Skywalk Grand Canyon West

I went to the West Rim after reading many negative reviews online. I hoped they were wrong; I wanted them to be wrong.

They weren't wrong.

The developer that set all this up sold the tribe on the idea that this would be their ticket to good roads, good schools, and a steady income. That didn't happen - the roads to the west rim are several miles of dirt road. If it has been maintained recently and if your vehicle is reasonably able to deal with such things it will only be an annoyance, but if your car isn't set up for rough terrain or if the roads haven't been graded for a while, you will start your trip with a bad time - possibly even end it.
You may be tempted to take the bus in. However, the bus is not for you - the bus is for the hordes of Chinese tourist who have flown in to Los Vegas, hopped on a good bus from Vegas to here, then hop on the less-than-good buses that will take you in to the site. They don't publish the times on line (or at least they didn't when I went), because the people they want to serve already know the time. They will take your money and get you there and back, but unless you speak Cantonese, don't expect a lot of conversation. (note: this isn't just my opinion; I had plenty of time to speak to the people running the bus counter, since I got there very early due to the lack of any documentation on when the bus left).

Then there is the fact that there are only 3 things to do on site: see the Skywalk, go to "dancer", and go to their "town" for a "meal". I'll take these in reverse order.
The "town" looks like somebody saw a cheap Western once when they were a kid. Then, when they were an adult, they were on a plane with somebody and described it to them over drinks. Then, that person described what they understood to the developer, who then scratched some notes on a napkin and threw that to the lowest bidder from a country that wasn't the US to build. The buildings are unintentional parodies of a "western" town - not even a Native Indian village. There are only about 6 buildings, 5 of which are not open to the visitor and may only be viewed through the dirty windows. The final building is where your "meal" is served - low grade Sysco "BBQ" on Sysco rolls. There were numerous flies pinin' for the fjords in the windows.

Then there is the dancer. This is just a simple section of concrete with one tribe member and a boombox for music. No exposition, no description of the culture, no real interaction. I really feel sorry for the poor person who draws the short straw to fill this role.

OK, then there is the Skywalk. From outside the building, you can see the formation that is the showcase of the view - and since you still have your camera, you can actually take pictures of it. I suggest you do so now. Then, you go into the building, and while you wend your way through the line, you get to see all the details of building the Skywalk, how strong it is, etc. All of which will make you wonder why the "reason" you cannot have your camera is because of risk of damage to the Skywalk if you drop it. Then, you are on the Skywalk itself. The carefully arranged pictures you see in the publicity all make it seem the thing is thousands of feet up. No, it's about 60 feet over the ground - the canyon slopes downward, it doesn't plummet. You really don't have any better view of the area from the Skywalk than you did outside - you just don't have your camera now; I think in order to keep you from taking pictures that would demonstrate the inaccurate impression the publicity photos give. Then you go inside.

OK, you'd done all the sights. That was about 45 minutes of time. If you drove, you can leave now. If you took the bus, you have a couple of hours to kill. So you go into the gift shop - surely you can get a very impressive poster of the view from the Skywalk to take the place of the picture you couldn't take yourself, right? Wrong. The gift shop has no such picture. Well, at least you can get some pottery, or some jewelry made by the tribe, and support them? Wrong. All the stuff in the gift shop was made in China.

I had the opportunity to talk to one of the tribe as he was picking up the trash thrown in the bushes by the tourists. Since we were probably the first tourists all day with whom he could speak and were interested in him, he gave us an earful. This whole development just continues the history of the indigenous people being screwed by the outsider; all the stuff the tribe was promised has not materialized, and almost all the money is going back to the developer.

I know this review is lengthy - I am trying to avoid the all-to-frequent online review of "this sucks and it sucks and it sucks!" - I am trying to give you enough facts to check on that you can judge whether I am trustworthy or full of it. It really pains me to write this review: I would LOVE to be able to say "It's wonderful, go here, spend lots of money, help the tribe." But I cannot - the money you spend here won't help the tribe, and you'd be better off going to the South or North Rim and giving your money to Xanterra.

researching this stop the cost is prohibitive to my measly budget for five, but overall is not a bad deal including a meal, several stops and the skywalk itself. They are package deals though, you can't just buy a ticket to the skywalk. Prices range from $45-$335