The only down side of the bus is the length of time it takes. Helicopter ride was 2 1/2 hours where as the bus tour turned into 13 & 1/2 hours! However it did have the added bonus of driving over, and stopping to see the Hoover Dam as well as giving you 4 hours to explore the Canyon. It was a long day getting picked up at 6am and not returning until 7.30pm (unlike the supposed 5.30pm return).
It took around an hour to reach The Hoover Dam where we had to stop for a ridiculous bomb search. This involves someone coming on the bus and pretending to look at the overhead storage, but in reality walks up and down the bus not bothering to check anyones bag. This is in response to the 9/11 attack and they are now in the process of building a bridge so that no traffic gets on the dam. This will also reduce the journey time to the canyon by at least 30 minutes each way.
The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. When completed in 1936, it was both the world's largest hydroelectric power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure. It is currently the world's 38th-largest hydroelectric generating station.
This dam, located 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, is named after Herbert Hoover, who played an instrumental role in its construction, first as the Secretary of Commerce, and then later, as the President of the United States. Construction began in 1931, and was completed in 1936, a little more than two years ahead of schedule.
After the brief stop at the Dam it was time to head for the Canyon. The section that we were going to was the West Rim which is located on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. To get here it was another 2 and half hour drive. As we got near we drove through a huge 900 year old Joshua Tree forest.
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, one of the first national parks in the United States. It is 277 miles long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles and has a depth of over a mile (6000 feet). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.
It is not the deepest canyon in the world (Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal is far deeper), nor the widest (Capertee Valley in Australia is about 1 km wider and longer than Grand Canyon) — but the Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colourful landscape.
We were dropped off at the terminal and we had a choice of two shuttle buses to catch. The one we selected first took us out to the Canyon and had 3 stops along the way, the first of which was Eagle Point. As soon as we got out the bus we were greeted with an amazing view and ran right over to hang off the edge, surprised, but happy that there was no fence up to block the views. ( I wonder how many people have jumped?) The scenery was astonishing its one of those things thats impossible to describe and no photo will ever give it justice, you have to see it for yourself.
Eagle Point gets its name from the rock formation that faces it that looks like an Eagle. This stop is also where the $40m, glass floored Skywalk is. This bridge is quite impressive as it was created with 90 tons of strengthened glass imported from Germany, 500 tons of steel
that can support the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 passenger jets. It was also built to withstand winds of over a 100mph and a category 8 earthquake.
All that aside we decided not to bother going on as it an additional $30 per person and the most influentional factor was that no cameras are allowed, apparently to prevent people from dropping and breaking their cameras, convienantly allowing them to charge a small fortune to take your photo.
Eagle Point is also the site of a recreated Native American Village. Relatives of the traditional owners of the land have recreated all the different types of traditional houses that the locals of this area once lived in using all the original materials that their ancestors would have used.
The Hualapai are a native people of the South-West. Traditionally they inhabited an area of more than 5 million acres. Today the Hualapai Indian Reservation is 993,000 acres. Here we seen various types of traditional houses including Wigwam's and Tipi's.
After walking around the village and taking in the views it was time to hop back on the bus and go to Guano Point. Here we were met with the most spectacular views over the Canyon and the Colorado River. During the 1950's and 60's, bat guano (crap) was mined from a cave across the canyon and trammed back on cables. The guano is rich in nitrates and believe it or not, it was used for the production of makeup, fertilizer and explosives. Some of the mining relics still exist and you can see the remains of the old cable car tramway. You can climb to the summit of a pyramid here which offers 360 degree views across the valley. In addition you can also walk around the perimeter to get a good view over either side of the cliff.
While posing for a photo at the edge of the canyon here, I could hear rustling and had recently learned that several poisonous snakes inhabit this area, so instantly thought the worst and nearly jumped off the edge! Luckily it was only a chipmunk and there was still another step back or so before I would have stepped over the edge, although this little guy didn't seem fazed by us or how close to the edge he was.
It was then time to go back to the terminal to catch the second shuttle to the Hualapai Ranch for lunch. This is a mock cowboy town that was created in 2004 to give people an idea of what a traditional Western cowboy town was like. It featured everything you would expect such as a jail, stables, wagon wheel, and the diner where we had lunch. When we walked in here we seen Iain's hero as he was an old man playing old crappy country music (which we believe meets Colin's brothers criteria of being a music legend) and it actually sounded good. We had a cracking lunch that consisted of bbq pork ribs or roast chicken, baked potatoes, corn in the cob, cookies and disgusting sponge cake that tasted worse than a sponge that would have cleaned a dirty floor (although Colin disagrees, what does he know he actually likes brussel sprouts! What is that all about?)
From here it was time to catch the bus back to Vegas which took 5 hours due to the traffic crossing the Hoover Dam and all the different hotel drops!
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