While driving up to the Grand Canyon through the eastern entrance on a stormy, snowy day – I stopped at the Little Colorado Gorge, which feeds into the Grand Canyon. With thousand-foot vertical drops and a tiny ribbon of the river cutting through far below, it’s a preview of the greater canyon just a couple dozen miles up the road.

It was a nasty day, with gale-force winds shooting up through the canyon, driving frozen rain droplets sideways into my face, and snow falling on the hills just behind me hundreds of feet away. And just as a storm cloud passed by, the sun peeked through, illuminating a complete rainbow (plus most of a double rainbow) inside the gorge itself.

With the rapidly changing weather conditions, the rainbow only lasted a couple of minutes before disappearing behind the clouds again. It was just sheer luck I was there to catch it while I was there — it’s one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ events I will probably never see again. And because no one wants to visit this corner of the world on such a miserable weather day, I had the spectacle all to myself.

It was right at freezing, the wind was howling (enough to make standing near the edge of a thousand-foot precipice a questionable idea), frozen precipitation blowing straight up into my face like a thousand little stings. Taking the short video was actually a little difficult — you can see the rain droplets collecting on the camera lens as the video progresses.

Video taken on December 1, 2007. For several more still photos, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthigh/sets/72157604265740464/

Duration : 0:0:23

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http://www.ceepackaging.com
http://www.pbn.com.pl
http://www.youtube.com/alanheath

There are probably around 500 travel films on this site but this particular one is my favourite. Maybe for the exotic scenery – at least as far as I am concerned. I hope you will appreciate it too! This is the road from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon – and it is not as close as you may think!

My channel is one of the most prolific from Poland, although not amongst the most visited. With almost one film per day, one may be forgiven for thinking I do nothing else but I do have a day job as well. I have produced around 1,000 original films, most in English but also in Polish, French, Italian, Spanish and the occasional hint of German and Hebrew. My big interest in life is travel and history but I have also placed films on other subjects

Please feel free to ask questions in the public area or to comment on things you disagree with. Sometimes there are mistakes because I speak without preparation. If I see the mistakes myself, I make this clear in the text. Please also leave a star rating!

There are a number of films here on the packaging industry. This is because I am the publisher of Central and Eastern European Packaging — http://www.ceepackaging.com – the international platform for the packaging industry in this region focusing on the latest innovations, trends, design, branding, legislation and environmental issues with in-depth profiles of major industry achievers.

Most people may think packaging pretty boring but it possibly effects your life more than you really imagine!

Central and Eastern European Packaging examines the packaging industry throughout this region, but in particular in the largest regional economies which are Russia, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Austria. That is not to say that the other countries are forgotten, they are not, but obviously there is less going on. However the fact that there are so many travel related films here is not from holidays but from business trips attending trade fairs around the region. Every packaging trade fair is a new excuse to make another film!

In 1997 I founded Polish Business News http://www.pbn.com.pl .There are a number of business related films here and I intend to do many more on CRM (customer relations management).

My blog can be found via http://www.ceepackaging.com and http://www.pbn.com.pl and contains background information and more details of many of my films. This information is in English.

Duration : 0:10:58

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The Grand Canyon in the Southwest state of Arizona is one of the seven natural wonders in the world. Carved out by the Colorado River over millions of years, the colorful gorge is over 400 kilometers long and is 24 kilometers across at its widest point. Now visitors to this popular tourist destination have a new way to experience the breathtaking views of the canyon.

The horseshoe-shaped skywalk extends 21 meters over the Grand Canyon’s edge, creating a unique vantage point for visitors to look deep down into the chasm and the winding Colorado River 1200 meters below.

David Jin, the developer of the skywalk project, recalls his Grand Canyon experience that brought about the idea. “It was back in 1996,” says Jin. “I took a helicopter tour at (the) Grand Canyon from the bottom to the top. After that, I wondered what it would be like to walk among the cliffs. Therefore, the idea of skywalk was born.”

While Jin will profit from the $30 million project for 25 years, the Hualapai Indians, who agreed to building the skywalk on their land along the Grand Canyon’s western rim hope income from tourists will help alleviate poverty in their community. Sheri Yellowhawk is the CEO of the Grand Canyon Resort Corporation, which oversees the tribe’s tourism business.

Skywalk is expected to be the centerpiece of the Hualapai Indians’ tourism industry which includes helicopter tours, river rafting, a cowboy town and a museum of Indian replica homes.

After three years of construction, the skywalk opened to the public in March 2007. Since then, the Hualapai Indians have seen a six fold increase in daily visitors.

Buzz Aldrin, a former astronaut who once walked the moon was one of the first to saunter the skywalk.

“This magnificent first walk bridges centuries of vision towards the future of hope,” says Aldrin.

Not everyone supports the skywalk. One is Robert Arnberger, former Superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park. “The Grand Canyon deserves much better than to have a thrill ride or thrill walk hanging over its edge,” says Arnberger.

But Developer David Jin says, the skywalk design is environmentally conscious, utilizing recycled water and solar energy. In addition, the structure is designed to withstand hurricane force winds as well as powerful earthquakes.

So far Skywalk has attracted more than 100,000 visitors.

Duration : 0:4:33

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Some weather conditions to be aware of as you hike in the Grand Canyon.

Duration : 0:1:22

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