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Grand Canyon West - The Skywalk

The Grand Canyon Skywalk's 'U-shaped' walkway extends 70 feet out over the canyon. With a see-through plexiglass floor and a significant vertical drop it can be quite unnerving to some people.

Arizona

1989, 2007

About The Park

Grand Canyon’s Skywalk is the newest addition to the Grand Canyon from which the rim is easily accessible. Run by the Hualapai tribe it is a combination of modern-day amenities and Native American culture with the magnificence of the canyon as a backdrop.

The Skywalk is something of an engineering marvel. It is a 65 foot wide U-shaped walkway, sitting on a pair of parallel six foot high steel beams, which extend out 70 feet over the canyon at a place called Eagle Point.  The vertical drop directly beneath the Skywalk is between 500 and 800 feet and the Colorado River at the base of the canyon is 3500 feet below.

In between the parallel steel beams there’s a five foot wide section of plexiglass that you can walk on and look straight down on the canyon below. Many people find walking on the plexiglass kind of unnerving and some people hold onto the side railings and inch their way around standing only on the outside steel beam. They limit the number of people out on the Skywalk at any one time to 120 and there was no time limit on how long you could be out there.

One of the things that limits how long people would stay out there is that they do not allow cameras or cell phones. They have to be checked as personal property and you go through metal detectors. I was told that the reason that they do not allow cameras or cell phones was because people would hold them above the plexiglass sidewalls to take pictures and occasionally drop them. There’s no way to retrieve them for people who drop them and there is little chance that the object would have survived that kind of drop intact. Periodically they would have to have somebody make their way down there and clean up what is now, for all intents and purposes, garbage. So without cameras the only picture you can get is the one that they will take and sell you. You can see an example of one in the photo gallery with Eagle Point in the background.

The Skywalk is about a 120 mile drive from Las Vegas. When I went there in 2007 the road was graded for the last 9 miles but I’ve since read that it is now paved. There are also tours out of Las Vegas that will take you there by bus, plane or helicopter. They have a modern airport terminal to handle the air traffic.

To go out on the Skywalk you have to purchase a tour and also a ticket for the Skywalk. The combined price as of 2020 is between $75 and $80 per person depending on the season. The tour takes you by bus along the rim to some viewpoints. One stop is at a place called Guano Point where there’s the remnants of an old cable car engine house from a long defunct mining operation. The tour also includes stopping at the cowboy town at the Hualapai Ranch. At the Skywalk stop you check your belongings, put a pair of booties over your shoes so you don’t scratch the plexiglass, go through security and then walk out onto the Skywalk. The Skywalk is located at Eagle Point and the eagle is easily visualize-able in the rock of the canyon.

The viewpoints are the typically spectacular Grand Canyon views and, in point of fact, are little different from those that you get at the North or the South Rim in the National Park which is about 80 or 90 miles away. The main attraction is the Skywalk.

Where ever you are on the rim of the Grand Canyon do not stand close to the edge. The ground is not stable and people fall into the canyon. In March of 2019 a tourist fell 1000 feet when he slipped at the edge of the rim next to the Skywalk while taking photos.

Attractions

Helicopter tours, zip lining, horseback rides, wagon rides and river rafting on the Colorado River are available.

Wildlife

The wildlife is your typical desert wildlife. Rodents, lizards and snakes. This is not a place that you come to see wildlife. I did see a Mojave Green rattlesnake by the side of the road coming in to the Grand Canyon west. Unfortunately, probably because my hands were shaking when I took the picture not knowing how far he could lunge or how fast he could move, the picture in the photo gallery isn’t as clear as I’d like it to be.

Lodging

Hualapai Ranch

The only lodging on-site is the Hualapai Ranch. It consists of cabins located in an old west town that they built. It’s a fun site and the cabins were more than adequate. We had dinner at the café and there was a mock gunfight out in the street. There were corrals with horses and burros. When we were there they even held a campfire at night where a Hualapai tribesmen told us stories of the area and the culture. I was up early and took a walk down the road to the edge of the canyon at Quartermaster Point to view the sunrise. With the Grand Canyon as a backdrop the Hualapai Ranch is certainly in a scenic spot.

Grand Canyon Ranch Resort

The only other lodging that is near is the Grand Canyon Ranch Resort which is located about 2 miles outside of the Grand Canyon West.

Hualapai Lodge

There is the modern Hualapai Lodge which is about two hours away on historic Route 66 in Peach Springs, Arizona.

Since it’s only about 120 miles from Las Vegas many people come to the Skywalk as a day trip.

Hiking

You can’t hike on your own here. This is Hualapai reservation land and as such is basically private property. I don’t know of any hiking trails for guided hikes that you can take from the Grand Canyon West but it is possible that something can be arranged at the visitor center. I mentioned that I walked down to Quartermaster Point but it was at the invitation of our campfire guide who was walking down there himself.

The Grand Canyon West in 1989

On a family trip to Las Vegas in 1989 we booked a flight into the Grand Canyon. The plane held nine passengers and a pilot and landed on a dirt airstrip on a plateau in the canyon. There were several trailers along the edge of the airstrip where we waited for a bus to take us along the rim. We boarded an old school bus and stopped at a few viewpoints along the rim. The last stop that we were at was an old defunct cable car terminus where we ate our lunch sitting on the floor. Before we were through with lunch the wind picked up and the sheet-metal walls were rattling. Our guide received a call on his radio from the people at the airstrip who told him that a storm was moving in and we needed to get back on our planes and fly out of there as soon as possible. So we went back and boarded our plane and flew back in rainy weather. Eighteen years later, as our bus took us along the rim and stopped at Eagle Point and at Guano Point, with what was left of the old cable car terminus, I realized that this is where we were in 1989 when there was virtually nothing out here.

Grand Canyon Skywalk Photo Gallery

Other Resources

Grand Canyon West - Skywalk  - NPS.gov


Grand Canyon West - Official Website


Grand Canyon West - Skywalk - Wikipedia


Grand Canyon West Rim Lodging


Things to do at the Grand Canyon West

Other National Parks Within a Day’s Drive

Grand Canyon National Park - South Rim is about 240 miles to the south and east.

Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim is about 610 miles away if you take the route north through Las Vegas. It is about 450 miles if you travel south past the South Rim.  This is not a “day’s drive”. I mention it here just for informational purposes since you are already at the Grand Canyon.
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Updated 02/11/23 7:04 PM

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