The trail to the Sinnott Memorial — the former Victor Rock trail — originally followed the ridge and was extremely steep; its presence was also causing damage to the nearby tree roots. After considerable study of the site was completed and lines surveyed and staked, landscape architect Merel Sager relocated the trail along an easier grade. The new trail was a combination of steps and a ramp, beginning at a point just west of the Kiser Studio.[24] In 1931, discussions were underway for how to best light the trail for visitation at night. Low lamps set into the retaining wall to illuminate the steps and ramp were determined to be the best solution, however these “final touches” were never incorporated into the design.
Other buildings constructed during this first phase of activity included public comfort stations. In the early 1930s, two additional comfort stations were built in the campground, designed with rough logs applied to the buildings’ exteriors for a rustic appearance. In 1930, a third rustic log comfort station was built to the south of the Community House. Oil-burning water heaters were installed in this new comfort station so that hot showers were available for park visitors. That same year, a combination bathhouse/comfort station was built in the west end of the Rim Campground, behind the Cafeteria. Sager felt that this Rustic style comfort station, constructed with good-sized native stones, was a successful structure aesthetically because it harmonized with the exterior of the nearby Cafeteria.[25]
In conjunction with building construction, work began almost immediately on a comprehensive circulation system at Rim Village. To help direct the great number of tourists arriving daily in Rim Village during the summer season and to protect the natural landscape, a system of roads and guardrails was designed and under construction beginning in 1928. The main road through Rim Village, referred to as a “wide oiled highway from the junction of the Rim Road to the Lodge,” was begun that year. Parking strips flanked this road, which also served to link both ends of the village. A rustic log guardrail was completed on the crater side of the road, in the hope that it would prevent visitors from driving their automobiles directly to the edge of the caldera, a practice that was ongoing since the first car reached the rim in 1905. Some means of control was also needed around buildings, as visitors had a propensity to drive directly up to these facilities as well. A guardrail was placed in front of the cafeteria to control cars around the west plaza area; the same type of rail was placed in front of the Community House, and at the main entrance to the rim auto camp, to help define that area. All of the rails were stained a dark brown color to improve their appearance and give the village a unified look.[26]
Most of the log guardrails were short-lived, however. NPS landscape architects, deciding that masonry curbing gave a better appearance and was more permanent, had all of the log rails at Rim Village replaced in 1932. Masons cut stone from nearby at The Watchman slide, and, beginning at the lodge and heading west toward the Crater Wall Trail, put in a low, stone curb along the edge of the road and parking areas. The log rails were reused elsewhere in the park, primarily for guardrails along Rim Road and at entrances to the park.[27]
