Grand Canyon Skywalk
The Grand Canyon Skywalk is a horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass walkway in Arizona near the Colorado River on the edge of a side canyon in the Grand Canyon West area of the main canyon. Grand Canyon Skywalk is just over 100 Miles from Las Vegas and it hardly takes 2 hours to drive. We started driving from Las Vegas at around 9 AM and reached the Grand Canyon West Rim at around 11 AM. Here, we had five hours to experience the three different stops on a hop-on, hop-off bus route providing the full Canyon experience.
First stop was at Eagle Point. It is the home to the Grand Canyon Skywalk and a replica Native American village. Before hitting either of those attractions, we went straight for the rim of the edge.
There were no guardrails or fencing between us and the famous chasm stretching 18 miles wide. Some security guards were preventing the visitors to get into the edge as you see 1 mile depth of the drop-off in front you, just couple of feet away.
So it is upto you to take care of youself, act smartly. No photographs will do justice for what you are seeing in front of you. It was an amazing natural wonder.
The highlight of the West Rim is acknowledged to be The Skywalk. The U-shaped walkway, a breathtaking 4,000 feet above the canyon floor, is enough to inspire fear of heights in even the bravest visitor. Though we were continuously reassured the of the safety testing of the glass and engineering, it does blow the mind a bit to walk along the transparent walkway and see no reinforcements below you.
There is a ban on cameras, phones and any other personal effects. Don’t think you can sneak things through either, you go through a metal detector. The professional photo taken in skywalk is $30 and I don’t think its worth spending $30 for this photo.
Also at this location is Eagle Point Indian Village, a walkable loop with replicas of various Native American dwellings. Apparently they also do performances with traditional dance and costume.
Next up off the bus route was Guano Point. Here, many of the proud Hualapai tribe boast of the best West Rim view around via the famous “Highpoint Hike” out onto a peninsula. The summit of the easy Highpoint Hike offers panoramic views around the Canyon, accompanied by a soundtrack of helicopters swooping into the deep trenches left by the Colorado River.
Is it worth seeing? Yes. But is it like everyone says, you see it, you’re amazed. But you go, you are fascinated and realizing it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Then you drive around and realize it looks the same from all sides, but it’s still incredible.
For the post on Grand Canyon South Rim, please read the following post: