The Hualapai (Pine Tree People) live on nearly one million acres along the South Rim downstream from the Havasupai. Visitors can experience a scenic drive into the Grand Canyon at Diamond Creek, spectacular viewpoints of the lower Grand Canyon from Grand Canyon West, and one-day Colorado River rafting trips.
Peach Springs
This community 54 miles northeast of Kingman on AZ 66
is the only town on the reservation. Peach Springs offers neither charm nor anything
to see, but it does have a good motel and restaurant. Hualapai Lodge (900
Route 66, Peach Springs, AZ 86434, 928/769-2636 or 888/868-9378,
https://grandcanyonwest.com/, $80 s, $90
d, less in winter) provides comfortable rooms and a restaurant that serves breakfast,
lunch, and dinner daily. Be sure to make room reservations during the popular April–October
season.
In the lodge, you can obtain permits to drive the
Diamond Creek Road and information on Grand Canyon West and Grand Canyon river running,
all described below. A grocery store and post office lie across the highway and
a few doors west. Craft vendors may set up in the park across from the lodge.
Diamond Creek Road
You'll enjoy fine canyon views on this 21-mile
gravel road, the only road access to the river within the Grand Canyon. It turns
off AZ 66 opposite the Hualapai Lodge and descends gently to the Colorado River.
Most of the way follows the normally dry Peach Springs Canyon, then in the last
few miles sparkling Diamond Creek. Diamond Peak (3,512 feet), with its "faceted"
sides comes into view about half way down. Except for river-runners, who use the
road to take out or put in boats, few people visit this spot. Yet the very first
organized groups of tourists to the Canyon arrived at Diamond Creek in 1883. A hotel
built here and used in 1884–89 was the first in the Grand Canyon.
If the weather has been dry for several days, cautiously driven cars can traverse
the road. Storms, most common in July and August, may wash out sections and close
the road or necessitate a high-clearance vehicle. A camping area near the Colorado
River has a few picnic tables and some outhouses. Another campground is 1.2 miles
before the river near the junction of Diamond and Peach Springs Canyons. Before
turning down Diamond Creek Road, you must stop at the Hualapai Lodge to obtain permits.
Sightseeing costs $6.42 per person (ages 6 and over) for day use. Camping is $10.70
per night per person and includes the sightseeing fee. Fishing or hiking requires
additional permits at $8.56 each per person per day. Hikers can make only short
trips in designated areas; ask a ranger first. Spring and autumn have the most pleasant
temperatures at this 1,900-foot elevation; it's very hot in summer, but winter
can be ok.
River-Running
Hualapai River Runners (P.O. Box 246, Peach Springs,
AZ 86434, 928/769-2636 or
888/868-9378,
https://grandcanyonwest.com/)
will take you on a one-day motorized-raft trip down the lower Grand Canyon from
Diamond Creek, lift you out by helicopter to the rim at Grand Canyon West, then
return you by road to Peach Springs, $328 plus tax and fees. This is the only company
to offer a day trip within the Grand Canyon. Two-day trips may be available as well.
Rates during the March–Oct. season cover food, waterproof bag for personal
gear, and transportation from Peach Springs.
Grand Canyon West
This airport and tourist center in the remote northwest
corner of the reservation hosts many scenic flights out of Las Vegas, and it's
also possible to drive out. Once you arrive, the Hualapai tribe offers a 4.5-mile
bus tour along the rim of the western Grand Canyon to Guano Point, where you can
enjoy a great panorama. The Colorado River lies nearly 4,000 feet directly below.
Sheer, terraced cliffs rise even higher on the North Rim. The Canyon remains grand
to the end, as you'll see. The Grand Wash Cliffs, which lie just out of sight
downstream, mark the west end of both the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau.
One of the steel towers used in a guano mining operation still stands on the point,
and another tower is visible below. The towers supported a tram that transported
guano from a bat cave located across the river. The tour also makes a short stop
at an overlook of Eagle Point, an exceptionally long and narrow neck of land extending
out into the Canyon.
Cost for a tour to Guano Point, Eagle
Point, and Hualapai Ranch starts at $44.05. For $87.81 you also get lunch and the
chance to step out on the glass-floored Grand Canyon Skywalk. See website
for other tours and activities. Tickets, Quartermaster Point permits, and a gift
shop are in the terminal building at the Grand Canyon West airport.
For reservations and information,
contact 928/769-2636 or 888/868-9378,
https://grandcanyonwest.com/. It's a
good idea to call ahead and allow plenty of time, because this is such a long
drive out. Or contact the Hualapai Lodge for information (see Peach Springs,
above). Several fixed-wing and helicopter companies offer tours from Las Vegas,
providing superb views of Lake Mead, the Grand Wash Cliffs, and lower Grand
Canyon.
Getting to Grand Canyon West by road is
also an adventure. Allow at least two hours one way for any of the four driving
routes, which allow loop possibilities, or you can fly from Las Vegas. Buck and
Doe Road stays within the reservation all the way. This dirt road can be rough—ask
about road conditions before you leave. When it's wet, even 4WD vehicles should
avoid it. Buck and Doe turns north from AZ 66 between Mileposts 100 and 101, 2.7
miles west of Peach Springs; follow it 50 miles to the end, then turn right 4.3
miles on paved Diamond Bar Road. Antares Road, also dirt but likely to be better
graded, turns north off AZ 66 farther west from Peach Springs, between Mileposts
74 and 75; take it 33 miles, turn right 7 miles on paved Pearce Ferry Road, then
turn right 21 miles on Diamond Bar Road. The first 14.4 miles on Diamond Bar Road
is dirt but very scenic; you pass Joshua trees and enter a canyon through the Grand
Wash Cliffs. Another back-road route involves heading north 40 miles on Stockton
Hill Road from Kingman, then right 7.1 miles on Pearce Ferry Road and right 21 miles
on Diamond Bar Road. The best road in approaches from the west; take US 93 from
Kingman or Las Vegas to paved Pearce Ferry Road, near Milepost 42, follow it 29
miles east, then turn right 21 miles on Diamond Bar Road. There are plans to pave
all of Diamond Bar Road by the end of 2005.
Grand Canyon
Western Ranch (928/788-0283 or 800/798-0569,
https://grandcanyonwesternranch.com/)
provides pine cabins, Western dining, horseback riding, cattle drives, and wagon
rides on a historic ranch off Diamond Bar Road, seven miles east of the Pearce Ferry
Road junction.