There are no shortage of impressive national parks throughout the Southwest, but there is no park that draws more visitors from around the country and the world than the Grand Canyon National Park.

This national park in Arizona is the de facto official spot to see the canyon, but it is far from the only place. The canyon is 277 miles long, offering plenty of opportunities to explore it from a variety of angles.

The park in Arizona is known as the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It is the image of the canyon that comes up most in popular culture. The south rim certainly offers a number of breathtaking vistas, and there is no shortage of activities thanks largely to the designation as an official national park. In much the same way, the west rim benefits from its proximity to Las Vegas. While it may not be as popular in pop landscape photography, the west rim is no less picturesque or awe-inspiring than the south rim.

The Grand Canyon is one of the greatest examples of the unbridled natural power of erosion. The exact age of the canyon is not known, and while the oldest rocks at the bottom are close to 2 billion years old, the canyon itself is thought to be much newer. Estimates put the formation of the canyon as happening in the last 5 million to 20 million years as tributaries flowed into the Colorado River, and the Colorado River carved to the ocean. The result is a canyon that ranges from four miles to 18 miles wide and that, at its deepest point, is more than one mile deep. While some people may be unimpressed with what they see as nothing more than a large hole in the ground, the Grand Canyon attracts a lot of visitors, with some five million people converging on this natural beauty each year.

The majority of visitors are from the U.S. (about 83 percent), and the busiest time of the year for visiting the canyon is the vacation months of summer. With children heading back to school and with the weather in this part of the country taking a turn toward the more moderate temperatures of late summer and early fall, now is one of the best times to visit the park.

South Side
The Grand Canyon National Park at the south rim is the place to see the canyon. That, at least, seems to be the consensus of just about everyone who has visited it. The park is about a four-hour drive from Las Vegas, putting it at the extreme end of realistic and viable day trips. You could conceivably drive out to the park in the morning, hastily take in the views from the more popular and easily accessible view points, leave shortly after sundown and be back home by around midnight. If that’s all the time you can spare, it is still worth a visit. But such a cursory visit of the park leaves a lot of things unexplored.

And as one of the nation’s oldest and largest national parks, there is plenty of exploring to do throughout the canyon. Regardless of how much research you do before you get there, the Canyon View Information Plaza should really be one of the first places to visit. It likely won’t be the first place visited, however, if you’re driving to the park. The visitors center is reachable only by free shuttle busses that operate on four different routes in the park. But, you can also (gasp!) walk to the visitors center from Mather Point, the first pullout for visitors entering through the south entrance. From this point, you can opt to take any of the shuttles around the park, or you can stay in your vehicle on the 25-mile Desert View drive. The drive takes visitors to all the major viewing areas, including Grandview Point, which offers the best view of the canyon, the highest viewpoint on the south rim at Desert View and the 800-year-old prehistoric pueblo at Tusayan Ruin.

While some visitors are more than happy to stay on top of the rim and view the canyon from the various pullouts, to get a more complete sense of the size of the canyon it is advisable to get out of the car and do some hiking. There are five day hike trails along the south rim. The Rim Trail is the easiest trail—and therefore most crowded—while the Grandview Trail is the most difficult. The Grandview Trail is only suggested for experienced hikers, but it offers some unique views of the park that can’t be seen any other way than by an aerial tour. If your trip is a spur of the moment kind of thing, these day trips will be about all you can do, that is, unless you’re a super hiker. The trail leading to the river at the bottom of the canyon can be traversed in a day, but the park strongly discourages people from trying. Every year there are a number of emergency rescues (and the park graciously passes on the costs of such rescues to the hikers themselves) that take place because people are under-prepared and over-confident.

Those hoping to get to the bottom of the canyon are instead asked to apply for a backcountry camping permit. Demand almost always exceeds supply for these permits, so the earlier you plan, the better. There are, according to the National Park Service, two general reactions from the people who hiked to the bottom. One group is so awestruck with the beauty and the emotions that are evoked standing at the river’s edge and looking 6,000 feet up at the rim that they don’t mind the physical exertion required to get down and back out of the canyon. Others vow never to try it again.

If you’re planning far enough out (like, say, 13 or more months) you might be lucky enough to get one of the mule trips to the bottom. These trips are somewhat expensive, but for those people who want to get the full Grand Canyon experience yet want to avoid the strain of miles of dangerous, rocky and steep park trails, mule trips are the way to go.

Closer to Home
For those coming from Las Vegas, Grand Canyon West is definitely a shorter—although not necessarily easier—drive. Getting to the Grand Canyon West requires a trip across the Hoover Dam, continuing south on U.S. 93 until you reach Pierce Ferry Road. The tricky part comes in the last 14 miles of unpaved road that connects Pierce Ferry to Grand Canyon West. The 14-mile stretch on Diamond Bar Road can be hell on smaller vehicles, and it can take upwards of 45 minutes to cover. In all, the 120-mile trip from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West can take close to three hours.

While few would argue that this side of the canyon is as picturesque as the south rim, it is home to one of the more interesting man-made structures anywhere in the canyon: the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

Located on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the U-shaped skywalk gives visitors a chance to stand over and look straight down into the canyon. The skywalk extends 70 feet over an offshoot of the canyon—the main canyon and the Colorado River are barely visible in the distance—where it stands more than 2,000 feet above the canyon floor. There are no comparable vantage points anywhere else along the 277 miles the canyon covers. (One thing worth noting is that while this sounds like a great spot to snap some pictures, you will not be allowed to take a camera out onto the skywalk.)

Entrance to Grand Canyon West costs $40.95 per person, and it costs an extra $29.95 for admission onto the skywalk. From the skywalk at Eagle Point, you can catch a shuttle to Guano Point or to the Hualapai Ranch. If you have young ones with you, the Hualapai Ranch may be an enjoyable diversion, but otherwise, it comes across as being a little too contrived and cheesy. But the view from Guano Point is something to behold. This little island of land stretches out into the main canyon and offers a stunning view of the Colorado River.

Starting in Las Vegas also offers a number of advantages for unique ways to view the Grand Canyon. There are a number of outfits that operate driving, helicopter and airplane tours of the canyon. Depending on how much you are willing to spend, you can arrange for anything from a flyover to a landing for a champagne lunch at the bottom of the canyon. Remember, it is Las Vegas, so with enough money, just about anything can be arranged. The advantage of the aerial tours is not just the unique perspective, but the views on the way to and from the Grand Canyon—flight paths usually go over the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.

There are any number of tour companies that can arrange trips to the Grand Canyon out of Las Vegas. Some have better reputations than others going by reviews posted online, so if you do go this route, do some research first, because while not prohibitively expensive, some of these tours do get a little pricy.

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Grand Canyon National Park

Entrance Cost: $25 per vehicle; $12 per person for pedestrians and people on motorcycle or bicycles.

Includes: A seven-day pass that is good at the South Rim as well as the North Rim; access to shuttle service throughout the South Rim.

Other Fees: For those camping in undeveloped campgrounds, there is a non-refundable fee of $10 per permit plus $5 per person per night camped below the rim and $5 per group per night camped above the rim.

Mule Trips: Mule trips are offered by Xanterra Parks & Resorts (888-297-2757). The seven-hour Plateau Point ride is $162.06 per person; overnight trips to the Phantom Ranch near the Colorado River are $477.34 for one person or $842.60 for two people.

Website: www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm

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Grand Canyon West

Entrance Cost: $40.95 per person.

Includes: Access to the Grand Canyon West and use of the shuttles that deliver visitors to Eagle Point, Guano Point and the Hualapai Ranch. Also includes a ticket that can be used for lunch at either Guano Point or Hualapai Ranch.

Other Fees: $29.95 for admission to the skywalk.

Website: www.grandcanyonskywalk.com

By Greg Jones

Greg Jones is managing editor of Casino Connection Nevada, as well as associate editor of Global Gaming Business magazine.

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