We booked a tour with Westwind Airlines out of Scottsdale.  We took a short 1 ½ hour sight seeing flight over the Sonoran desert to the South Rim of the canyon where we landed at the Hualapai airport.  Within minutes we were weighed and escorted to the waiting helicopter. We took a thrilling ride above the ground and then dipped down below the rim where we landed on a small round flat patch next to the Colorado River.  A pontoon boat was waiting to take us on a short float on the brown murky river.

Seeing the canyon from the bottom looking up is an amazing experience (for one thing you can’t fall off) that many travelers don’t get the opportunity to do.  Our river guide told us about the age of the layers and the height of the world’s largest drainage ditch.  Five Stratosphere hotels would need to be stacked on top of each other to reach the rim.  We touched the river for good luck and returned to the chopper.

Skywalk

Back up on the rim we efficiently boarded a tour bus for the very short ride (about 5 minutes) to the Skywalk.  It’s a glass structure that extends out over the edge of the canyon.  All belongings are put in a locker and everyone wears booty’s to protect the glass from scratches.  It was scary and creepy and unnerving and scary and scary.   But my four year old reassured me, “It’s OK mommy, there’s glass to walk on, see.”  We posed for pictures that you have to buy, watched Native American dancers from the visiting Navajo tribe and took some additional photos of the canyon from the area.

Guano Point

We boarded another bus (they run about every 5 minutes) to Guano Point.  Yes, Guano- bat dung.  The point got it’s name from a cave at the base that was used to harvest guano for dynamite and women’s lipstick. The guano operation has been abandoned and the Hualapai tribe now operates a tourist point (probably much more profitable!!). I haven’t seen the entire 277 miles of the Grand Canyon but Guano point has to be the most amazing.  The point is very prominent so views of the canyon are almost 360°.  There are no railings and 1-3 people fall to their death at the Grand Canyon each year (mostly 20 year old males).  There is a safe road that goes out to the point and a café/restaurant that is operated by the tribe.  We enjoyed pulled beef on tortillas, corn bread, mac and cheese, corn on the cob and cinnamon apples at a picnic table under a large tent.

Show me the Money

The excursion cost about $500 per person but that includes the round trip sight seeing from Scottsdale, the helicopter, the Pontoon boat ride, the Skywalk entrance fee, clean and convenient bus transfers and all you can eat lunch at Guano Point.  You can see the canyon for a lot less but you’ll be disappointed!

The Alternative

We did it the “other”way several years ago.  We drove for hours in a car from Vegas (with my mother in law).  We visited the government owned National Park side instead of the capitalist Indian Reservation side.  At this time, private cars were still permitted to drive to the rim parking area.  I believe the government has nixed this because of excessive traffic- I think you board a bus now. We walked out to a railing and read a few small descriptive signs.  Yup, it’s a big hole in the ground.  It was so disappointing I was convinced that I didn’t need to see it again.  Luckily, my husband is quite the salesman because our second trip was awesome!  So, I recommend the splurge.  Come on, that’s why you save money on accommodations, so you can get out there and do stuff!

Re-inspired

I’m so re-inspired that I’m now considering a 6-10 day raft trip on the Colorado.  Those of you who have been reading the blog know that I’ve tumbled out the back of a raft twice on the Lehigh River.  So, John’s going to compare the drowning deaths on the Colorado with the 1-3 fatalities from falling per year to determine if I’m safer up on the rim or tumbling out the back of the raft on class x rapids.   Can you guess that he’s not as excited as I am about roughing it for 6-10 days?