As this photo shows, the runway is very close to the rim of the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service would not allow an airport so close to the Canyon, nor aircraft or helicopter flights in the Canyon. The Hualapai tribe has developed Grand Canyon West to create jobs for their community.
In the foreground of this photo are five circular landing spots for helicopters to take visitors down into the Canyon. In addition to the airport, a lot of visitors arrive here on day-trip bus tours from Las Vegas.
In my view, the Grand Canyon has room for both the National Park and the Hualapai's tourist development. The Canyon is 277 miles (445 km) long, so the flights in this area do not bother visitors in the heart of the Canyon where the National Park is located. I did a 10-day river raft float trip through the Canyon last year, and we did not even get this far downstream.
This week we have photos of the people of Ethiopia posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.
6 comments:
Your post illustrates the tension between preserving natural beauty and providing access so people can enjoy the natural beauty.
My husband and I took a helicopter from there into the canyon and then a short ride on the river and then back up in the helicopter. We enjoyed it very much.
What a view!
Many years ago, we flew from this airport in a small plane over the canyon rim. The view was breathtaking, although my husband did not appreciate the dramatic drop as we entered the canyon.
Fantastic way to view the canyon!
I'm probably on the other side of this debate. I would make the slippery slope argument.
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