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Grand Canyon Skywalk - has anyone been yet? |
Travel Info I want to do the Grand Canyon next year for vacation. Is the Grand Canyon Skywalk worth the time and money? http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/mainme... Travel Tips I was there a couple weeks after it opened. If it is worth the time and money or not, is a matter of personal opinion. I found it to be over-rated and over-priced (and not well organized) and so have many other visitors. Of course, some visitors have really liked it too. One of my biggest complaints with the place is the misleading promotions which make it sound like you will be looking 4000 feet straight down at the Colorado River. The SkyWalk is actually located up a small dry side canyon with only a small section of the main gorge and river visible off in the distance (not below). And it is not 4000 feet straight down either - maybe 1000 feet before the walls branch out in the first ledges and slopes. The SkyWalk bridge itself is supported by 2 heavy metal beams that block the view through about a third of the floor. The downward view is looking between the two beams which feels more like looking through a trapdoor than floating on air and what you see below is just a pile of featureless rocks at the base of the cliff. Don't get me wrong, it IS weird and unnatural to look down and see empty space beneath your feet, but that initial novelty wears off pretty quick and you are left with... well, just a view of some rocks. The view looking out over the railing at the wider canyon is impressive and scenic, but no different than just standing on the rim 50 feet away. And even in this regard, while the canyon is still very big and deep around the SkyWalk area, it is not as big, deep, colorful or complex in structure as at the National Park a hundred miles upstream. And while it costs $25 per CAR to get into the National Park, it costs a minimum of $75 per PERSON to go on the SkyWalk when all the fees are totaled. Visitors should be clear that the SkyWalk is NOT part of the National Park and not run along national park guidelines. You are not allowed to freely walk or hike around the area on your own, nor can you simply drive right up to the SkyWalk itself, but can only reach it as part of a larger package tour which forces you go to (or at least pay for) a lot of other things that you may not really care about (like a buffet meal and a fake western town). All of the different areas on the tour (including the SkyWalk) can only be reached by the tour package shuttle buses for which there are often considerable waits at each stop. The SkyWalk area (called Grand Canyon West) is on the Hualapai Indian Reservation near Lake Mead (far downstream from the main part of the canyon) and has been developed (with the help of Vegas promoters) to attract visitors (and money) from Las Vegas. The Hualapai reservation has a lot of poverty (it is too near Vegas to have a casino) and I support their right to use the many scenic wonders of the land to help improve their situation, but IMHO the Vegas promoters try to over-hype the place and put the emphasis on cheesy attractions rather than the canyon itself or - for that matter - the Hualapai's interesting culture. If you are in Vegas and have time and money to burn and just want a quick peek at the canyon to say you have been there, then Grand Canyon West and the SkyWalk is fine. It is also a good place to go if you want to do helicoptor tours. However, if you are more interested in scenic beauty, hiking, photography or seeing the most famous part of the canyon that you see in the postcards and TV shows, than I would strongly recommend the National Park (either rim) instead. Source(s): Arizona resident and frequent Grand Canyon visitor. Have been to both rims of the National Park many times and to the SkyWalk once. You may want to read other visitor reviews at TripAdvisor (and other review websites) to get a variety of opinions. http://www.tripadvisor.com/attraction_re... Other Travel Tips I haven't been there yet but from what I can tell, it is several hundred miles out of the way from the main part of the canyon. It is not near any facilities and has got to be a seperate trip. Just like the North Rim it will probably never go over that well. |
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