virgin Islands. These accommodations range from luxurious inns to rustic cabins, and include famous park lodges like the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone (built in 1904 by the Northern Pacific Railroad,) and the El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon (built in 1905 by the Santa Fe Railway,) which was once considered by many to be the most elegant hotel west of the Mississippi.

The authors, David and Kay Scott share their experiences of the national parks during the last 25 years, crisscrossing the United States in a series of four Volkswagen campers. They spent nights in many of the lodges and explored others, even when they were staying at campgrounds within the parks.

The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges is arranged alphabetically by state, then subdivided by park name. The introductory pages offer basic, common sense tips on reservations, facilities, and policies for people who may never have stayed at a national park facility or have limited experience. For example, if you are visiting a popular park during its peak season, it is suggested that you book reservations at least six months before your expected arrival. For popular locations like the Yellowstone Valley, it is recommended that reservations be made a year in advance.

Other advice includes strategies on how to obtain a room without a reservation (based on early departures or cancellations) or how to reduce expenses (e.g. taking a room without a private bathroom or spending every second or third night at a campground). The authors inform families that most national park lodging facilities don't include some amenities, such as spas, swimming pools, and game rooms, which you'd expect to find at commercial facilities outside the park. In fact, most don't have telephones or televisions inside the rooms.

As a reference book editor and writer for the past 17 years, one of the things I look for in evaluating a directory-style publication is the ease with which information can be accessed. For example, if I know the name of a lodge, but don't know the park or state where it is located, I can still find it easily. How about if I only know the park name, or am looking for lodges in a particular state, or want to see park locations on a map? The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges handles most of these situations well.

The Table of Contents provides page references to the descriptive information on each lodge as well as to a U.S. map that pinpoints the location of each park. The Table of Contents also provides an alphabetical list of the lodges. It would have been helpful to include an alphabetical listing of all the parks included in the book, so that if someone didn't know, for example, that Zion National Park was in Utah, they would still be able to look it up without having to search through the book or the Table of Contents pages state by state.

For each park listed in directory, the authors have provided contact information, a brief description of the park, a map pinpointing the location of each lodge, and a sketched drawing of the lodge. The sketches are a nice touch - they give some idea of what each of the properties looks like. The description of each lodge usually includes the following standard elements: types of rooms available, rates, location, season, food facilities, and activities.

Overall, the book is well done, easy to use, and provides the type of information I would find useful when considering a visit to a national park that included some type of lodging. If the Scotts publish another edition of the book, I'd like to see them add basic contact information on where to call when the lodging is located just outside the park. For example, since Rocky Mountain National Park doesn't include any lodging inside the park, it is not listed book; but it would be useful to know that information on lodging can be obtained from the chambers of commerce at Estes Park and Grand Lake, just outside the park. In fact, if you call the park visitor center, they'll provide you with this information.

Darren Smith, your Guide for U.S. National/State Parks