I dare you to walk in the middle ...
family traveler, Travel 'insider'
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FEB
1
2008
The Sky Walk —
I took a road trip a few months ago from Los Angeles, California to Galveston Texas and put the newly opened Sky Walk in Arizona on our itinerary.At that time (and maybe even now) there were no signs after we left the Hoover Dam to show the way. The roads to get there were secondary and desert dirt trails not shown on our new Garmin navigator. We used our cell phones to call Tonia's fiancé in Canada who would get on Google Maps at work and talk us along.
You have to use a town road - a desert dirt trail - to get to the newly asphalted Tribal road which takes you to the Sky Walk parking area. The road belonging to the town is cut deep in the desert sand. It was sunken 3 feet below ground level. It had sharp rock sticking out the sides and up from the bed of the road ready to rip your tire(s) open. It had no shoulder to pull over onto. It is one lane with hazardous blind curves and maniacal drivers coming the other way at absurd speeds in 4 wheel drive vehicles (they work at the Sky Walk and are probably from Las Vegas and if you've ever seen Las Vegas traffic then you can understand why they lose it and drive so fast on nearly empty dirt roads without speed traps or cops). The only way to avoid a head on collision is to constantly look ahead for dust clouds in order to know they're coming and then get over as far to the right as you possibly can and pray it's enough.
You can only drive very slowly on this dirt road - maybe 20 miles per hour or less. Dust rises in clouds and coats your car. You need air conditioning because it is almost impossible to leave the windows open because of the dust. It takes you about two and a half hours to get to the short Tribal asphalted road. If you have to pee, you won't find a gas station or a rest stop along the way. Just do it from the car. And yes, there are rattlesnakes in the desert!
The town, despite hundreds of flat tires on many family vehicles which left them stranded in the Mojave desert with crying hungry children in the car (no doubt), decided that since the tourists would only be passing through and not spending money in their town and only the Las Vegas entrepreneur who financed the Sky Walk and the native Indians would reep profits from the Sky Walk, that they were not going to provide a paved road or signs or road assistance or make it safe or even patrol it.
Once we found the town's dirt track we also found tourists who warned us not to take our car on the trail because so many motorists had suffered flat tires and other mishaps and were unable to find any assistance except from other sympathetic drivers. These tourists blamed the Indians and said the Indians would try to charge them for even getting out of their cars and stepping on tribal land to change the flat. This was totally and absolutely untrue.
Arriving to the Sky Walk we first saw a dirt airport. Native Indians directed us where to park. There were helicopters landing all around us and throwing up so much dust that when you heard rotor wash you had to make a run back to your car, shield your eyes and mouth and even then you'd later find you and your backpack were covered in yellow dust. Your timing had to be good to get from the parking lot as far as the sheds where the Indians sold tickets to the Sky Walk.
It was expensive. I notice on their site they don't tell you just HOW expensive it is. I think Tonia and I paid over $75.00 each for the three stop shuttle bus with a meager lunch in a fake ghost town 'tour package' which took about an hour to complete. We were taken by bus to the Sky Walk. Around the entrance the native Indians beat drums and did dances and were very "American Indian". At the building you have to go through to get to walk out on the Sky Walk, you must leave your hand bag, back pack and all cameras, binoculars, etc.. You must also don paper slippers over your shoes so you don't scratch the glass. I can sort of imagine that by now the glass is getting pretty opaque with scratches anyway.
The reason they don't want you to take your camera out onto the Sky Walk is so that you don't drop it on the glass or down into the Grand Canyon. Or maybe it's because they charge you $20.00 per photo to capture you digitally.
BUT despite it all - the heat, the dust, the danger, the cost, the time ... it was worth it. The first step you take there is a ledge about 3 stories below you and you reach for the railing. The next step takes you 4,000 feet out over the Grand Canyon and you really can look down past your booties and see the canyon floor and the Colorado River below you and feel like what you are doing is totally crazy and wonderful and amazing and something out of a dream.
Oddly the official site for the Sky Walk doesn't show you how it appears to you or what it's like to walk on a glass bridge 4,000 feet up. Tonia and I were so lucky in that it had just opened and we nearly had the bridge to ourselves the whole time we were out on it. Photos on the site ( http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/mainmenu.html ) show a hundred people or more all on it at the same time. Maybe you should try to go early in the day or late in the afternoon?
The horseshoe shaped bridge is about 12 feet wide and the floor is layered glass. Sometimes there is a bit of condensation between the glass layers which can 'mist' the downward view. There is a 4 foot strip of clear glass in the middle and both sides have 2 foot strips of opaque glass. Some people feel more comfortable walking on the opaque glass which gives an impression of solidity. It's just an impression though so you might as well walk in the middle on the clear glass and get the thrill of a lifetime. The railings are also glass. You are allowed to stay out on the bridge for as long as you like. Most people seem to stay about 15 minutes or less and maybe walk back and forth two or three times.
It does take your breath away and some people can't handle the experience but please try as hard as you can to walk in the middle because it IS like walking on air above the most beautiful canyon in the world.
After the Sky Walk, the occasionally thrilling shuttle bus (some Indian drivers enjoy frightening you by driving at speed along the canyon edge) you will be taken to Guana Point, which is where birds have marked the red stone of the canyon white for thousands of years. There are no railings. Visitors to the Grand Canyon (especially children and daring teenagers) can and have fallen off the edge to their death so be careful and stay well away from the edge. It is 4,000 feet to the bottom!
After Guano Point a different and much smaller shuttle bus driven by an aging cowgirl will take you to an extremely fake ghost town where they will serve you a meager meal in a very shabby Hollywood back lot saloon.
BUT despite the Las Vegas entrepreneur, David Jin, ripping off the Indians and ripping off the visitors. Despite making it a playground for the rich from Las Vegas to fly in by helicopter for a cheap thrill. Despite having to see the proud Indians prostituting themselves wearing costumes and make-up and doing war dances in moccasins bought at Sam's Army Navy - it's the closest you will ever come to being an eagle flying above the Grand Canyon!
I did have the privilege to sit and talk with a Walapai indian named "Broken Sky". He is a dignified elderly man who gave me the low down on the Sky Walk deal from the Indian point of view and called the developers (and visitors) "White eyes". He did a drawing on a stone for me and because he didn't ask for anything, I gave him $10.00. He pointed out the indian princess profile in the rock and the spread eagle shape in the stone across the canyon. He was very genuine and intelligent and had a great sense of humor.
Despite it all, if you possibly can, go to the Sky Walk and I dare you to walk in the middle.
P.S. I was not paid to write that!
Last edited on Dec 03, 2008
The Sky Walk is recommended by Lisisme
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