A Trip to the Grand Canyon – Russell Hollander

On the fourth day I was in Las Vegas, I decided to make good use of my rental car and drive out to the Grand Canyon. I left about 6:30 AM, and Google Maps seemed to think it was going to take about 5 hours to get there. As luck would have it, about 40 miles past the Hoover Dam, I saw a sign for the Grand Canyon Sky Bridge which is located at Grand Canyon West. I turned off Highway 93 and headed for Grand Canyon West.

At some point I went through a depressing looking town called Dolan Springs. It seems like I went about 50 miles up the turn off road, and then another 20 or so down a mostly gravel road over to the entrance to the Grand Canyon West area.

The Hualapai Indian Tribe runs the entire area. I’m not sure if I was on a reservation, or if they converted some other land they owned into this canyon viewing park. I parked, walked into this inflatible gift shop/ticket sales building, purchased the $42 Hualapai Legacy pass (the minimum price and pachage that could be purchased), and boarded the bus to ride over to the canyon. I could have paid $75 to also get to walk on the Skywalk, but I figured the Canyon was pretty big, and I’d be able to get a pretty good view without paying an additional $33.

We bussed over to the canyon, jumped off the bus, and met a couple Hualapai that were hanging out near the first stop. There was no sort of railing or barrier, you could walk straight up to the edge of the canyon, and even jump off if you were so inclined, although that probably wouldn’t have ended well.

I’ll stop the narrative here, and just let you view the majestic splendor of the Grand Canyon, carved by the Hand of God.