No, it's not a belated April Fools joke.

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/a-mall-in- ... 78052.html

There's a petition against it, but the proposed development is outside the National Park, but any controversy might actually help the project gain interest.

...that will include shopping, an IMAX theater, multiple hotels, and an RV park. It’s all centered around a Gondola Tramway, designed to take travelers “from the rim of the Grand Canyon to an elevated Riverwalk on the Canyon floor.”


Herb

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SMB-less as of 02/04/2012. Our savings account is richer, but our adventures are poorer.

It's kind of a big deal around here. https://www.facebook.com/SavetheConfluence

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2005 E350 RB 6.0 PSD for extended fun
1989 Landcruiser FJ62 for local fun
2011 VW TDI Golf for hwy fun

Unfortunately, this is what it takes to get most Americans interested in National Parks. Hopefully a big action movie about it will come out soon and they won't have to leave the couch.

I'm not sure what the national park visitation numbers are but they are back in the increase after the recession. But places like the Little Colorado River at the confluence with the Colorado River deserves protection. The rub is that most if not all the project is not within the national park boundary. At least not the boundary recognized by the Navajo Nation.

Some places should be left alone and remain a little harder to get to. It's a pity the Tribe is willing to sacrifice treasures like the LCR in order to make a buck. My two cents.

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2005 E350 RB 6.0 PSD for extended fun
1989 Landcruiser FJ62 for local fun
2011 VW TDI Golf for hwy fun

Part of the underlying cause to exploit some of these areas is the lack of many economic opportunities for the Indians, so I can't fault them for wanting something besides opening a casino.


Herb

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SMB-less as of 02/04/2012. Our savings account is richer, but our adventures are poorer.

Reminds me of that 70's TV ad where the Indian had tears in his eyes seeing trash everywhere

Adapt or die? I might have another view if something was created on that land which reflected how things were prior to the 1800's but a shopping mall? Again I hate seeing these big swings in the public's point of view... build a modern theme park or close it off to all but foot traffic?

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Sportsmobile 4X4 Adventures..........On and off road adventures

I'm all for economic opportunities but some places just deserve to be protected. From ourselves I guess but just to visit, leave foot prints, and nothing else.

I have spent quite a bit of time in Grand Canyon. More than 700 days or two years of my life as a commercial river guide and as a scientist that studies the effects of dams on rivers. So, I'm biased of course but it's truly a magical place.

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2005 E350 RB 6.0 PSD for extended fun
1989 Landcruiser FJ62 for local fun
2011 VW TDI Golf for hwy fun

The dispute is because the National Park Boundary is the canyon rim and the Navajo Nation believes it is the entire left bank to the river's edge from Lees Ferry to the Little Colorado River.

The easiest access is of course by river trip. Or, you can hike down either the Powell Route (dicey) or the longer Salt Canyon Trail. A rite of passage for Hopi males is to hike down the trail to the salt mines along the river just downstream from the confluence. I've never visited the mines because they are off-limits but I have done the 8 mile hike upstream to the Sipapu where they believe their ancestors originated from middle earth. Or, something like that but needless to say the Hopi Tribe is not too keen on the idea of tram to a place they consider sacred.

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2005 E350 RB 6.0 PSD for extended fun
1989 Landcruiser FJ62 for local fun
2011 VW TDI Golf for hwy fun

A must stop for anyone on a river trip.

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2005 E350 RB 6.0 PSD for extended fun
1989 Landcruiser FJ62 for local fun
2011 VW TDI Golf for hwy fun

My understanding is escalade wants to build a two million square foot mall and a tram to the bottom that could carry 10,000 visitors a day. So much for dessert solitude.

If those visitors came on average by 4s (a generous estimate but this is a 4x4 forum, at least in part ), that's 5000 cars each day (2500 in and 2500 out) on, I assume, a yet-to-be road across the arid land west of Tuba City. By way of another comparison, the original Mall of America was around five million square feet. All part of the reason American Rivers call the Colorado the most endangered river in the U.S.

Don

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-Don-

Life and baseball both sometimes are not fair, but it is how you play the hops that counts. —Scott Miller, NYT Sports