Dispute simmers over road to Grand Canyon Skywalk

MEADVIEW, Ariz. — On one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year, some travelers looking to get to the Grand Canyon’s glass-bottom Skywalk will have to pay an extra fee to cross through a private ranch in northwestern Arizona.

Land owner Nigel Turner said Saturday that it’s his right as a property owner to charge what he calls an admission fee for visitors to cross a portion of the 168-square-mile Grand Canyon Ranch.

“We have rights as property owners, and what has been happening for years is buses just scream through there and throw all their trash and abuse it. It’s disgusting. There’s no respect,” Turner said in a telephone interview.

While the fee includes access to an hourly rodeo show and other ranch activities, the Hualapai Indian tribe — which operates the Skywalk — contends that the fee is unethical and potentially illegal.

The dispute centers on the Diamond Bar Road and an easement the tribe is working on paving.

Turner’s staff began charging the fee Saturday. About 20 tribal members were protesting along the road.

“Suddenly threatening to close a busy road on a holiday weekend and charge visitors a toll makes Mr. Turner appear mean-spirited and hurts tourism throughout Mohave County,” the tribe said in a written statement.

It went on to accuse Turner of attempting to “victimize unsuspecting tourists.”

Tribal spokesman Dave Cieslak said Grand Canyon West was expected to draw thousands of people over the holiday weekend and the tribe has started a shuttle from Dolan Springs, just off U.S. Highway 93, that will take tourists to the Skywalk to avoid the toll.

Some 700,000 people visit Grand Canyon West each year, either by helicopter, bus or driving their personal vehicles on Diamond Bar Road. The Skywalk — a horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that juts out 70 feet from the canyon — is the biggest attraction. The area also has a historic guano mine, American Indian village, Turner’s western cowboy ranch and expansive views of the Grand Canyon right from its edge.

Getting there is a journey — 2½ hours from Las Vegas, four hours from Flagstaff and nearly five hours from Phoenix. Cieslak said the road in question is the ideal way to get from Las Vegas to the Skywalk.

Turner said his attorney sent letters to the U.S. attorney’s office in Arizona, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, Mohave County and others two weeks ago explaining that the road was private.

He said the county validated his claim this past week after sheriff’s deputies told his staff last weekend that they could not charge the toll.

Turner maintains that under a settlement reached years ago, the road was returned to him and an easement was created that would allow public access.

Turner has since reopened the federal case involving the easement. He said he’s concerned restoration work will not be done once the paving project is complete.

Efforts to improve the road and ease safety concerns began long before the Skywalk was built.

Mohave County officials could not be reached Saturday for comment, and a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The tribe argues that despite crossing through Turner’s ranch, the road is a county road. The tribe pointed to the 2008 settlement, in which Turner was paid $750,000 to drop his claims and clear the way for construction.