By Davy Crockett 


Part 4 of the Rim-to-Rim History Series. See also Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3



For anyone hiking or running rim-to-rim, most people will usually stop at a location about a mile below Roaring Springs that today is called the Manzanita Rest area, named after a creek coming down a small nearby side canyon. But the name and the rest area are a fairly new, a 2015 creation. Newer visitors have no idea that there is a rich history that took place at that location from 1973-2005.

For veteran rim-to-rim hikers and runners, they still call this place fondly, “The Aiken Home.” Yes, a couple lived there and raised three children in the depth of the canyon for more than three decades. The Aiken family made a deep impact on rim-to-rim history by helping, greeting, and even feeding thousands of visitors over the years. Bruce Aiken managed the crucial water system at nearby Roaring Springs completed in 1971, and Mary Aiken taught and raised their children and assisted hikers.

Who were the Aikens? How did they come to live in the Canyon? What was it like for three energetic children to spend their childhood in the Canyon away from many modern conveniences and “normal” entertainment and childhood friends? What was life like for them? Their tale is now almost forgotten, and evidence that they lived there has been replaced by a rest area and ranger station. But when I visit that amazing spot (nearly 40 times), I always think about the Aiken family and visualize the unique family that lived there for so many years.



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Bruce Aiken’s early years

Richard Aiken - painting by Margaret Aiken

Bruce Aiken was born September 10, 1950 in New York City’s Greenwich Village to Richard and Margaret Aiken. He was the second of a family of five boys.

His father, Richard Little Aiken (1918-1997) grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where his father was a lawyer. Richard graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1940, in theatre. He worked as a sports announcer for a local radio station and an actor. Following Pearl Harbor, Richard enlisted in the Navy, and became a naval aviator. He met Margaret during the war and afterwards they married and settled in Greenwich Village, New York City, where all their children were born. There, he worked for NBC as a television producer.

Margaret Aiken - self portrait

Margaret Davis Aiken (1924-2003) was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, raised in Arizona along the Mexican border, where her father was an immigration inspector. During the Great Depression her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona where she studied art at Arizona State University. During World War II, she served in the navy women’s reserve as a WAVE in Santa Ana, California, where she met Richard. Margaret became a very accomplished artist. Her paintings were widely shown in New York, Florida, and at the Grand Canyon.

Bruce in 1963

The family moved to Long Island where young Bruce started to draw and paint with his mother. The family often went on vacations to Arizona, to visit his grandparents and cousins. A 1963 visit to the Canyon had a deep impact on young Bruce.

In art school - 1968

In 1968, Bruce graduated from high school and was voted “most talented.” Following in his mother’s footsteps, he was interested in art and enrolled in New York’s prestigious School of the Visual Arts. His father wanted him to go into advertising because he believed that was where the money was, but Bruce wanted to be an artist. Bruce said, “I suppose he was trying to help, but I think he was too domineering, too demanding and too unwilling to hear or understand what I was trying to do.” This caused a rift between the two that would last for years.

Aiken attended the art school for only two years, saying, “I got caught up in all the things happening in the ‘60s and decided that what I really wanted t...