Bookin' It
The perfect literary companion for your Old West vacations.
Categories: Featured Travel Stories
By: TW Editors 03/01/2008
GRAND CANYON, AZ
“We are three quarters of a mile in the depths of the earth, and the great river shrinks into insignificance, as it dashes its angry waves against the walls and cliffs, that rise to the world above: they are but puny ripples, and we but pygmies, running up and down the sands, or lost among the boulders,” wrote explorer John Wesley Powell as his team floated down the Colorado and into the Grand Canyon.
A remarkable man, Wallace Stegner was a prolific writer who won a Pulitzer for his novel Angle of Repose in 1972. His 1954 biography of Powell is a classic—not only in its portrayal of Powell, but also in its examination of the politics of land development. The West, he said, remains “the New World’s last chance to be something better, the only American society still malleable enough to be formed.”
The Canyon’s South Rim is accessible for most of the year; the North Rim is open from June through September. The Inner Canyon is a hotbed of activity:?you can ride a mule to Phantom Ranch, go backpacking or take a few days to enjoy a river trip on the Colorado.
Best of all, the long-awaited glass Skywalk is finally open, operated by the Hualapai tribe and accessible from Grand Canyon West. Its 4,000-feet height above the floor of the canyon is twice that of the world’s tallest skyscraper. (The height will even beat Dubai’s skyscraper when it’s finally completed.)
Trip Lit:
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian by Wallace Stegner
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