Grand Canyon National Park - Part I

2009-08-02: Many people have seen, or want to see, this immense rift, and for good reason. The scale of it is simply incredible. I find it fascinating that a mere river was the cause of it all.

The Grand Canyon Skywalk was something I wanted to experience. I was confident that I could do this without feeling fear, although I expected perhaps a bit of vertigo. Oddly, I could not find any information in the official park brochure on its location. Connecting to the Internet, I discovered the unfortunate details. First of all, it's not part of the national park. You have to pay around $40 to get onto the property, which is part of the Hualapai reservation. I considered that to be a bit expensive, but withing acceptable bounds. You were not allowed to use your own vehicle, so you ride a bus down 10 miles of dirt road. Once you arrived, it costs an additional $35 or so to actually use the Skywalk. I was still debating whether or not to do it as that was more than I wanted to spend. Then I found out that cameras are not allowed on the Skywalk, but you can have a staff member take a photo for you, for which you will have to pay $30. I decided not to go. Note that the cost is around $75 per each person.

I do understand that Hualapai are impoverished and struggling, but had their prices been more fair, they could have earned some of my money, rather than none. I am certain I'm not the only person who thinks this.

Thus, I entered the south side of the national park. I considered climbing down into the canyon but that is apparently a multi-day event, and I did not have the gear for that.

As with so many other things I have tried to show, I will let the photos be the description. The clouds of smoke you see are from a controlled burn on the other north side. You will see that I'm as close to the edge as I could get in one of them!