A 1-mile spur off Desert View Dr leads to a spectacular national park highlight. Here, in 1897, pioneer miner Pete Berry built the Grandview Hotel; credited as the first Grand Canyon tourist destination, it operated until 1908. The arrival of the railroad in 1901 and the completion of El Tovar in 1903 shifted the canyon's tourist hub westward, and the Grandview Hotel was eventually dismantled. Today's Grandview Trail cuts steeply into the canyon from the overlook.
The trail, well worth a few minutes' descent, roughly follows an old Native American route that Berry and Ralph Cameron used to access their copper, gold and silver mines.
