Desert View Watchtower

The Desert View Watchtower stands at the eastern edge of the South Rim's developed areas, 23 miles east of Grand Canyon Village at the end of Desert View Drive (State Route 64). It was built in 1932 to a design by the architect Mary Colter, who worked for the Fred Harvey Company, and it is part of a National Historic Landmark. Colter based it on the towers of the Ancestral Puebloan people of the Colorado Plateau, in particular those at Hovenweep and the Round Tower at Mesa Verde, but said it was not a copy of any one tower. At about 70 feet, it is far larger than any known Puebloan tower.

Colter wanted the building to look as if it grew out of the rim. She insisted the stones be left uncut to keep their weathered surfaces, built in deliberate cracks copied from ancient towers, and added a band of white decorative stones near the top, a pattern she had seen at Chaco Canyon. Some stones carry petroglyphs. Behind the masonry is a steel frame designed by the Santa Fe Railway's bridge engineers. Inside, the tower is decorated with murals by the artist Fred Kabotie.

The ground floor, the View Room, is modeled on a kiva. It was used as retail space for years and in 2015 was returned to the open rest area Colter intended, with a fireplace placed so it doesn't block the view. Look through the reflectoscopes, black glass mirrors that cut through haze and glare to bring out the colors of the canyon walls. A park store now operates in the room, and Native artists from tribes traditionally associated with the canyon give demonstrations here in spring, summer and fall.

From the tower you look over the eastern Grand Canyon to the northeast, where the Colorado River leaves the narrow walls of Marble Canyon and the canyon widens. Desert View Drive itself has six developed viewpoints and four picnic areas on the way out from the village. There is no shuttle to Desert View, so drive or join a commercial bus tour.

Access to the upper floors is limited and free. As of November 2026, according to NPS pages updated in October and November, the tower opens when staffing allows, 25 people at a time with a 20-minute limit, by free tickets handed out on site on a first-come, first-served basis. The last tickets go at 3:40 pm, the last tower entry is at 4 pm and the stairs close at 4:30 pm. The Desert View trading post and market closed for the winter on October 19, 2026, and the campground is closed until April 2027. There is no lodging at Desert View. The gas station takes cards at the pump 24 hours a day.