Grand Canyon News

Here it is Day 2 in the life of the Grand Canyon Skywalk.  The much-touted (and much-maligned) attraction officially opened yesterday at Grand Canyon West near Peach Springs, Arizona.  Approximately 2,000 people had the distinction of being the first paying customers to walk on the see-through platform high above the Colorado River, and for the most part, they felt the $75 a person price tag was money well spent.  Here at GrandCanyon.com, our phones continue to light up like Christmas trees as folks like you ponder how you might work a visit to the Grand Canyon Skywalk into your vacation plans.  

For those unfamiliar, Grand Canyon West is a separate area from Grand Canyon National Park, lying almost smack dead center between Las Vegas and Grand Canyon South Rim as the crow flies.  Owned by the Hualapai Indian Tribe, Grand Canyon West is a developing tourism complex where Grand Canyon visitors can partake of activities not readily available in the National Park, such as trail rides on the rim, cowboy cookouts, hummer tours, Indian dances, helicopter rides to the bottom, and now, the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a glass-bottomed horseshoe-shaped observation deck projecting 70’ past the edge of the Grand Canyon 4,000’ above sea level. 

As many of the first Skywalkers observed yesterday, Grand Canyon West has an “unfinished” look and feel to it.  Only in development for about 15 years, it’s definitely a work in progress (or a “diamond in the rough” as we like to think of it).  One of the things that is presently lacking in the area is lodging.  14 miles from the Grand Canyon West airstrip lies the Grand Canyon West Ranch.  This is the nearest available lodging to the Grand Canyon Skywalk.  A very unique place indeed, guests at this genuine working Ranch can choose from Indian tipis or old-fashioned cabins.  Your lodging rates include meals and entertainment, too!   For more information, visit www.grandcanyonranch.com or call 1–800–359–8727.

In Peach Springs, Arizona, you can choose from the Hualapai Lodge or the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn.  The Hualapai Lodge has very spacious rooms, an on-site restaurant, gift shop and a most unusual feature, a salt water spa.  The Hualapai Lodge is also the starting point for the only one-day Grand Canyon White Water Rafting Trip.  Though a perfectly decent place to stay, one of Hualapai Lodge’s drawbacks that potential guests should know about is that it is situated near a train track, and trains pass by anywhere from 10 to 20 times a night.  It is quite loud, as I distinctly recall hearing the train many times while talking to the hotel and river staff on the phone.  As for me, I sleep like a baby around trains, and if you’re the same way, call 928–763–2219 to book a room at the Hualapai Lodge.  For more information online visit www.destinationgrandcanyon.com 

The Grand Canyon Caverns Inn is a smaller family-owned property located about 10 minutes from Peach Springs.  On their website (www.gccaverns.com), they boast “NO train noise.”  They also have an on-site restaurant, gift shop, and pool, plus an RV park, convenience store and laundromat.  This is also where you can see the unusual “Grand Canyon Caverns,” a limestone cavern that lies 210 feet underground and one of the few “dry” caverns in the world.  The hotel property itself also has that old Route 66 kitschiness to it.  Very cool.  For reservations, call 877–422–4459. 

Even though Peach Springs is a part of the Hualapai Indian Reservation, getting there from Grand Canyon West is not as easy as it might look on a map.  You can get from Grand Canyon West to Peach Springs via a really bumpy dirt road, which takes about 90 minutes, but if you’re driving a rental car, you really shouldn’t do that because you could be liable for any damages that result.  Via paved roads, the trip from Grand Canyon West to Peach Springs is more like 2.5 hours. 

The community with the most plentiful lodging nearest to Grand Canyon West is Kingman, Arizona.  Kingman is located about ninety minutes Southwest of the Grand Canyon Skywalk.  Also a part of Route 66 “back in the day,” Kingman now has a permanent population of about 40,000 people and about two dozen chain and independently owned hotels and motels.  Restaurants are equally numerous, featuring everything from Chinese to old-school diners celebrating the glory days of the “Mother Road.”  Kingman also offers golf, hiking and museums.  Easy day trips from the area include Oatman, Arizona, an old mining town where “semi-wild” burros still roam the streets, and Laughlin, Nevada, a scenic resort community on the banks of the Colorado.  From Kingman, Grand Canyon South Rim would be about a 3.5 hour drive, making it the perfect stopover for those visiting both the Western Rim and Grand Canyon South Rim. 

To book a hotel room in Kingman, Arizona, visit www.grandcanyon.com/hotels and query “Kingman, Arizona,” or call 1–800–916–8530. 

‘til next time, Happy Travels! 

Alley Kaye

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