Historic Grand Canyon lodge hit by deadly flash flood

Phantom Ranch, the only lodge at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, became the scene of a deadly flash flood after serving for more than a century as a refuge for exhausted hikers.

More than 60 people were evacuated by air on Saturday from the ranch and the bottom of the nearby North Kaibab Trail. Two people were confirmed dead and at least 15 remained missing. The extent of the damage to the lodge was still unclear.

The cabins sit beside Bright Angel Creek, where the water runs toward the Colorado River. The ranch opened in 1922 and takes its name from one of the Grand Canyon’s many side canyons. Theodore Roosevelt established a camp on the site during a 1913 hunting trip, before the area became a national park in 1919.

Phantom Ranch has hosted river boaters, mule riders and notable visitors, including Sweden’s future King Gustaf VI Adolf in 1926 and Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1967. For hikers, reaching the ranch means descending seven or eight zigzagging miles from the South Rim before finding a basic meal, a bed and relief beside the creek.

That refuge has never been entirely safe. In the canyon’s depths, heat, thirst and sudden floods pose greater dangers than mountain lions, rattlesnakes or scorpions. The weekend deluge showed how quickly the remote shelter can become vulnerable.