Grand Canyon West is a tourism development on the

Hualapai The Hualapai ( , ) are a federally recognized Native American tribe in Arizona with about 2300 enrolled citizens. Approximately 1353 enrolled citizens reside on the Hualapai Reservation, which spans over three counties in Northern Arizona ( Coc ...

Reservation in

Mohave County Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 counties in the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is th ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States. Grand Canyon West is home to the tribe's

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

business operations, including the Grand Canyon West Airport and the

Grand Canyon Skywalk The Grand Canyon Skywalk is a horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass walkway at Eagle Point in Arizona near the Colorado River, on the edge of a side canyon in the Grand Canyon West area of the main canyon.Yost, MarkClose to the Edge ' ...

. Operated by the tribal-owned Grand Canyon Resort Corporation, the development is the primary source of revenue and employment for the tribe. The Hualapai allow activities that are not permitted in the neighboring

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in northwestern Arizona, the 15th site to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyo ...

to attract tourists, such as flights within the canyon, motorized boats on the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

, daredevil stunts, and development of the Skywalk. Other facilities at Grand Canyon West include a visitor center, restaurants, cabins, a

zipline A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide''Who Really Benefits from Tourism'', Publ. Equations, Karnataka, India, 2010. Working Papers Series. "Canopy Tourism"page 37/ref>Jacques Marais, Lisa De Speville, ''Adventure Racing'', ...

over a side canyon, a Western-themed street, and examples of Native American dwellings.

History

The Hualapai tribe saw tourism as the best way to support its economic development, and its location at the Grand Canyon provided a business opportunity. Grand Canyon West was established in 1988 with a dirt airport and originally offered tribal member-led tours. The airport was paved in 1997. A helicopter pilot known for giving passengers harrowing rides grazed a canyon wall with the helicopter rotor in September 2003, causing it to crash and killing all six passengers. While the Hualapai had a

tribal casino Native American gaming comprises casinos, Bingo (American version), bingo halls, Slot machine, slots halls and other gambling operations on Indian reservations or other tribal lands in the United States. Because these areas have tribal sovereig ...

gambling enterprise in 1995, its location three hours from

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

resulted in its failure in less than a year. Grand Canyon West was further developed as a site for views of the canyon, receiving 150,000 visitors a year prior to 2007. The Grand Canyon Skywalk, a cantilevered glass-bottomed walkway extending out from the rim of the canyon, was conceived in 2003 to be its principal attraction. It opened in 2007 at a cost of $40 million.Cart, Julie
"Grand Canyon Skywalk opens deep divide"
''Los Angeles Times''. 2007-02-11. The road to Grand Canyon West was paved in 2014 following a lengthy legal fight with a nearby landowner. Grand Canyon West first surpassed 1 million annual visitors in 2015. The majority of visitors are international, many from China. Several daredevil stunts have taken place at Grand Canyon West, which the Hualapai Tribal Council must approve of as respectful of their culture. The Hualapai tribe installed a solar-powered

microgrid A microgrid is a local electrical grid with defined electrical boundaries, acting as a single and controllable entity. It is able to operate in grid-connected and off-grid modes.

with battery storage in 2023, reducing use of diesel because the area is not connected to the main electrical grid.

Flights

Grand Canyon West Airport provides access to

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

flights from Las Vegas and is a base for sightseeing helicopters. The tribal airspace above Grand Canyon West is not subject to federal regulations and limitations on the number of sightseeing flights that exist for Grand Canyon National Park, which has led to noise, environmental, and safety concerns. The Hualapai tribe also permits helicopters to fly in between canyon walls and land near the floor of the canyon, while aircraft are not permitted below the rim in the national park. Following aviation accidents at the Grand Canyon, including a 1986 mid-air collision between two sightseeing aircraft, Congress passed the National Parks Overflights Act of 1987 and the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

imposed regulations on scenic flights over Grand Canyon National Park. However, the regulation exempted flights over the Hualapai Reservation.

Geography

Grand Canyon West is located in northern Mohave County on the west side of the

on its South Rim, though it is also referred to as the West Rim to distinguish from the main facilities of Grand Canyon National Park. It is at the northwestern corner of the

Reservation and borders

at the

. It is served by Diamond Bar Road, which leads southwest to County Highway 25 near Meadview.

Guano Point The Bat Cave mine was a bat guano mine in a natural cave located in the western Grand Canyon of Arizona at river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its river mouth, mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero ...

lies at the north end of Grand Canyon West and has remnants of a closed mine tramway headhouse and a panoramic view of the canyon.

Census-designated place

Grand Canyon West is also a classified as a census-designated place (CDP). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , of that being land, with the remaining consisting of water. As of the 2010 census, there were 2 people living in the CDP, both male. The CDP contained 19 housing units, of which 2 were occupied and 17 were vacant. The 2020 census recorded no residents. Employee housing is not provided due to limited water resources.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Census-designated places in Mohave County, Arizona Census-designated places in Arizona Hualapai Grand Canyon, South Rim (west) Tourist attractions in Mohave County, Arizona