Grand Canyon Tours

Yesterday was pretty spectacular. We took Phoebe off to get a tire here in Williams, early in the morning, and got a call from everyone while we were there to say that we had to catch the earlier train to the Grand Canyon rather than the one we had reserved. So we left the car at the tire place, with the tire guy (named PeeWee) and took off.

The train ride from Williams to the Grand Canyon Village is about an hour and a half, and they have entertainment on the train; guys walk around singing western tunes. You can pick an 1920's era passenger car to ride up to the canyon in, or a later, air-conditioned one; we chose the air-conditioning because it was threatening to be a record heat day. We got a bus tour at the top of the canyon that included lunch, so they fed us a buffet and drove us to a couple of different points at the south rim of the canyon to take pictures.

The Grand Canyon is definitely one of the most spectacular, awe-inspiring things I've ever seen. The size of it is mind-boggling and almost impossible to take in. I tried to do some shots from west to east and took 10 shots that I'll try to stitch together into a single picture later. And that's just of the rim; I did the same thing from the horizon down into the canyon and took six photos from the skyine down to the canyon bottom.

We took pictures from Hopi Point and Mohavi Point. The bus driver couldn't get into the Bright Angel point to stop, unfortunately. Bright Angel is where people take the mule rides down into the canyon, and would have been pretty interesting, because at that point you can watch people on the mule tours. So he took us back to the village and we visited the El Tovar hotel, which is a 5-star hotel on the south rim. We took more photos from there, and visited the gift shop.

I'm really terrified of heights, and visiting the Canyon did nothing to change that; amazing to view, but if you aren't careful, very dangerous. A couple people here and there seemed pretty unconcerned about their kids, which made me nervous, because this isn't Disneyland. A few months back, I heard an NPR program interviewing Michael G, the author of a book called "Over the Edge: Deaths at the Grand Canyon" that scared the heck out if me; the book he wrote was in all the gift shops so I got a copy. Between 4 and 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon every year, and they average about 350 rescue missions each year - 80 percent of those are for people hiking down into the canyon, and the other 20 percent are people falling from the top. Some years no one dies, other times it can be 8 to 10 people a year. After reading some of the book on the train home, I was more afraid after leaving.

Read on...

I can't speak for tours going from California to the Grand Canyon, but I took one from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon (West Rim) last week over Labor Day. I was satisfied with everything, no problems. Only a few minor caveats about these types of bus tours:

1.) The bus driver is on a schedule; if he gets delayed for whatever reason, including the tour company's fault, you pay for it in time lost visiting your destination.
2.) Because they are on a schedule, you have to be proactive in planning out your time so that you get to see what you want to see.
3.) A lot of times their add-ons can be purchased cheaper at your destination or through the actual rafting/hiking/helicopter/etc. company itself. My friend and I paid for the cheapest Grand Canyon West Rim bus tour so we could go on the Skywalk. The tour company's Skywalk Adventure was $40 extra, and the day of they told us our package didn't allow the Skywalk as an add-on on our package. We arrived at the West Rim and were able to purchase tickets at the Skywalk itself for $27 each.

All in all, these types of tours bundle convenience at a decent price at a bit of a sacrifice for time and bargains. Good luck and have fun.
posted by lychee at 4:05 PM on September 10

With bus tours in general, some people like them and some people don't. You won't get much time at each attraction. For example look at this:
Day 6 Kanab - Grand Canyon - Zion National Park - Las Vegas:
For me that seems like a lot for one day. Each of these parks easily warrants a multi-day trip on its own.
Bus tours aren't totally evil. They're good to see a lot of places quickly, so you can come back to the ones you like. You can't stay longer at the places you like, but you don't stay long in the places you hate. So, ok.

They are best if you go with people you know you travel well with, because they're no fun at all if you don't like the group. And one irritating person can make your vacation suck.

A good bus tour has multi-day stays, because they're a lot more hectic if you have to pack every morning, and drive to somewhere every night. The optional activities are where they make their money... if you ever see "free afternoon at the Grand Canyon to see the sights", that's code for "$50 donkey rides". And everyone on the tour does them, because of peer/tour guide pressure and "I'll only be here once" syndrome. You can easily spend 50% on top of the tour price on extras.

Anyways, another option is something like Trek America. They are more of a camping trek outfit, but they do have hotel tours. For instance. It's a slower schedule. And it's only a 13 person van, instead of a 50 person bus, which means you don't overwhelm every place you visit. And smaller groups can stay in better hotels. (The camping tours are awesome too, but that's a different sort of thing.)

The first stop was the Hoover Dam - I've seen programs on it before and seen videos and studied it in geography so I wasn't expecting to be that impressed really but I so was. It is absolutely massive, I can't believe that it was built in the 1930's though I just can't believe that they could have done that then and its still as strong as it was then - there has never been a crack in it at all! The only thing they have done is replaced the mechanical bits actually inside and install computers. They are freaking out about it though, the whole coach had to be searched before we were allowed near it and they are now building a bridge across the top of Black Canyon (which will be another engineering miracle cos it'll be so high) and a bypass because at the minute all the traffic on that particular freeway drives straight across the top of the Dam.

It takes 3hrs on the bus to get to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon (the south rim where the National Park is takes 5hrs) and its all owned by the Indian tribe who live in the area and run it. The West Rim is where the new acclaimed Sky Walk is -I didn't do it, glass bridge with a 4000 ft drop - not a chance! I was quite pleased that I didn't actually because you aren't allowed to take cameras on there, they have a professional photographer on there taking pictures and charge $25 for the privilege! People were not happy because you get rushed along (apparently) I didn't speak with anyone who wasn't moaning about it!

Right where the sky walk is, is an area of the Canyon called Eagle Point where you can see and eagle actually in the Canyon (if you use your imagination) - check the picture. The elders of the Indian Tribe really didn't want the sky Walk built there because they consider it one of the most sacred places in the whole 100 million acres of land that they own but the younger generation argued and it got built and now visitor numbers have increased from 250 per day to 2500 per day so I guess it was worth it.

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