Kolb Studio - Brothers on the Brink

Photo: Grand Canyon National Park, public domain (cropped)

A stop on Grand Canyon South Rim, a free self-guided tour.

Perched on the lip of the canyon, Kolb Studio was home and workplace for Ellsworth and Emery Kolb, brothers who reached the South Rim in 1902 and built this place in stages between 1904 and 1926. Their trade was photographing tourists heading down the Bright Angel Trail on mules. With little water on the rim, Emery hiked down to the spring at Indian Garden, now Havasupai Gardens, to develop the prints, then climbed back up to sell them as riders returned.

In 1911 and 1912 the brothers ran the Green and Colorado Rivers in wooden boats and filmed the journey. From 1915 Emery showed that film here every day, often introducing it in person, until his death in 1976.

Today the studio holds a gallery and bookstore run by the Grand Canyon Conservancy. Look out the windows at the trail's switchbacks, and watch the sky above the rim: California condors are sometimes seen soaring nearby.

Getting here: Walk west along the rim path past Bright Angel Lodge, about a third of a mile from Hopi House, to the shingled building at the head of the Bright Angel Trail.

Did you know?: Before the rim had a reliable water supply, Emery Kolb sometimes made the nine-mile round trip to Indian Garden twice in a single day just to develop photos.

Photo op: From the rim just east of the studio, frame the building clinging to the edge with the trail's switchbacks below.

Nearby: Restrooms, water and food at Bright Angel Lodge next door.

More on Wikipedia: Kolb Studio · Bright Angel Trail

Kolb Studio - Brothers on the Brink

Stops on this tour