America’s top 10 national park lodges in the West showcased in new book

There’s something so eye catching and recognizable about the National Park Service’s historic lodges, there’s even a name for it: Parkitecture. These rustic 19th and early 20th century inns are all built with materials native to the area, from stonework to timber, and designed to complement their spectacular settings. Think Yosemite’s majestic Ahwahnee, which opened in 1927.

Portland-based interior designer Max Humphrey captures the glories of 10 of those lodges in his new book, “Lodge: An Indoorsy Tour of America’s National Parks” (Gibbs Smith, $40), co-written with Kathryn O’Shea-Evans. The prose shares tales about the history, players and even occasional pop culture tidbits for each lodge, from the Inn at Death Valley to the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone, with images captured by photographers David Tsay and Rob Schanz.

Reading about the Crater Lake Lodge and its starry skies will make you want to be there: “It was so dark that we could see Andromeda, the galaxy beyond our galaxy,” Humphrey writes. “We were already standing in a national park, on the highest paved road in Oregon, overlooking the deepest lake in the country—and then to see something even more unforgettable like that. It’s craziness.”

You’ll find the book at local, independent booksellers as well as online. (Order via Indiebound, and the profits go to the independent bookstore of your choice.)

10 National Park Lodges

Ahwahnee, Yosemite

Crater Lake Lodge, Crater Lake, Oregon

Curry Village, Yosemite

El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon, Arizona

Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier, Montana

Lake Quinault Lodge, Olympic National Park, Washington

Inn at Death Valley, Death Valley, California

Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone, Wyoming

Paradise Inn, Mount Rainier, Washington

Zion Lodge, Zion, Utah