Grand Canyon Village sits at seven thousand feet in a ponderosa forest, and the growing season is short enough to feel precious — snowmelt in May, green through the monsoon, gold in the aspen by late September. Mornings on the rim smell like warm pine bark, and elk wander across the lawns before the day's visitors do. Maswik Lodge keeps that grass in trim while it grows: mowing, edging, close work around trunks and steps, and needles and cuttings cleared off the turf. There is something companionable about tending a small green square a quarter mile from the edge of the canyon. The canyon does not need help; the grass does.