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June 13, 2011 Posted by Vagabloggers in Sightseeing

Grand Canyon Heli-Adventure

Every year, millions of people flock to the Grand Canyon to wander the rim and stare into it's seemingly endless abyss.  We like to think that we were just a bit luckier than those people.  Thanks to our good friends Garrett and Renata Slack and the folks at Papillion Helicopter Tours, we were able to fly though the Canyon.
 

Definitely an experience to remember... the itinerary goes as follows:

1) Take off ina small plane on a scenic flight from Boulder, NV (roughly 30-40 min. southeast of Las Vegas) to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon.  While on the flight, we passed over the Hoover Dam and a portion of the Mojave Desert.  Headphones are provided to give passengers lots of interesting info about the Dam, the Desert and the discovery and history of the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead and other surrounding areas.
2) Board a helicopter at the West Rim and fly down into and through the Canyon eventually landing next to the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon.  Seriously... words can't describe how cool this is.  We'd never flown in a helicopter before, so that was a treat in and of itself.
3) Hike down a to a boat dock on the Colorado River and ride a powered pontoon boat 1/2 mile down the River and float the current 1/2 mile back to the dock.  We were a little disappointed by the short-lived nature of the boat ride, but it was still cool nonetheless.  While talking to the driver of the boat, we learned that it gets much hotter down in the base of the canyon than it does on top.  He said the hottest he'd experienced was 138 degrees fahrenheit.  Holy shit.  They had to shut down the operation that day as people were becoming dehydrated and passing out from the heat.  We're definitely glad we went before the summer heat hit.
4) Helicopter ride back out of the bottom of the Canyon and up to the West Rim.  Our ride out was so much fun.  We were able to fly through some towering spires atop sheer cliffs and experience some cool banking helicopter turns.  Meisha was able to fly up front next to the pilot and got a front-row seat to the whole thing.
5) Hop on a short bus ride to check out 2 stops:  An overlook where you have the chance to walk on the Skywalk (pictured below, seemed like a giant waste of money to us) and another stop at "Guano Point" for lunch at The Guano Cafe (Translation:  The Bat Shit Cafe... seriously.  We got a good laugh out of that one.) for a Thanksgiving-esque dinner served by the local Hualapai Indians (Yes, a bit ironic as well).  At Guano Point, you can take a walk out to a very nice little spot where you have a 360 degree view of the canyon.
6) Take a plane flight back from the West Rim to Boulder.  Since we had to leave at 6AM (5AM Utah time), everyone was beyond tired by the time we had to head back and took the chance to sneak a quick nap before we made the drive "home" from Las Vegas to St. George.
We know what you're thinking now...  did we get video?  Yep.  Definitely.  Check it out:

Filmed withBuy GoPro HERO Camera at GoPro.com

So... would we recommend taking a helicopter flight through the Grand Canyon?  OF COURSE!  Our pictures and videos certainly can't do proper justice to the experience, which means if you really want to know how it was, you should definitely check out their website HERE.

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Tags: Arizona, Grand Canyon, Helicopter Tour, Las Vegas, Nevada
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