Exploring the Grand Canyon West Rim with Pink Jeep Tours
Pink Jeep Tours is a company that offers off-road and road-based adventure tours to various destinations across the South Western portion of the United States. Tours are available in a variety of beautiful landscapes, including Sedona, Scottsdale Arizona, Las Vegas and The Grand Canyon. Pink Jeep tours were first started in 1960 by musician and land developer Don Pratt. Pratt had originally named the company Pratt Adventures, but the name later changed after a vacation stay at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, also known as the “Pink Palace of the Pacific,” due to its color. Upon his return home to Sedona, he repainted all his vehicles pink and changed the name to Pink Jeep Tours. Since 1988 the company has been owned by Shawn Wendell.
Check out some of the cool and cheap tours you could do in Sedona, Las Vegas, and Grand Canyon.
We did the Grand Canyon West Rim Classic Tour with Pink Jeep Tours
One of the scenic adventures Pink Jeep offers is a beautiful tour of the West rim of the Grand Canyon, that’s the tour we chose.
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Table of Contents
Hualapai
The opportunity to see and walk thru the Native Indian Village of the Hualapai. Also being able to experience the Hualapai market place, with local handmade goods available for purchase.
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Eagle Point
The location of a Native American Village, in which visitors can participate in a walking tour of authentic dwellings of various American Indian Tribes. Visitors also have the opportunity to check out the Skywalk, glass, horseshoe-shaped bridge that allows for visitors to take a walk past the Grand Canyon walls. The Skywalk suspends them 4,000 feet above, offering an incomparable view of this breathtaking natural wonder. Food and beverages are available for purchase at this stop on tour. Note that the Skywalk feature is not included in the price of the pink jeep tour, and costs $32.00 USD per person. A minor cost if this is your one big trip to the canyon.
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Guano Point
Guano Point, also known as the Bat Cave guano mine, is located 2,680 feet above Lake Mead. This was the location of an unusual, expensive and unique mining operation. This spot was especially sought out because the natural cave was a bat habitat, and contained an accumulation of bat guano (bat droppings). Bat guano is highly sought after for uses as a manure; it is an extremely useful fertilizer due to its particularly high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium: nutrients that are essential for plant growth. The mine closed in early 1960, discovering it was no longer a profitable venture.
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Hoover Dam
The Hoover Dam was built between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The massive dam was built on the Arizona-Nevada border. The primary purpose of the Hoover Dam was to provide consistent and clean water from the Colorado River to promote economic development. It was quite an undertaking, on the books over 100 people died during construction, but the real number is estimated to be in the four to five hundred range due to death from injury off site. It felt pretty cool to be standing on such a historic American heritage site.
Check out some of the cool and cheap tours you could do in Hoover Dam.
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Lake Mead
Lake Mead is located on the Colorado river, about 24 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. When full, regarding maximum water capacity, it is the largest man made the reservoir in the United States. The reservoir delivers water to the states of Arizona, Nevada, and California, providing nourishment to nearly 20 million people and large areas of agricultural farmland.
Check out some of the cool and cheap tours you could do in Lake Mead.
Our Experience on the Grand Canyon West Rim Classic Tour
The Guide
Usually, we travel DIY travel style. We research points of interest in the area were visiting and then let a plan evolve naturally. This is one of those experiences where it’s simply better to just go with a guide, that knows their way around the park. Our experience was much more fruitful having partaken in an organized tour. All park fees, lunch, and water were included, and bathroom stops were carefully planned. Our guide Tom spoke six languages and conducted the tour in both Spanish and English. He’s a Las Vegas resident for over 30 years and has physically seen the transformation from old to new. Having Tom as a guide was invaluable. There were two children on board our tour, which Tom was excellent in accommodating. His driving style and calm voice over the speaker put everyone in a state of relaxation. In short, if you’re going to the Grand Canyon in an intimate group, a guides the way to go.
The Adventure
The day started at 7:30 am as we walked to the front of our hotel, there a Pink Jeep was parked, stationed out in front of our hotel waiting for our arrival to start a great day of adventure. As we walked up, we were warmly greeted by Tom, our tour guide and jeep driver. We stepped up onto the steps of the plush pink Jeep and found our seats, which were super spacious and comfortable. Tom made sure that all the guests we comfortable and had plenty of water and then we set off down the Las Vegas Strip to head to our first stop. Along the way, we were educated on a lot of interesting history about Las Vegas, and the surrounding areas. Our tour guide was extremely informative, constantly stimulating us with cool and interesting facts about the areas that we passed thru.
Driving thru the beautiful desert landscape was a treat in itself, so many colors and interesting terrain. Our first stop was the Hoover Dam, which is a tour in and of itself. You could easily spend a whole day just touring that site. They offer a tunnel tour, power plant tour and much more. Being that we had a long day ahead of us, it was nice to stop, see the gift shop and take some pictures.
After we had left the Dam, we drove for about an hour and a half through the desert to check out Eagle Point and The Hualapai. The views here were truly breathtaking, to say the least. It was an intense feeling to stand along the rim of the West end of the Grand Canyon, there are no guard rails on this portion of the Canyon, and you get the sense of true freedom. After spending some time taking a few epic photos, we decided to walk over and explore the Native Indian Village of the Hualapai. We were able to take a self-guided walking tour of the authentic dwellings made by various American Indian Tribes. The structures were beautifully constructed using supplies from the earth, and vegetation of the surrounding landscape. There was also the option here to Check out the Sky Walk, but we decided to opt out of that. After briefly checking out all the hand made goods in the gift shop, we walked back over to meet up with Tom and the other five members of our tour group. We hopped on the bus and headed over to our last stop, Guano Point, there we enjoyed a freshly prepared bbq lunch that was included in the tour. The view here was amazing as well; there were Ravens flying the updraft thermals in the canyon. I felt like I was watching an aerial acrobatics show preforming right in front of me over the Grand Canyon. We spent about an hour walking around exploring the scenic views of the wildlife and nature. Then we headed back to our jeep to start the drive back to Las Vegas. Everyone was so content and comfortable after our great adventure. In fact, most of us were lulled into a nap en route to our hotels. The Pink Jeep Tour is truly one of the best ways to see the canyon. Everything is set up and planned for you, and it creates the opportunity to experience this natural wonder in style, comfort, and without the stress of having to do anything, except enjoy the ride and beauty.
Note: This amazing Grand Canyon experience was made possible in partnership with Pink Jeep Tours Las Vegas, although all thoughts, ideas, and opinions are entirely my own.
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