Kolob Canyons Visitors Center Toilets: Not Quite an Outhouse, But Not Far Off Either

Kolob Canyons Visitors Center
3752 E Kolob Canyon Rd
New Harmony, UT‎ USA
utah.com/nationalparks/zion.htm

Where is it?

Just to the left of the main entrance to the visitor's center (don't go in). Since this is a pretty small building, the bathrooms are pretty easy to find.

What's it like?

Kolob Canyons make up the upper section of Zion National Park. To get there, you have to travel about 40 miles north of the main Zion exit on Interstate 15, at which you'll see an exit leading you to the entrance of this part of the park. From there, you pay for admission at the aforementioned visitors center and then drive 5 miles into the mountains to see the canyons from an overlook area.

This section of the park offers far less user-friendly options than Zion proper, mind you, unless you're a hiker (there are dozens of hiking paths here that take you deep into the back country). However, it's also far less crowded (our Zion portion of the trip put us in the middle of many thick crowds, while here there were maybe about five cars' worth of people at most) and the amount of quiet you experience is astonishing.

Plus, the views of the mountains, valleys and plateaus are breathtaking, primarily since your vantage point is much higher than in Zion proper, which positions you on the canyon floor looking up. Definitely worth the trip if you can make it -- as said, a paved road takes you from the entrance to an observation area in the middle of the mountain range. From there, you have several hiking options, which range from moderate to hard in terms of difficulty.

While there is an outhouse at the observation area (review coming next week), people are still encouraged to use the one at the visitors center, since it has running water and heat and a few other modern conveniences (like electric light).

Though outside of that, the bathroom itself isn't too far removed from its outhouse brethren. It's very plainly designed, with painted concrete walls and a red-brick tile floor that's reminiscent (albeit cleaner) than the similar-looking floor at Fresh Market Orlando, among other places.

It's a pretty large space too, considering the limited options available to you -- quite a contrast to such recent stops at the World Famous Coffee Cup Cafe, which pack in too much for the space allotted.

Here, you'll find one urinal, one large vanity area with two sinks, and one toilet stall -- with a whole lot of common area in the middle of it. (And I don't mean to infer that this place has a basketball court for a common area, but it's still pretty large -- maybe 10 feet by five feet, which feels too big for the fact that it's essentially a one-bagger masking itself as a two-bagger.

Given that space, it's funny to see that the urinal is pressed up pretty close to the vanity area (why not put it somewhere else, where there's more room?), with only a flimsy off-white metal divider separating it from the vanity counter.

The stall (with a divider made of the same flimsy off-white metal as the urinal divider) is at the far end of the place, and it's a roomy stall indeed -- long and wide enough to take up about one fourth of the bathroom area in all. (Not monstrously wide, but still it feels bigger -- and definitely longer -- than it needs to be.)

The vanity isn't much to look at: A pale red particle-board counter housing two while porcelain sink basins. Single-knob faucets (the old-fashioned ones with those twisty knobs on them) sit atop them, with a cheap stretch mirror hanging behind the vanity and a plastic soap dispenser glued to the middle of the mirror. To the far left is a hand drier (no towels here) -- a chrome one with a weathered-looking finish (clearly, it's seen better days).

Dim fluorescent lighting illuminates the place, along with the help of some natural light that peers in through the windows in the back corner, at the top of the toilet stall. The place is somewhat drafty, as expected given the vast amount of space here and the high altitude in which it's located. (I have a feeling the place is closed in the winter -- if not, expect a very chilly visit!)

The room is pretty clean on the whole, though there's a good deal of wear and tear to be found: The walls are chipped in spots, as is the floor and vanity, and there are some water stains here and there on the porcelain.

Though overall it's fine and functional. The air is a bit dank and tinged with urine -- with a smell similar to the one experienced at the Little Pee Dee State Farmer's Market, only without the hints of chemical in the air.

Still, if you're on the highway and in need of a stop, this place is easy to find and ready and waiting. You could do worse, especially considering the limited options available to you in this part of the country.

Marks out of 10:

6. Functional and clean, but that's about it. Not terrible, but it's still about as close to an outhouse as I've ever seen a regular bathroom be, really.

Comments to the Management:

I realize you don't get a lot of visitors, but I think a new coat of paint and some general touching up will do wonders here, as would adding a heater and putting up a few posters of the mountains around you for some local color.

Outhouse Review #2: Zion National Park -- Stinky Yet Serene

Zion National Park
Springdale, UT USA 84767

http://www.nps.gov/zion/

Where is it?

These facilities are located at the Temple of Sinewava area of the park, which is the last stop on the bus route that goes through the park.

What's it like?

These bathrooms, found at the mouth of the Riverside Walk trail at Zion (which lead you to the Virgin River and the mouth of the canyon), work much like mass market facilities, in that they can accommodate several people at a time instead of just one (like a regular outhouse).

Design wise, the building they are in matches well with the stunning rock vistas around it, and the wood composition makes it look like a facility one would use in frontier times. They offer running water and flush urinals and toilets, which makes them more like traditional toilets than outhouses. However, they are also located in the middle of the wilderness and smell sharply of urine and waste -- like a regular outhouse. They are somewhat clean, however expect to see lots of trash, mis-thrown paper towels and mud on the floor, as well as some obvious signs of wear and tear. Also, the stench inside can be so sharp at times that you may want to hurry your stop in order to return to the fresh air outside.

Note: The toilets here are also located at one of the most popular stops on the Zion tram, so expect to hear and see lots of traffic, both inside the toilets and out. Lots of tour groups use the sitting area at the base of the stop as a place to eat lunch or gather with other group members who have gone off to do their own thing (it was so busy I couldn't get a free moment to take a picture of the interior -- sorry). Not really a place for privacy, but then again you don't have any other choice because of the location.

Marks out of 10:

5. It's the only game in town, and though it's not terrible it's not nearly as eloquent, private or clean as the outhouse visited in Bryce Canyon (review coming soon).

Comments to the Management:

Needs a complete overhaul, including paint job and updating of fixtures. Needs a serious deep cleaning too -- and adding in some air fresheners wouldn't hurt (unless it attracted animals, of course).

Outhouse #6: Kolob Canyons Observation Area Toilets Are Filthy and Rust-Filled -- Ick

Kolob Canyons Visitors Center
3752 E Kolob Canyon Rd
New Harmony, UT‎ USA
utah.com/nationalparks/zion.htm

Where is it?

As stated in our Kolob Canyon Visitors Center toilet review, the observation area here requires taking a five-mile drive past the Visitors Center, into the mountain range behind it. (This is a paved road and it's a bit windy, but nothing too terrible.)

Once there, you find a parking area that has trails to various lookout points, as well as a central outhouse building, containing a handful of multi-sex chambers. The outhouse is pretty hard to miss too, considering that the overlook parking area is small and unidirectional -- you'll have to pass the outhouses either on your way in or out, no matter whether you park or just drive through.

What's it like?

On the outside, the outhouses here look a lot like the top-notch outhouses visited at Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon. They look like a little log cabin -- and because very few people visit this part of the park compared to the lower canyon attractions at the main Zion Park entrance, you expect these to be pretty clean.

Sadly, that isn't the case. This place, while not a total train wreck, was pretty filthy inside. The floor, walls and amenities were covered in rust and what looked -- and smelled -- like urine, as well as some mis-thrown used toilet paper.

The chamber itself isn't much -- about eight feet by eight feet, a standard outhouse in size. It's got a compost toilet in the back corner, a skylight overhead (which actually does a better job of lighting this place than the toilets at the main Zion Park entrance), a couple rolls of toilet paper fixed to the walls, a warning sign asking you not to throw trash into the toilet (though nothing saying you shouldn't throw it on the floor) and that's about it. The floor is concrete, and despite the wood-like exterior, the inside is just sheet metal.

Also, it's a drafty place and you really feel the elements when inside, especially the wind when it blows (and it does often, since you're at about 8,000 feet when you're here).

The views outside are breathtaking, as you can imagine. But inside is a different story. This is definitely a rustic (and rust-filled) spot to relieve yourself -- the woods around you feel much cleaner, believe it or not.

In this case, it may be best to hold it in until you can make it back to the Kolob Canyon Visitors Center. Those aren't great facilities either, but they are much better than what you'll find here.

Marks out of 10:

4. An outhouse, yes, but there are still standards to adhere to.

Comments to the Management:

Clearly, "little used" also means "little cleaned." Enough said.

Outhouse #11: Grand Canyon's Desert View Bathroom More Cave-like Than Desert-Like

Grand Canyon National Park
Desert View Bathroom
P.O. Box 129
Grand Canyon, AZ USA
www.nps.gov/grca/

Where is it?

When coming from the west into Grand Canyon National Park, and using HWY 64 as your entrance route, Desert View is the first viewpoint you will come across.

Once there, park your car in the vast lot found there and make your way to the canyon itself. As you walk, you'll see signs leading you to the bathroom, which will be the first building (it's a gray concrete building) you'll come across while heading towards the canyon. If you reach the Desert View Trading Post, you've gone too far -- turn around and go into the building behind that -- that's the bathroom.

What's it like?

Those coming in from the park's main entrance sometimes forget to journey to this part of the park, mostly because its the furthest east of all the viewpoints and away from the central action of the Grand Canyon Village. That's not to say it isn't crowded -- it's very busy, but tame in respects to the hustle and bustle found in the Village, which is downright urban by comparison.

Also, Desert View's vantage is not as epic as some of the others, as the view asks you to look left, into the canyon, instead of giving you the epic canyon view most people expect to see the canyon hit them head on the instant they step up to the rim (like at Grandview Point, Mather Point, Yavapai Point and the view of the canyon from El Tovar Lodge, my favorite of the lot). Not that it isn't vast, it's just that viewers has to work a little from this POV. Also, it offers terrific vistas of the desert beyond the canyon, including shots of many of the tall mountains you've just driven through to get here.

Still, the stop has a distinctive western feel. It's sandy, brown, and is centered around the Desert View Watchtower, which is historic stone observation tower filled with Native American crafts. It boasts some terrific views into the canyon (best for looking out into the desert, if you're asking me); just be willing to climb up to the top (about 50 steps, essentially) to experience. There's also a "trading post" here, though it's nothing more than a quick bite cafe and souvenir shop for tourists.

The toilets here are found in a monolithic gray building that kind of ruins the western vibe of the place. It's a large facility, with the women's room being on the back end (length-wise) and the men's room being closer to the main path.

The setup is pretty Teutonic: There's a front and back entrance, and essentially the offerings mirror each other from the entrance inward. Going inside, you first come across a small sink station, featuring two white porcelain sinks and two small mirrors overhead. Each sink has an old-fashioned pump soap dispenser above it (not quite as antiquated as what was found at the Red Canyon Visitors Center, but close). Some hand driers are fixed to the walls to the side of the sinks.

Behind that, closer to the center of the bathroom and behind a concrete half-wall divider, is a string of urinals, separated by beige-painted metal dividers. These are also white porcelain but do not have an auto-flush feature (which puts them in the same boat as the bathroom at the Zion Canyon Main Entrance Toilets in terms of non-environmentally friendly bathroom items being employed here).

Beyond that, taking up the center of the bathroom, is a row of about eight toilet stalls, each separated by your basic beige-painted metal stall walls. Again, nothing special here. And the pattern continues on the other side, with the urinals following the stalls and then the sinks again.

Unlike the Zion Canyon Main Entrance Toilets, which have a similar layout, the room here is long and lit by a row of windows built just below the roof line. Not too dim, really, though on a cloudy day you can see it becoming very shadowy here.

The walls and floor are painted concrete, and both doors on both sides of the place were wide open upon my arrival, making the place pretty drafty in its central walking areas. Not as drafty as the air-tunnel-like experience I had at the Southwest Indian Traders, but not far off.

Also, the tunnel-like design here lends a strong echo to whatever is said. If you're talking by the entrance, even if you're just outside the door, and even if you're not shouting, expect your voice to be carried down the way. More than anything, this is a cave.

But the draftiness eliminates most of the odors and the place was clean enough too, though there was some water spillage on the floors and a general dankness to the air of it (again, very cave-like).

Marks out of 10:

6. A definite step above the Zion Canyon Main Entrance Toilets, but not by much.

Comments to the Management:

The place is pretty drab in design and decor, so a little playfulness (some wall decor, etc.) might make it more comfortable. If not that, then at least consider closing the doors some so it isn't so drafty and the conversations of the people outside aren't as noticeable to the people inside.

Outhouse #5: Zion's Main Entrance Toilets Almost As Dark and Smelly As Park's Other Facilities

Zion National Park
Main Entrance Toilets
Springdale, UT USA
http://www.nps.gov/zion/

Where is it?

Drive up to the main visitor's center, park, and make your way to the central information building and gift shop.

Along the way, you'll see signs for the toilet -- not the ones inside the visitor center but the building set up amid the outdoor displays and such.

Follow those signs as best you can -- there are many distractions and people around you to divert your path, and the signs on the main path are only partially accurate, as they sometimes tell you to turn left and head into buildings that really aren't the bathrooms.

Either way, eventually after walking in circles some, you'll come across a large wooden building that looks like a stately rangers lodge. That's the toilet -- discernible only by the small man and woman icons found on the main approach and doors. (Clearly, this is a situation where you'd want to have the icons be enormous, like what's done at IKEA Orlando -- something to think about when renovation time comes around.)

What's it like?

On the outside, this place looks stately, classy and old fashioned -- like an upscale log cabin sort of complex, and it instantly reminded me of the Wayne M. Densch Discovery Center toilet at the Central Florida Zoo.

But the similarities end once you step inside. Really, this has more in common with the toilets at the trail head to the Temple of Sinewava area of the park than anything else.

These are dark, cavernous bathrooms, lit mostly by natural lighting via the skylights built beside the main beams in the rafters. Because of the placement of the skylights, the light beaming in has too many angles and corners to contend with before it reaches the common area, and as a result the place is filled with more shadows than it should have, even on a sunny day -- especially daunting in the toilet stalls, believe it or not.

The cave-like feeling extends to the whole place really, which is surprising, considering the size of the place. (It's the most cave-like bathroom I've been in since my stop in Pulkovo International Airport in St. Petersburg, Russia.)

This is a large bathroom, and the setup here is similar to the ones found at the toilets at the Ft. Drum and Port St. Lucie rest stops on the Florida Turnpike. Wooden on the outside but mostly concrete (painted of course) on the inside. You walk in and then choose to go either to the left side or the right side, with both wings housing a similar assembly of offerings -- in this case, it's three toilet stalls along the center wall (the wings are mirrors of each other based off that center wall), three urinals along the outside wall, and a three-sink vanity area to the side of the urinal row.

What interesting is that the toilets, urinals and sinks are all automatic and sensor-driven (the soap pumps on the vanity are not) but there is no semblance of an environmentally friendly toilet system in place -- like what you'd find at IKEA Orlando, Nona Sushi and Whole Foods South Orlando. As a result, the place (with its natural lighting and concrete construction) feels somewhat cheap in construction. Not as bad as, say, Babys R Us, but still cheaper than it should be. Why spend the money on some things but not close the deal, you know?

The toilets, urinals and sinks are all white porcelain. The vanity is similar in setup to its brother at the Kolob Canyon Visitors Center, except this is black in color and that's red and this has three sinks instead of two (which that one has).

The air here is dank and quite ripe with the smell of urine -- just like its cousin near the trail head to the Temple of Sinewava area of the park. Though that one does smell a little worse, if you were to compare them side by side.

This one is a little cleaner, too, but not by much. Though the toilets were automatic, I found a couple with waste still in them, and there was a good deal of spilled water on the vanity and floor.

It's also a noisy place, considering the traffic and the many open areas (screens along the top, by the skylights), making it a surprisingly non-peaceful place to make a pit stop. Lots of echo here, due to the cave-like design. Go figure.

Note: The left half of the bathroom was quieter than the right on my visit and seems to have done less service that day, so I'd opt for that if the choice were presented to me.

Marks out of 10:

5. Further in the park, you expect things to get a little shoddy, but not in the well-traveled and well-manned main entrance, where most of your traffic comes through.

Comments to the Management:

I would insert some regular lighting in the place -- if you're using electric flush systems, I don't see this as being much more of an add on. And perhaps add a fan or two into the mix, just to trump up the ventilation factor -- I know it's an outhouse and should smell a little but not this bad. Really. If you're only going to spend part of the cash you have on amenities, at least make them count.

Toilets Supported By Wooden Blocks at Arches National Park Visitors Center Bathroom -- Why?

Arches National Park
Visitors Center Toilet
2282 Resource Blvd
Moab, UT USA
www.nps.gov/arch/

Where is it?

Drive into the park and after paying admission head to the Visitors Center, about a quarter mile past the entrance gate. Once there, walk through the outdoor exhibits (which include bronze statues of various wildlife that lives in the park, like mountain rams and such) and head towards the front entrance of the Visitors Center building.

Before reaching the entrance doors, look to your right and you'll see a small hallway in the side of the building that's about 15 feet back from the entrance. The bathrooms are down that hallway -- with signs indicating so.

What's it like?

This beautiful but somewhat overcrowded park in eastern central Utah is known mostly for its collection of natural arches, about 2000 or so are said to make their home here -- the largest concentration of natural arches in the world, as I understand.

In addition to the arches, the park also houses some amazing, rugged, hot, desert-red landscapes and rock formations, many of which rival Monument Valley in terms of shapes and grandeur. A true wonder showcasing the work of wind erosion and heat (very hot here, despite the elevation).

The Visitors Center is like any other national park center, with its array of geographic displays and science lessons. It's considerably more humble than some of the other Visitor Centers visited, a bit smaller, with only one gift shop, an information center, a small movie theater showing a looped informational video, the scientific displays and the bathrooms. If you're hungry, you're advised to bring your own food.

The bathrooms are definitely more complexly put together than the ones at Zion and Red Canyon, among others. These, unlike some of the other bathrooms visited at the U.S. national parks, can't really be classified as an outhouse, because they are entirely indoors with no apparent outdoor interference (no windows at all, actually) and don't seem to rely on mother nature at all in terms of ventilation or digestion of waste.

This is a long rectangular room, very simple in design. The back right half of the bathroom is filled with four toilet stalls, the final one in the corner being the handicap. Across from that is a string of five or so urinals -- those new SLOAN models that are of the no-flush, environmentally safe models (like what we saw at IKEA Orlando, Nona Sushi and Whole Foods South Orlando), which is a welcome turn considering that some of the other national park toilets lacked this option (I'm looking at you, Zion Visitors Center).

The front left corner houses the sink stations -- pretty bare bones set up, very Teutonic. About four sinks in all, no vanity, with unframed single-serve mirrors posted behind them and soap dispensers attached to each mirror. Faucets are automatic. Hand driers are to the left of the sink area.

This is a pretty crowded bathroom -- inside the park, there are fewer options, and those are all outhouses, so this is as comfortable as it gets for your stay. The place, because of this popularity, is pretty noisy and bustling as a result -- not a great place to make a quiet stop, that's for sure. But, as stated, it's not as open to the elements as the park's other options.

Because of the crowds, it's also a bit dirty. For example, while the urinals were of the no-flush variety, that didn't prevent each one from having a small pool of urine at their bases. Naturally, that urine lends a certain odor to the air as well.

The same could be said of the stalls, which had some puddling in them too. The walls here, by the way, are beige-painted concrete, and the floors are concrete but with a copper paint on them. That copper paint seems to make the spillage become more apparent, for some reason. I think a light-colored floor might have been a better option here.

Other than that, it's a pretty straight and narrow bathroom, save for one thing: All the toilets have wooden blocks around their piping. Not sure why this is so, to prevent freezing in the winter or whatnot, but it makes it look like all the toilets are held up by wooden blocks and lends a surprisingly primitive aspect to the design. What gives?

Marks out of 10:

6. Dirty and smelly, but considering your other options in the park, these are golden.

Comments to the Management:

You get a lot of traffic here, so it seems that you'd want to have the cleaning crew police the place a little more often, especially to clean up all the spillage. Plus, painting the floor a lighter color might make all that spillage less noticeable. And what's with the wooden blocks?

Outhouse #7: Red Canyon Restroom About As Smelly As Can Be

Red Canyon Information Center
Intersection of US 89 and Scenic Byway 12
5375 E Highway 12
Panguitch, UT‎ USA

Where is it?

Park in the lot and while facing the main visitor center's building, look to your left. There, you'll see a map of the area and its many trails.

Behind the map is a sign pointing to the restrooms, which ironically enough are just a few feet to the left of the sign. One of those "duh" moments, if you will.

What's it like?

Anyone traveling by road from Zion Canyon to Bryce Canyon will pass through Red Canyon on the way. It's about 10 or so miles from the entrance road to Bryce, at the intersection of Scenic Byway 12 and HW 89 in southwestern Utah. It's certainly a worthwhile passageway.

Red Canyon looks a lot like Bryce Canyon, in that it's filled with that parks famous hoodoo structures. Only the rocks here are more red in color and the parks lets you travel through the canyon from the bottom, instead of from the top, as you would at Bryce. As a result, you can experience the sculpted look of the rocks from a different angle than you would at Bryce Canyon.

Unlike Zion, which also positions you on the bottom of a canyon floor surrounds you with rock formations and makes you feel closed in, the spaces here are wide, open and laid back. There's a lot of road and foot traffic here, and a lot of RVs (the place is legendary for its camping and stargazing), but rather than feel overly congested (and don't get me wrong, the traffic gets a bit sticky in parts, mostly when people drive through the arches cut through the rock in places) it has a feel of a small, friendly western town. Definitely worth spending a few hours here before heading to Bryce, if you can afford to do so.

The bathrooms here are another story. On the surface, they are very reminiscent of the ones experienced at the Kolob Canyon Visitors Center, only not as spacious and with more amenities and with better use of space.

However, they are also much, much smellier than those. Really, a very rancid, urine-and-feces-based stink permeates the air here -- and it's so sharp it will not diminish or lessen in intensity as time passes. I was in here for about five or 10 minutes, and that stink didn't go away, and when I finally went outside, I sucked in the fresh outdoor air as if I'd been underwater for too longer and needed fresh oxygen in my blood. Very smelly.

The rest of the place is pretty much straightforward for a national park bathroom/outhouse. The walls are white-painted concrete, the floors are red-painted concrete; both are chipped badly, especially the floor in areas where lots of foot traffic has been (like in front of the toilets and such).

No wall decorations, and there is lighting by fluorescent bulbs and natural light through windows, though on this visit the former was not on.

There is also a heater fan attached to the ceiling -- and it looked to be a bit too small for the amount of area it hoped to covered. Can't tell for sure because it wasn't on when I was there, but still it sure made me wonder how cold it got in the bathroom in the winter, especially if you were stuck behind those stall doors and away from the air flow.

Speaking of the stalls -- there are two of them here, both standard in size, with the place's lone trash can sitting in between their entrances. Inside, they feature white porcelain toilets that look to be set in front of the back wall just a little too much to look normal. As a result, the toilets kind of stand out too much -- and not in a decorative way, as seen in places like Sensi.

And, as said earlier, the paint on the floor in front of the toilet was badly chipped and some water seemed to be leaking from the commode in one stall, as the floor around it was pretty wet. (At least I hope it was water.)

Off-white steel dividers separate the stall and provide privacy for the two urinals and separate the urinals from the vanity, which is just your simple sink here, nothing more. Pretty bare bones, really.

Even the soap dispenser was ancient-looking -- one of those old plastic tanks with a metal put button that seeps soap onto your hand. I thought stuff like this was supposed to be in museums!

The sink is white porcelain, as are the urinals, and it has a regular faucet on it instead of some automatic one. To the left of the sink is an automatic hand drier -- also, very no frills.

The place isn't the cleanest I've been in, but outside of the smell and some leaking water, I saw no discernible trash on the ground. I guess that's a plus, no?

Still, while Red Canyon may be worth a stop, you may want to pass on stopping in these rest rooms unless you absolutely have to.

Marks out of 10:

4. Not very pleasant at all, especially the horrid smell.

Comments to the Management:

There's a draft in here, but clearly the strong odors here indicate that little air circulation is happening. That certainly need to be fixed -- unless, of course, it's a plumbing issue and not a ventilation issue. Also, the walls and floor could seriously use some new paint, and the toilets and sinks could go for a good scrubbing too. And to extend the friendliness of the setting outside, why not put up a few posters or events listings for the area around you.

Outhouse #12: Bathroom at Grand Canyon's Yavapai Point Shows "Your Fees At Work" -- But Is That a Good Thing?

Grand Canyon National Park
Yavapai Point Bathroom
Grand Canyon, AZ USA
www.nps.gov/grca/

Where is it?

Head to the Yavapai Point lookout inside Grand Canyon National Park, which is a short distance away from Mather Point, which holds the park's most visited (and photographed) vantage.

Once there, round the small parking lot loop to the back side of it and look for the lone khaki-colored concrete building there. Those are the bathrooms.

What's it like?

The parking lot here is considerably smaller than the one at the Desert View lookout, which is strange because this stop feels about three or four times as crowded as that one. As a result, parking here can get pretty sticky -- best bet is to follow the loop to the end and park there, then walk up to the canyon rim (about 250 ft. at most), as this will allow for a less stressful time finding a space and leaving the lot.

Given that, this is a stop worth making because the view here offers a unique spin on the more famous Mather Point and Grandview lookouts. From here, you get closer to some of the mammoth formations jetting out from the side of the canyon and can get a closer look at the geological layers make up those formations; plus, beyond those formations is one hell of an epic view of the canyon. Some people actually use this lookout as a means to climb onto those formations for a more in-your-face view of the canyon. (Note: Mather Point and Grandview Point are more about the epic view instead of the closeups of those formations; though don't fault them for that, as they are great views as well.)

The toilets here are pretty straightforward in construction. It's a concrete building, medium sized, with a brown roof. Men's room to the right, women's to the left. Unlike the Desert View lookout bathroom, the ones here actually blend in with the landscape around them (must like how the bathrooms at the Temple of Sinewava stop at Zion National Park do), and they certainly convey the western motif found in much of the rest of the park.

Inside, they are pretty predictable and archaic. You walk in, and the sink station is to your immediate left. Beyond that are two urinals, and beyond that are three toilet stalls, two regular and a handicap in the very back. Beige-painted metal dividers (the same color as the metal entrance door to the place) separate the stalls and urinals. The bottom half of the walls are concrete, painted a dark beige, and the top are wood, painted a lighter beige. The floor is painted concrete - also beige, albeit a darker shade than the others found here.

The toilet stalls aren't anything special -- white porcelain commodes with plastic toilet paper holders, nothing more. The handicap stall is pretty roomy -- bigger even than the over-sized stall found at the Main Street Brewery in Cortez, CO, the green bathroom toilet stall at Eddie McStiff's in Moab, Utah, or the one at the Kolob Canyon Visitors Center in Utah.

The sinks are white porcelain, as are the urinals; both look and operate like relics from the pre-automated flush days, especially the urinals which utilize the old push-the-button-in-the-wall means to flush them. The sink has that push-the-faucet-button-to-start-the-time-limited-water-flow faucet on it, as seen at JFK's Delta Crown Room or IKEA Orlando, only not as effective as those.

The place is somewhat brightly lit thanks to the line of windows set along the top perimeter of the place. It's a bit dank regardless, due mostly to the concrete construction, but not nearly as cave-like as the Desert View lookout bathroom (or the bathroom by the small duty free shopping area at Pulkovo International Airport in St. Petersburg, Russia -- perhaps the most cave-like toilets I've been to). As a result, it's a little musty in here, though surprisingly I didn't smell much in terms of urine or other waste in the air, for which I was thankful. It's a popular stop at the park, so I kind of expected some stink here.

It's clean too. Some spilled water, but that's unavoidable in a bathroom where you can dry your hands only with hand driers (on the front wall).

Most surprising of all is the sign outside the door reading "User Fee: Your Fees at Work," which implied to me that this bathroom gets some sort of special funding. I didn't see this in the Desert View lookout bathroom, though I can say there is a definite difference between the cleanliness of that one and this one.

However, with that special funding help, you wonder why everything here is so antiquated. No automatic flush, old-fashion soap dispensers, old-looking sinks. It's very dated here. Why? Even the amenities at the Desert View lookout bathroom were considerably more modern -- and they didn't have special funding. What gives?

Marks out of 10:

6. A decent, though unremarkable, place for a pit stop. The amenities are quite antiquated, though.

Comments to the Management:

How about making those fees do a little more? How about some color on the walls, like images of the canyon and such? And how about updating the urinals and sinks -- these look like they are the same ones that catered to visitors from 1954.