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Grand Canyon West's Skywalk Project

We're lucky in Southern Nevada to live near so many natural wonders. Soon, we'll have an engineering wonder of the world as well. The Hualapai tribe owns one million acres on the western rim of the Grand Canyon. They intend to build the world's only sky walk. A glass bridge that will allow visitors to virtually walk on air 4,000 feet above the floor of the canyon.

"It was my idea. It came to me 9 years ago," said Las Vegas businessman David Jin, who was visiting the Grand Canyon West when the idea for the sky-walk hit him.

"I thought, if people could walk out to the center, look down, that would be awesome." It wasn't easy to convince the Hualapai tribe to build anything in this sacred place, let alone something as unique as a sky walk, but Jin prevailed.

He also put together millions of dollars in financing, not only for the bridge, but for other attractions and amenities, including -- eventually -- a hotel with an unrivaled view, plus, an Indian village consisting of authentic native shelters from the Hualapai, the Navajo, and the Hopi -- a western themed village, and activities already in operation.

Until the sky walk opens in January, the only way to get an eagle's eye view of the canyon is by chopper. The Hualapai airport is already Arizona's 5th busiest. Visitors can zip down to the river to enjoy the solitude or ride the Colorado aboard the tribe's boats. The Hualapai want to succeed, of course, but are taking measured steps to protect the land -- no carnival atmosphere, no condo towers on the rim.

"They may want condos here, but there's no way," said Robert Bravo Jr., Grand Canyon West executive. "This was very sensitive. We had to go through the tribal council and receive the blessings of the elders," said Sheri Yellowhawk, CEO Grand Canyon Development Corp.

Near the point where the sky walk will be built, there's a section of the canyon called Eagle Point. You can see where it got the name. There are other places accessible only by foot -- or in our case -- by hummer.

The tribe knows that when everything is up and running, the public's response could be overwhelming, sort of like that first step out onto the sky walk.

"So they might just walk out there and scream," Jin said. The skywalk will be capable of supporting the weight of 72 fully-loaded 747 jetliners. That's a message the tribe will want to get out so they can talk people into taking that little stroll out over the canyon.

From Las Vegas, it takes less than three hours to get to the canyon's western rim. Click here for more information on the exact locations and tours available.