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Jul. 15, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nothing grand about bumpy Skywalk road

Tourists arrive grumpy after 14-mile ride to canyon rim

By CHRIS KAHN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ON THE WEB

• Grand Canyon Skywalk

• Grand Canyon West Ranch


The Skywalk, shown before its March 20 opening, should be more easily accessible after improvements on a 14-mile dirt road to the Hualapai Indian Reservation attraction at Grand Canyon West, Ariz.
Photo by The Associated Press.

PHOENIX -- Before they get to the Grand Canyon's glass-bottom Skywalk, most visitors are treated to an unexpected thrill, 14 miles of dusty, axle-busting road that twists around Joshua trees on the Hualapai Indian reservation.

That ride should get much easier over the next few years, the Hualapai tribe said Friday.

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    • The Hualapai said they've reached an agreement with a nearby landowner to pave the old washboard road.

    "It's such a relief," said Sherri Yellowhawk, CEO of the Grand Canyon Resort Corp., the tribe's business arm. "Usually (tourists) are upset by the time they get there."

    About 100,000 people have visited the massive horseshoe-shaped observation deck since it opened in March.

    The Skywalk offers straight-down, spine-tingling views 4,000 feet above the canyon floor and is an important source of income for the Hualapai, who rely on tourist dollars, and David Jin, the Las Vegas businessman who paid for its construction.

    But bringing people to the remote western edge of the canyon has been difficult. The tribe operates a small airport near the Skywalk, but most visitors still come by car along Diamond Bar Road.

    The rugged dirt road has claimed numerous vehicles as tourists flocked to the west rim. The Hualapai wanted to pave it for years, Yellowhawk said, but Nigel Turner, who owns the Grand Canyon West Ranch, blocked the construction with a lawsuit.

    Turner said he worried the road would endanger the ancient Joshua trees, some of which are a few centuries old. He worried that a paved road would transform the region into a busy tourist center like the canyon's popular south rim, 90 miles to the east.

    "I bought the ranch really to protect it, and to have it for eco-tourism, and my concern was that a paved road coming through the ranch was going to do a lot of destruction to the environment," Turner said. "That's not the business we're in. The people here want a lot of quiet and tranquility."

    The Hualapai recently paid Turner $750,000 to settle the lawsuit and clear the way for road construction.

    "You can only go so far with these fights on your own," Turner said.

    Yellowhawk said it will cost about $20 million to build the road, which will be treated with organic oil to keep tires from kicking up dust and stones. She said $12 million of that will come from federal grant money. The other $8 million probably will come from future profits from the Skywalk and other tourist attractions on the reservation.

    Diamond Bar Road will stay open during construction, Yellowhawk said.



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    Kim wrote on July 15, 2007 04:54 PM: I made the mistake of going in April with visitors from overseas. By the time we got there, learned of the ridiculous price & then one cannot even take a camera on to the skywalk, we left. Not to mention needing a 4x4 to negotiate that bloody road, which we did not have. It's a complete rip-off. The Hualapai have completely mislead the public, and I wont spend any of my money there.


    jeff waite wrote on July 15, 2007 11:57 AM: I have lived in Dolan Sptings area for seven years. The only access to this skywalk is on Peirce Ferry road. The tourist traffic is overwhelming. A steady flow of suvs and forty foot buses packed with tourists is destroying the road and tranquility of life here. The companies running these tours buy their fuel and supplies in Nevada and use Arizonas roads and facilities at our expense. A new access through White
    Hills should be expedited . If Turner is concerned now wait till the Mardian Ranch costruction starts!!!!!Good luck.


    Lee Yarbrough wrote on July 15, 2007 11:15 AM: I would be interested in more information on why the Hualapai tribe is receiving a $12 Million federal grant to build their road to the skywalk. Seems to me if they could find the millions to build this skywalk they can also pay for the road to get people there since they are charging so much money for nothing anyway.

    Talk about pork, taxpayers paying for a road to nothing.


    Malcolm Wilson wrote on July 15, 2007 08:48 AM: Thanks for the warning Wayne. A group of my friends are coming to LV next month and have been speaking of visiting this new attraction. I will tell them what you say. I am visiting next year and if things don't change for the better I will definitely give it a miss. Again, thanks for the warning, Wayne


    wayne west wrote on July 15, 2007 07:14 AM: after the road you pay $50.00 to park. but wait, there's more! then you pay to walk the bridge then [ here's the best part] NO CAMERAS! gee, who could resist such a bargain!