I have a list.
And I’m sure you have one, too.
It’s a list of all the things I want to see and do before I get to an age where I just want people to push me around in a wheelchair.
Seeing the Northern Lights is on the list. So is visiting Stonehenge and surfing the waves at Malibu.
Another stop on the list was walking on the glass-floored Skywalk over the west rim of the Grand Canyon.
I had read about this engineering feat in Time a few years ago when it had been recently opened to the public.
Back in 1996, entrepreneur David Jin of Las Vegas had an idea to build a glass walkway that extended over the canyon. He approached the Hualapai Tribe with the idea and, seven years later, he got their blessing. Four years after that, the Skywalk was opened to the public.
Some facts about the attraction: It’s located 4,000 feet about the Colorado River. It consists of more than 1 million pounds of steel and 64,000 pounds of strengthened glass, imported from Germany. Its foundation is strong enough to support about 71 million pounds, or the equivalent of 71 fully loaded 747 airplanes (though I’m sure no one tested this theory).
But here’s the real deal: The floor isn’t entirely made of glass; the edges are solid metal, and you could — people do — just walk on that part if you’re scared. The walls are about 5 1/2-feet tall with very sturdy railings; if you don’t look down, you feel like you’re at a lookout. Less than 120 people are allowed on the Skywalk at a time, so it doesn’t feel crowded. And everything you heard about cameras is true: you can’t bring ’em. There are staff photographers on the Skywalk who take your photo — as many as you want — and you can purchase them for $30 each inside.
Hey, it’s clever if you want to make money!
And it’s a long day. You need to give the entire tour about four hours from start to finish. You don’t just go to Eagle Point, where the Skywalk is located. You also visit Guano Point — best views of the canyon — and Hualapai Ranch.
Here’s what our day looked like:
Photo op!
Grand Canyon Skywalk. Cost is $29.95, but you have to purchase a West Rim entrance pass to get in, which cost, at the least, another $29.95 plus tax and fees. (888) 868-9378, (928) 769-2636, www.hualapaitourism.com.
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21 Comments
Hello Cat, been only to the south rim of the Grand Canyon a few years ago. IMO that Skywalk is a rip off.
Yeeeeeeah, it was a bit pricey for what it was. I didn’t like that the whole thing took four hours when it could’ve been just one.
Cool. I’m going to add this to my family-travels to-do list. And just curious, what are your students doing while you’re away? I’m envious of your extended travels. 🙂
I’m not teaching this semester, so that helps. Otherwise, my student workers are working. They keep in touch via everything from email to text to Twitter! So I know what they’re up to. Kind of.
Who’s caring for Sunny and Indy?
One of my friends from the dog park watched them for part of the time I was away. The other thing my mom and sister came over to help out. I’m very lucky to have people who help me out with the pooches. I don’t want to send them to a kennel…
LOL, even before I read further, I knew it was a ripoff. Can’t take anything out there, not even a camera…(sniff sniff), I smell a ripoff coming…ah yes, we can take pictures for you, it’ll only cost an arm and a leg. Typical tourist attraction.
As far as being afraid of heights, that’s something I’ll probably never understand. If some catastrophic event happened, and a structure like this collapsed, the chances of you surviving a fall is zero. To me, I’d not be afraid of falling from something this high off the ground. I’d be afraid of falling from somewhere just high enough to cause permanent (and severe) injury, but not death.
LOL, you make a good point! I don’t like the feeling of falling when you’re on a roller coaster. You know how your stomach drops? Hate that. And yes, falling and SURVIVING it would suck big time.
I wonder if that is the David Jin from Taipei Taiwan, moved there to LA a while back and then I lost touch with him. If it is I’d like to find him, very cool gentleman indeed and his dad was pretty incredible.
Love that part of the country and the canyon is best viewed hiking down Kaibob and out Bright Angel. The vistas are beautiful on so many levels. Wore out a film camera back in the 1990’s doing that hike… and my legs, hips, arms, and shoulders. Note to file, always hike with people who can carry out what they carry in and just say no when they ask you to carry their stuff.
The canyon is a thing of beauty. One of my favorite places. That and Victoria Peak. and a few others. Nice article and nice pics!
Maybe. He’s rich. Is that the guy?
Perhaps, Mr. Jin the father at one time had a 25,000 employee garment factory in Vietnam and moved it to Taiwan toward the end of the Vietnam War. He also had business dealings in Hong Kong. Generous that guy, sent a few hundred people through college. He was a good uncle to my adopted daughter. We visited them in Taipei twice, great family.
It would be something David would do to build something like that.
No guardrails or signs warning of the dangers? Imagine that. It would never happen here in Hawaii first it would be closed to the public then the state would get sued after somone falls off the cliff after reading about it on some website or in a offlimits places travel book.
NO GUARDRAILS! I couldn’t get over that! I hear people fall off all the time. It’s SO freaky. I wanted to get closer to look over — you can do that with guardrails — but I was so afraid of slipping or getting startled or being pushed off. I mean, that’s a long way down!
The Phoenix paper had a number of stories every year of people falling in, same story. Just one more step back grandma… photo look way better 🙂
The Grand Canyon a must see destination. We drove from Phoenix and stayed one night in the lodges there. The Canyon at sunset and sunraise is somthing to see. We stop at every lookout and vista point and at each stop the view was better than the last stop.
How long was the drive from Phoenix?
I seem to remember it was around 4 hours.
Can you bungee jump off that Sky walk ?? That’d be fun
Or base jump. We were talking about that. I bet that would be popular. It’s a long way down — 4,000 feet!
Go figure… after you post your story about the Skywalk what does NatGeo show? The construction of the Skywalk.
REALLY??? I wish I saw that, actually. It would’ve been cool to see the making of it before actually walking on it. LOL!