Grand Canyon skywalk

[smithmail]

Has has anyone been to the Grand Canyon. My parents are taking me there in a couple of months and i think that we are going to go on the Skywalk. Is it worth it?

[nw30]

Been there, if you are going to the Grand Canyon anyway, it's worth it, freaky/scary for some, but awesome for others.
However, if you were going to the Skywalk only, from lets say Vegas, it's a pretty long drive thru a bunch of nothing, just to get there, it really is off by itself. But there is a little airstrip there if you have the bucks.
Check it out on Google Earth, you'll see what I mean.

[isobars]

MY GC trips precede the Skywalk, but a) the GC is a phenomenal place even just to look at, let alone explore via foot, mule, aircraft, or raft, and b) that whole part of the U.S. is pretty phenomenal. I've rafted the GC and ridden dirt bikes (desert racing motorcycles) across many thousands of miles of the desert southwest in the GC's general vicinity, and both living and playing in that part of the country were the highlights of my life, spoiling me forever on living anywhere else the U.S. If it had better WSing I'd have never left there.

If you've never been to that part of the U.S., it is a must-see by even global standards. The Skywalk is but a blip -- probably a very visceral blip -- on the whole scene. Heck, for that matter the GC is but a blip -- a frigging DEEP blip -- on the scenery of the entire 4-corners area unless one plunges its depths. It's just one of many incredible national parks scattered among scores of thousands of square miles of wide-open public lands in the area, especially Utah, where the parks are more hands-on and user-friendly than the GC's vast and daunting terrain. Casual vacationers can really only gawk at the GC; major hikes and raft trips require significant planning and preparation. Utah's and Arizona's other national parks require little more than rugged sneakers to see and touch up close and personal. A 4WD (e,g, Jeep) adds much more to the experience in some of the parks.

GC, Bryce, Zion, Canyonlands, Arches, Moab, Capital Reef, etc. are all absolutely incredible paces to spend a week or a decade exploring. By comparison, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Acadia, the Badlands, Glacier, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Carlsbad Caverns, Mammoth Cave, Great Basin, Smoky Mountains, Guadalupe Mountains, Haleakala, Joshua Tree, Mesa Verde, Kennecamp, the Adirondacks, the Ozarks, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest, Redwood, Saguaro, Sequoia, White Sands are all great, but each provided just a busy one-day trip for us, as we're not backpackers.

One tip: don't even THINK about going there in the summer, when it can get almost as hot and crowded as ... oh ... say Washington, DC. A couple of months from now -- March? -- should be fine, unless a blizzard strikes ... a real possibility then. Whether it's "worth it" is up to you, but blizzard or no blizzard, it's an experience you and your family will never forget, especially if the trip also hits Utah's parks.

[real-human]

[mac]

Don't know the skywalk. Grand Canyon is spectacular--but of a scale that makes it hard to grasp. Of the southern Utah Parks, I though Zion the most approachable. Best hikes, Yosemite in red. Spectacular.

[isobars]

A large entourage of Japanese dignitaries were visiting the president at the White House many years ago. Asked what they'd like to personally visit that afternoon, their chorus was "Niagra Falls and the Grand Canyon". The staff had to explain the physical scope of the U.S. to them. I've forgotten now, but I'm guessing they visited the Smithsonian instead.

[smithmail]

Thanks for all the opinions From what it says on their website http://www.grandcanyon-nationalpark.org/grand-canyon-skywalk/ it looks fun but really high aswell

[techno900]

If money is no object, go for it. However, I have hiked to the bottom and out from both rims and rafted through the whole thing in the late 50's. The perspective one gets from extending out 50' over the rim is not likely to be a much better deal than just looking from dozens of other vantage points on the rims. (I haven't been on the Skywalk).

Hiking down about a half hour from the south rim gives one a much better perspective of the canyon. Remember you have to hike back up, and there is a ranger part way down to keep novices from going too far down and getting stuck with too little water, too little fitness or the proper gear.

It's an amazing place.

[mac]

Amazing--and to imagine, God created it only 5,000 years ago!

[MalibuGuru]