Well, at least it's not the National Parks Service paving the wilderness this time.

We must unite to destroy the Colorado River!

Grand Canyon West is less commercialized. I guess that's why the farking Indians won't stop talking about their shiatty multi-million dollar walkway.

"Clark! Watch your language!"

Was the irony tag missing?

TFA is full of junk science...
"There is, of course, only one Grand Canyon. The geologic marvel, carved by the Colorado River over millions of years, is one of the world's natural wonders, stretching 277 miles across the plateaus of northern Arizona.

Everyone knows the Grand Canyon was made by Paul Bunyan dragging his axe behind him. TEACH THE CONTROVERSY!

The geologic marvel, carved by the Colorado River over millions of years

More like it was shaped in one large flooding event over a fairly short time span. _{Calling Bevets, TBB et. al.}

">

I say we build a pipeline from the Pacific, fill that sucker back up.

I just love long river trips that end in giant man made lakes.

/Wishes I could float from Wyoming to Baja.

Does anyone know how long it would take a barf to float down to the canyon floor from the skywalk? Any Hualapai on Fark right now to tell me the answer?

The People's Front of Judea?

FTFA: "Here, [Grand Canyon National Park] you've literally got all the amenities for a vacation."

Which definitely makes me want to visit Grand Canyon West a lot more.

/nevertheless, that whole "standing on a glass-bottomed cantilevered platform 500 feet above the sheer canyon walls" thing means I will probably not

The problem here is that the Native Americans are making money Whitey can't handle that.

Millions of years? But I thought the Grand Canyon was only a couple of thousand years old, carved out of Earth by God's own hand. Or something.

Actually, God^(tm) was building the Rockies, blew a massive fart, that cut a groove in the land....thus was formed the canyon

Vacation Bible School: TFA is full of junk science...
"There is, of course, only one Grand Canyon. The geologic marvel, carved by the Colorado River over millions of years, is one of the world's natural wonders, stretching 277 miles across the plateaus of northern Arizona.

Everyone knows the Grand Canyon was made by Paul Bunyan dragging his axe behind him. TEACH THE CONTROVERSY!

It wasn't Paul Bunyan! It was Bill Brasky, you jackass!

/Or was it Chuck Norris?

Vacation Bible School: TFA is full of junk science...
"There is, of course, only one Grand Canyon. The geologic marvel, carved by the Colorado River over millions of years, is one of the world's natural wonders, stretching 277 miles across the plateaus of northern Arizona.

Everyone knows the Grand Canyon was made by Paul Bunyan dragging his axe behind him. TEACH THE CONTROVERSY!

I lol'd

Unless it's in the casinos where whitey hands over their money a wad at time.

jmomo: The problem here is that the Native Americans are making money Whitey can't handle that.

The "Grand Canyon Skywalk" is a huckster-ish roadside attraction built by poor Indians to con stupid white people out of their money.

I don't feel sorry for any rube stupid enough to drive out there and get fleeced.

/On the way, maybe stop off for some authentic fry-bread?

Don't go to any of the 3 places mentioned in the article. Go up I-15 2 hours from Vegas to St. George and then 2-3 hours on dirt roads to a place called Vulcan's throne, Toroweap or Tuweep, all the same place but known by those names. The canyon is narrow and deep and beautiful and there is no development. Totally worth it and completely free. Here is the National Park Service guide and directions. (new window)

Nobody You Know: barf

4,000 feet above the canyon floor.
h = 16t²

t = (h/16)^1/2
t = (4000/16)^1/2
t = 15.8 seconds to fall to the canyon floor in a vacuum.

jabbedxorz: Grand Canyon West is less commercialized. I guess that's why the farking Indians won't stop talking about their shiatty multi-million dollar walkway.

That's an interesting point of view. The skywalk is as commercial as anything I've seen at Grand Canyon - and it won't be long until the neighboring "village" is as grandiose as Tusayan (which is hardly a big commercial development - actually, it's rather nice out in that desolate region to be able to find food and water).

It's hard to stay at West for very long, unless you are a good planner and bring lots of stuff with you (which would leave out a lot of Las Vegas tourist types).

But if you were staying at West, proportionately, I think Hualapai Lodge seems just as crowded as, say, the Yavapai or even the El Tovar. The stuff at South is spread out. I like the fact that there's are museums at South. But, we usually stay for a few days, some of it backpacking. Getting inside the Canyon is the only way to be away from people - and it's true that Bright Angel Trail is like the superhighway of trails for that region (very amusing place to observe human folly though).

But now, there's way more people on the trails at Hualapai - I don't see any difference between Hualapai and Bright Angel, if anything, the tourists from Vegas at Hualapai are even more annoying than the underprepared on Bright Angel.

The less traveled places are in between South and West.

I guess this is why we noticed so many fewer people on our last trip to South - it was very nice. Quiet. At night, we felt we had the place to ourselves. You start up east up the rim from South and within minutes, you're really surprised how lonesome and quiet it is, out there, even without going inside the Canyon.

Don't worry, John McCain will fix it when he's President.

After reading more about it, it would seem like Skywalk is an awful lot like the four corners ripoff. Bunch of Indians getting rich off stupid white people.

darkscout: I loved the Canyon. I'm hoping to go back and make it to the bottom.



Anyone know of a good panorama printing service I want to get a few of these for my cube:
Panorama
Panorama
Panorama

No - but I collect pictures like yours. Falling while posing for a photo op (and being male) are two of the best predictors of not making it back from your trip. At least you weren't also peeing off the rim (another risk factor).

Like I said, great place to watch humans and their love of precariousness. We took a series of pictures of footprints in the snow on the tops of hoodoo spires, next to 1200 foot dropoffs - and on places like where you're sitting, but in the snow and with ice underneath.

Congratulations on wearing shoes with treads, although the flip-flops would have really made the photo.

Nobody You Know: barf

4,000 feet above the canyon floor.
h = 16t2

t = (h/16)1/2
t = (4000/16)1/2
t = 15.8 seconds to fall to the canyon floor in a vacuum.

Thanks for this, RoyBatty. You are a cornucopia of traditional Hualapai knowledge.

OscarTamerz: Don't go to any of the 3 places mentioned in the article. Go up I-15 2 hours from Vegas to St. George and then 2-3 hours on dirt roads to a place called Vulcan's throne, Toroweap or Tuweep, all the same place but known by those names. The canyon is narrow and deep and beautiful and there is no development. Totally worth it and completely free. Here is the National Park Service guide and directions. (new window)

Amen. I haven't made it out to Toroweap yet (starving student), but It won't be long before I go there on a field trip (Geology Major).

As for the skywalk, I guess it would be fine if you don't mind forking over 50+ dollars go out on it. As for me, no bloody way in farking hell.

Bess Foster, general manager of Red Feather Lodge, a 220-room hotel a couple of miles from the South Rim entrance of Grand Canyon National Park, turns almost apoplectic about Grand Canyon West. She hasn't been there, though her sister has and said it was "great."

Foster doesn't want to discourage tourists from checking it out but said it "breaks her heart" to think first-time canyon visitors are choosing it over the activities in her backyard.

"They won't ever know that's not the real Grand Canyon," she said.

*sniff* It's not about the money. It's about the experience. I swear...

cannondalerider: After reading more about it, it would seem like Skywalk is an awful lot like the four corners ripoff. Bunch of Indians getting rich off stupid white people.

This.

I went shortly after it opened last year. A great experience, but no reason to go back.

As far as the North Rim goes...stay away. You won't like it. It's ugly. Nothing to see.

/All the beauty, better trails, less crowds
//No, really, you won't like it

If this sort of thing keeps the people who want to make a quick junket from Vegas out of the National Park, I can't see that it's all bad.

whatshisname: If this sort of thing keeps the people who want to make a quick junket from Vegas out of the National Park, I can't see that it's all bad.

This.

cannondalerider: After reading more about it, it would seem like Skywalk is an awful lot like the four corners ripoff. Bunch of Indians getting rich off stupid white people.

Exactly the same thing - but more like the Indians near start of the Canyons, not far from Navajo Bridge. It's a looong drive out to the place, there are NO other concessions, you're going to have to buy gas out that way, etc. And everyone is probably buying souvenirs and water, at the very least.

The picture on the Hualapai homepage is a sample: a dude wearing Lakota/Plains dress, but he's actually 'Pai. Or he's supposed to be, I guess.

West isn't as impressive, view-wise, as South (of course). It's 2000 feet or so higher at South, which is in the very heart of the complex (and deep and wide) section of the Canyon. It's about 2000 feet lower at West than South, so it's much much hotter in the summer. It's also a much easier walk to the river - it's the old spot where people thought the Canyon was pretty much over and could walk out. Raft trips still end there.

Looking down 3,800 feet is still impressive, I guess (about the distance from the South Rim just to Indian Gardens - which is still high above the River). Looking down about a mile is more impressive, though - and the canyon is much wider at South.

Now, a whole generation of Las Vegas visitors will think they've seen a big canyon, when they've really seen the smaller edge of a Big Canyon.

The Hualapai have worked it out nicely, though, so that everyone is herded on and off that Skywalk past the souvenir places quite efficiently (there's just no shade and no way to spread out and enjoy what view there is, especially in the summer). You pay $25 to be shuttled to the "attraction," there's no geologic interpretation to speak of, it may be closer to Vegas, but the last few miles of road will slow you down to the point that South would have been almost as close.

And there's nothing you can do but go on the Skywalk and then go home or eat - no trails (except down). The other one or two viewsites require an additional fee (and with one, I think you're required to eat a buffet with a bunch of other buffoons).

Peach Springs used to be remote and very cool - and is still the best place for the not in shape to hike down into the Canyon, if they can get a permit and campsite.

It's just not at all the best place to view Grand Canyon.

Dupa: As far as the North Rim goes...stay away. You won't like it. It's ugly. Nothing to see.

/All the beauty, better trails, less crowds
//No, really, you won't like it

I agree. We keep trying to love it, but it's not the same.

A couple of days on Hermit Trail are worth way more than a week at North Rim.

RoyBatty: t = 15.8 seconds to fall to the canyon floor in a vacuum.

Which will absorb the shock of landing best, Hoover or Electrolux?

HAMMERTOE: RoyBatty: t = 15.8 seconds to fall to the canyon floor in a vacuum.

Which will absorb the shock of landing best, Hoover or Electrolux?

Dyson you insensitive clod!

Ive heard that bridge thing is a scam
Its like 20 bucks for the ticket to the place, and they dont tell you theres ANOTHER 25$ ticket to actually go out on the thing, and you re not allowed to take pictures. fark em.

cheesedog1

As for the skywalk, I guess it would be fine if you don't mind forking over 50+ dollars go out on it.

By the time the indians are finished with you, it's over $100 per person and you aren't even allowed to bring a camera. You can buy postcards instead.

They know you just drove three hours to get there and you aren't going to say no once you're there. If you brought the family, you may as well hand over your wallet without even opening it.

/You'll keep more of your money playing three-card monte in New York City.

This is one of those money making ventures that doesn't rely on repeat business.

Every single person who goes there says "never again".

It's like going to a car mechanic in a city you don't live in. They know they own you. Watcha gonna do about it?

/sucker

1) Take trip to sktwalk.

2) Instead of paying $30 to walk out on skywalk, just walk up to the canyon rim next to it. The view will be 99.999% the same.

3) Profit!

Pointing out Native American dancers performing to Amazing Grace at the Eagle Point viewpoint near the Skywalk...

Does that seem a bit incongruous to anybody else?

OscarTamerz: Don't go to any of the 3 places mentioned in the article. Go up I-15 2 hours from Vegas to St. George and then 2-3 hours on dirt roads to a place called Vulcan's throne, Toroweap or Tuweep, all the same place but known by those names. The canyon is narrow and deep and beautiful and there is no development. Totally worth it and completely free. Here is the National Park Service guide and directions. (new window)

And Mesquite, NV is only about 40 minutes from St. George.

/5 casinos, $2 craps
//$24 per night for a nice room

I'd love to work there. Does anyone know how to go about getting a west rim job?

Free enterprise, people. There's probably room for both.

DslainteC

If you're interested in working in specific areas the national parks, it's easy to do, if you are qualified.

Next time you're in the Grand Canyon, ask any of the park rangers "What does it take to get a good rim job around here?"

I'm sure they'll be happy to help.

symphonik Why is that Italian man crying?

Chariset: "They won't ever know that's not the real Grand Canyon," she said.

Yeah, could have freaking fooled me.

DslainteC: I'd love to work there. Does anyone know how to go about getting a west rim job?

studebaker hoch: DslainteC

If you're interested in working in specific areas the national parks, it's easy to do, if you are qualified.

Next time you're in the Grand Canyon, ask any of the park rangers "What does it take to get a good rim job around here?"

I'm sure they'll be happy to help.

Missed it by that much.