Skywalk: A spectacle - for a price
Canyon attraction opens to the public Wednesday
John Stanley
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 25, 2007 12:00 AM
The glass-bottomed Skywalk, which promoters say will offer tourists the sensation of walking on air over the Grand Canyon, opens to the public on Wednesday.
The innovative, horseshoe-shaped structure, on the Hualapai Reservation in northwestern Arizona, is attracting attention around the globe.
Tribal leaders expect it to boost the number of visitors from 300,000 a year to 600,000. By 2008, they hope to bring in a million tourists a year, said Robert Bravo Jr., operations manager for Grand Canyon West, the 19-year-old tourist center of the reservation.
A stroll on the Skywalk costs $25 but only if you've bought a package of activities at Grand Canyon West. The least expensive of those packages is $49.95, which means the minimum cost to experience the Skywalk is $74.95 per person. (Children younger than 12 receive a 25 percent discount.)
Already potential visitors have grumbled at the price, but Bravo said there is no plan to reduce it.
"One of our tribal members, after he walked out there, came over to me and said, 'Robert, the price we're charging for this isn't enough,' " Bravo said. "I mean, what does it cost you just to get inside the gate at Disneyland? This is one of the seven wonders of the world."
A trilevel, 6,000-square-foot visitor center (complete with restaurant, museum, theater, gift shop and bars) is slated to open by the end of the year, but construction has yet to begin.
Now, the site is rather spartan, marked by heavy machinery and temporary buildings.
Bravo expects most visitors to reach Grand Canyon West via air tours from Las Vegas.
Many Arizonans, though, will drive, starting from either Kingman (70 miles away) or Peach Springs (53 miles), the Hualapai capital.
But unpaved stretches of road - 14 miles if you start in Kingman, 45 miles if you start in Peach Springs - make the drive time nearly identical, about an hour and a half.
The drive from Kingman takes you past the low-lying Cerbat Mountains on your left and the broad Hualapai Valley on your right.
You pass the wide, dry bed of Red Lake, spread over dozens of square miles.
Once you reach Pierce Ferry Road ("Pearce" on some maps and signs) and proceed northeast, the craggy line of the Grand Wash Cliffs begins to grow, hinting at exciting vistas to come. As you turn off the pavement you enter a forest of Joshua trees.
You'll slow considerably on the dusty, washboard road. Although you don't absolutely need a high-clearance vehicle, you'll feel more comfortable in one.
About six miles along you'll come to the Grand Canyon West Ranch (not related to Grand Canyon West).
The route continues generally northeast, twisting here, turning there, never permitting you to build much speed.
Pavement comes as a welcome relief, allowing you to pick up speed for the final 6.5 miles to Grand Canyon West.
The road from Peach Springs is even rougher and narrower, with blind curves and lots of unsigned side roads.
As long as you stay on the main road, you don't need a permit to drive to Grand Canyon West (although a couple of signs will make you think you do).
After the long drive, the small but rapidly expanding airport seems a hive of activity. There is a gift shop with T-shirts and snacks, sodas and knickknacks.
Buses leave this area frequently, taking visitors to Eagle Point and the Skywalk, Guano Point or Hualapai Ranch, depending on which package they've bought.
Eagle Point is just a few minutes away by bus. Your driver will point out the image of an eagle on the rock wall across the canyon, its wings spread.
Rock ledges, many unprotected by fences or guardrails, stand atop sheer drops.
Ceremonial dancers perform regularly at the nearby amphitheater.
You can walk around the Indian Village, an assortment of Native American dwellings, including a Plains tepee, a Navajo hogan, a Hualapai wikiup, Havasupai sweat lodges and more.
But most people will come to Eagle Point for the Skywalk.
After climbing the 19 steps to the top, you pull non-scratch booties over your shoes. The clear part of the glass is about 5 feet wide, with 2 feet on either side resting on metal, twin slivers of relief for acrophobes.
Handrails and 5-foot-high panels of glass stand along the walk.
Even though your brain knows better, you can't help but feel a twinge in the pit of your stomach as you step out over the abyss and contemplate the fact that the only thing between you and a nearly half-mile fall is 2.8 inches of clear glass.
The views are terrific, but unlike artists' renderings you may have seen, the Skywalk sits atop a side canyon rather than the main gorge.
And although promoters say the view from Skywalk is 4,000 feet straight down, it's actually about 3,600 feet above the Colorado River, which flows a considerable distance to the north.
The straight-down drop from the outermost point of the Skywalk is substantial, but it's far less than the touted 4,000 feet.
Other activities at Grand Canyon West include picnic meals at Guano Point, visits to the Hualapai Ranch Old West town, ceremonial dances, helicopter trips, river rafting trips and horseback riding.
Thema: Skywalk Grand Canyon (Gelesen 28450 mal)