Desert Trip III

Our trip to the Grand Canyon was to the western rim, which is on the other end of the Arizona from the National Park. As you can see the western end is the desert portion. There is no sanctuary from the sun. Being there in early April we did not have to deal with the heat as we would have to experience in summer. I would not want to walk around there in the summer with temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100s. The Skywalk is a thing to do but given the costs, the heat and lack of shade I would not do the western rim in the summer.

The Skywalk is on a Native American reservation. Though you can drive to the Skywalk, it is not only well of the main highway and not well marked, but the road off the main highway is about 15 miles of winding gravel road. We are now very happy that we took a tour bus rather than trying to find the place ourselves.

The folks that run the Skywalk have you park at the “Gateway” and take you by bus to the two Grand Canyon stops as well as to a Native American village. The bus service is regular. As the Skywalk can handle only 160 people an hour you could find yourself standing in line for over 90 minutes to get on to it. The food court at the Skywalk is not overly efficient and it could take 15 to 20 minutes to place the order and 10 to 15 minutes to receive your food.

We have been to the Skywalk. Our next visit to the Grand Canyon will be the eastern end which is in the National Park. The National Park is more forested and from what we understand, in summer much better than the desert portion of the Canyon.

Regardless when you go to the desert portion, take plenty of sunscreen and water.