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Matt Frederick
Well, there is a lot of very cool stuff to see at the Grand Canyon. And there are a lot of ways to see it. There are several different sides you can go on. You can do on mule rides, river raft -
Rachel Frank
That’s so cool – mule rides.
Matt Frederick
Oh, yeah. But for me, the best and coolest is the skywalk. It’s a glass and steel bridge that extends 70 feet from the rim. So you’re standing on the rim, go out 70 feet, and then you’re standing 4000 feet above the Colorado River on glass.
Rachel Frank
Yeah, this is both the most awesome thing I’ve ever heard of in the world and the most terrifying. I’m not sure I could do this myself. So this bridge was created and is run by the native Walapai people, whose reservation is in the canyon area. And it was opened in March 2007. Indeed, it has a glass bottom, so that means you can see right through to the canyon floor. But tell me why I shouldn’t be afraid.
Matt Frederick
Don’t anyone be afraid of this, unless you’re me. This bridge isn’t made out of plastic interlocking pieces. It’s built to withstand all kinds of extreme weather and weight. It can handle more than 71 million pounds.
Rachel Frank
Which is like 71 fully loaded 747 airplanes stacked all together.
Matt Frederick
Winds in excess of 100 miles per hour from eight different directions cannot break this thing – eight different directions.
Rachel Frank
That’s very logical and reassuring, but I would still be terrified. But clearly, the 2000 people who visit every day are not daunted.
Matt Frederick
That’s very true. Actually, I went with our producer, Tyler, and several of our friends when were in Vegas. We took a little trip out to the Grand Canyon. And I couldn’t even bring myself to stand at the edge where you take pictures – some of the little places along the path. Tyler, or producer, actually would walk out on an outcropping where you weren’t supposed to walk and stand there and look out into the wonderful Grand Canyon. That about wraps it up for the Grand Canyon.
Rachel Frank
But if you’d like to learn more about this terrifying and amazing natural formation called the Grand Canyon, you can head to howstuffworks.com. We have some great articles and videos on the subject.
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For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com. Let us know what you think. Email travelpodcast@howstuffworks.com. Don’t forget to check out our other podcasts free on iTunes.