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www.grandcanyon.org/kolb

LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner

TRIP

5 Rim-to-Rim Canyon Hike

26 Flagstaff’s Northern Playground

33 Lazing on Lake Powell

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Hualapai & Havasupai Journey

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WHY GO Where else but here can you walk on a slab of glass suspended above the Grand Canyon’s inner gorge? And where else can you find such otherwordly blue-green pools and waterfalls? These singular experiences in sacred places take you from rim to river on reservation lands.

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TIME

5 – 8 days

DISTANCE

420 miles

BEST TIME TO GO

Apr – May, Sep – Nov

START

Boulder City, NV

END

Williams, AZ

ALSO GOOD FOR

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The Grand Canyon’s human history goes much further back than to just intrepid river runners and miner-cum-entrepreneurs on the bustling South Rim. But apart from sparse ruins and petroglyphs, the whispers of its earlier Native American culture are not so readily discerned in the national park. But contemporary Native American culture lives on at the Hualapai and Havasupai Reservations, both of which occupy lands along the southern rim of the canyon.

Well-known for their beadwork and basketry, the Havasupai (whose name translates as ‘people of the blue-green waters’) share the Yuman language with the Hualapai. Both tribes arrived at the Grand Canyon around AD 1150. Today both tribes’ economic survival is tied to the tourist trade, although neither participates in the gaming industry. The traditional structure of Havasupai society, based on respect for tribal elders and the tribal council, remains in place despite outside pressures. Meanwhile, the Hualapai (‘people of the pine trees’) – known for their basketry and dolls but also the newer Grand Canyon West – continue to balance survival with their traditional values of stewardship of land they consider sacred. Each tribe administers its own section of the Grand Canyon independently of the National Park Service, and these vast lands have their own unique attractions.

The trip begins by eschewing the Vegas madness in favor of homey Boulder City: check into the historic Boulder Dam Hotel. Rooms are on the smaller side, but are quaintly classy and within close walking distance of Boulder’s small-town commercial district. With the afternoon to spare, drive out to Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam, if you prefer) and tour the cool, cavernous interior of this engineering marvel. When you resurface, beat the desert heat by cranking up the AC and blowing back into Boulder City for a cold drink and a bite to eat at Boulder Dam Brewing Company. Brewing a ‘bolder damn beer,’ naturally, the brewpub has a heavenly misted patio, the perfect spot to sip a Hell’s Hole Hefeweizen. On the menu is typical pub fare like the classic ploughman’s lunch of hearty bread, cheese, pickles and fresh apple slices.

In the morning, top up the gas tank for the three-hour, tooth-rattling drive to the Hualapai Reservation. Or fly in style with Scenic Airlines, whose small planes ferry day-trippers from Boulder City airport to Grand Canyon West. Run by the Hualapai tribe, this section of the West Rim offers windswept, unfettered views into the western canyon. And since 2007, novelty reigns with the addition of the much-vaunted Skywalk. This U-shaped glass bridge cantilevered 4000ft over the canyon lets you look past your feet into the gaping maw below.

Another overlook not to overlook is Guano Point, a superb picnic spot not so much for its shaded tables but for the post-lunch walk out to the point itself. There, the skeleton of a mine shaft remains, where bat guano (droppings) was once harvested for explosives, fertilizer and cosmetics. After a look at the river from above, descend via helicopter for a short trip on a pontoon boat, or book a full-day rafting trip for the next day with Hualapai River Runners, based out of Peach Springs. Rafts put in at Diamond Creek and run several fun rapids with a stop for a short waterfall hike, then a helicopter flies you back to the