Grand Canyon National Park

Desert View

From the 50 state visitor guide (Arizona):

A.R.S. 2019  §§ 13-3821 through 13-3829, 13-3727

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Visitors must register if staying for more than 72 hours excluding weekends & holidays (per statute). §13-3821(A). SOR office refused to answer whether return visits allowed per month or year. “That’s determined by local sheriff.” NOTE: AZ SOR office defers on many questions to local county sheriffs for interpretation. Updated Aug 2024.

Initial reg. required “within 72 hours excluding weekends & holidays of entering and remaining in any county.”  §13-3821. Updated 8/2022.  Registrants working in state must report in any county where present for 14 consecutive days or an aggregate of 30 days/yr.  Address change etc. required w/in 72 hours (business days only).  §13-3822.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction:  1,000 ft. restriction applies to Level 3 offenders. §13-3727. Local governments are pre-empted from adopting more restrictive requirements. §13-3727.

Duration & updates:

10 years to life. Transients report every 90 days.  All others annually.

 

Grandview

Most recent visit: October 2023

Grand Canyon visitors beware – Arizona has recently revised its statutes to be much tougher on visiting registrants. Visitors now must register if staying for more than 72 hours (excluding weekends and holidays). This requirement can be found in A.R.S.§13-3821(A). Arizona’s SOR office refused to answer whether return visits allowed per month or year, saying, “That’s determined by local sheriff.”

One silver lining is that not only does Arizona’s 1000 foot residency restriction apply only to Level 3 offenders, it is also one of seven states that statutorily pre-empt local governments from adopting any ordinance or regulation more restrictive than state law. So like New Mexico which I had just left on my trip to attend the October 2023 ACSOL Conference, you can travel in Arizona without fear of unknowingly tripping over some local land mine.

Grand Canyon National Park comprised days 2 & 3 (hours 13-60) of my travel through Arizona.  I should point out here that actually, you can see as much as you want of this national park in two business days and be out of Arizona before your 72 hours expire, as I did on this particular trip.  Unlike parks like Yellowstone and Great Smokey Mountains that have a wide variety of different things to see, the Grand Canyon is, after all, just one thing.  It’s huge and stunningly beautiful, and there are many different viewpoints to visit, but they are all views of the same geological feature. 

What you can’t do unless you time your trip to include a weekend and/or holiday is see anything else in the Grand Canyon region, like Antelope Canyon on the Navajo Nation or Grand Canyon West which I will discuss in more detail below.  You’ll have to leave them for a future trip, or take your chances on leaving Arizona for at least one hour (and document that with receipts and date & time stamped photos) and returning to re-state the 72 hour clock, even though I told you (above) that the Arizona SOR office refused to tell me whether return visits are allowed per month or year. 

Sunrise over the Grand Canyon

Last point – this national park is actually not very close to any state line, so you’ll be wasting hours of time schlepping to Utah or California just to get out of Arizona for an hour.  You might as well figure on an overnight stay out of state.

I entered the national park from the east on U.S. 64.  The first major viewpoint you come to is Desert View, which is where the Colorado River makes a 90 degree turn so you can look up the canyon to the north and down the canyon to the west.  This was also where my campsite was for the coming night.  Although it was off-season and midweek, it was a good thing I’d made a reservation because the “campground full” sign was up. 

From Desert View it’s about 20 miles to Grand Canyon Village.  At that point you have to park in the main lot and get on one of three different shuttle busses to see everything else.  That’s going to take some time – in my case most of my first afternoon and my entire second morning.  But the views are stunning and you’ll want to see them all.

You may have heard that you can also take a donkey tour to the bottom of the canyon or a rafting trip down the river.  That’s all true and I’m sure they are amazing experiences – but – each one of those will take at least two days, so you’ll definitely have to plan your trip carefully to include a weekend and if possible a holiday (Indigenous Peoples Day?) so you’ll have enough time to do it all.  And make your reservations well ahead of time.

 

Grand Canyon West

Grand Canyon West

Most people who visit Las Vegas and want to spend some of their winnings to visit the Grand Canyon don’t go to the national park.  That’s because the park entrance is over four hours each way by car or tour bus from Las Vegas, which blows an entire day all by itself.  Instead most Vegas tourists go to Grand Canyon West, which is “only” 1 1/2 hours each way.  That way you can get there, take the tour and get back to your hotel, all in one day.

So what is Grand Canyon West?  It’s actually a part of the Hualapai Nation Reservation which the tribe has ingeniously rebranded and built as a complete canyon attraction and tour to separate Las Vegas tourists from their money.  The entire tour is great but the crown jewel of Grand Canyon West is the Skywalk, a clear plexiglas walkway that literally takes you out over the canyon so you feel like you’re in midair.

I didn’t go to Grand Canyon West on my trip to attend the October 2023 ACSOL Conference but I have been there once, long before I flushed my life down the toilet and landed on my state’s registry.  I really liked it, but get ready to pay through the nose!  The Hualapai Nation has something you really want to see and they know it.  They’re making money the old fashioned way, and there’s no casino on their reservation.

When you enter the reservation your first stop will be “The Terminal.”  That’s a building where they herd everyone in to pay for a really expensive “One Day Passport” to be on their land.  The passport includes one of those hours-long bus shuttle tours where you can get off and on at each tour stop, and while you’re on the bus the native tour host tells you native lore and fun facts about the canyon.

However, this very expensive “One Day Passport” DOES NOT include the Skywalk.  That requires an extra ticket, also very expensive.  And the native tour host keeps telling you that you are welcome to take all the photos you want – EXCEPT no pictures on the Skywalk “out of respect for the spirits of the canyon.” 

Grand Canyon West - Skywalk

Then, after much anticipation, you get on the Skywalk only to discover that there are native photographers out there only too ready to take photos of you suspended in the sky above the canyon.  I guess those guys are blessed by the spirits of the canyon or something?!  Then at the end of Skywalk you walk straight into – what else? – a gift shop where they will be happy to sell you very expensive photo packages like what you might be suckered into buying after a leaving a thrill ride at Six Flags.

So at this point you’ve spent hundreds of dollars (per person!) and you haven’t bought the first refrigerator magnet or souvenir mug at the gift shop.  You haven’t bought your expensive lunch at the Indian barbeque restaurant across the street.  You have, however, had a well worth it tour of the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai Nation has cleaned you out of all your Las Vegas winnings.  This is capitalism at its best.  I love America!