Wind Dancer - Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour (Clark County, Nevada)

I've always wanted to ride in a helicopter, but have never had the opportunity. A few months ago, I was reminded of this when I saw one of those 'bucket list posts' on Facebook. I thought to myself this was a fairly easy one to check off the list, especially with a trip to Las Vegas coming up. And so, I looked at companies that offered helicopter rides in and around Sin City. I finally decided to go with Maverick Helicopters and chose their Wind Dancer tour, which flies from Las Vegas to the western part of the Grand Canyon and back.

Originally, the company offered hotel pick up, but for some reason, they stopped doing this. They notified me well in advance and since I had a rental car anyway, this wasn't really much of an inconvenience. After waking up, showering, and grabbing some breakfast I drove from Paris on the Strip just a couple of miles south to Maverick's headquarters, which is just on the edge of the airport property. My flight wasn't for almost an hour and so, I just sat back and relaxed for a bit. I was kind of tired anyway, as I didn't get into Las Vegas until late last night. 

At about 8:45am, our pilot came out and collected everyone in his group. He introduced himself, checked us in, and then quickly covered our agenda and flight plan before taking us outside into the secure area, where he showed us the Airbus EC130 we would be flying in. He gave a quick safety briefing and then loaded us into the ship - eight of us total, including our pilot.

With that, we were off. I was actually pretty amazed by how smooth the take off was. We left the ground and then hovered about ten feet off the ground while we shuttled down the side of the airport a few hundred feet and then to the area where we would really 'take off' and head into the skies over Las Vegas. There were actually a number of tours happening at the same time and so, it felt almost like we were part of a fleet of helicopters.

The view of the Strip was really neat. I've seen it from the air many, many times, but never this close. It was as though we were just floating above the massive casino resorts. Departing the city, we headed due east towards Hoover Dam, which offered more extraordinary views. We circled around a little bit, which gave us the opportunity for some amazing pictures. I've toured the dam before and driven across it many times, but seeing it from this perspective is unique.

Next we headed over Lake Mead and the surrounding desert landscape. Having explored many of these areas on foot or by jeep in the past, it was really interesting to try and get my bearings. Our pilot was great about pointing things out as we they came into view. Everyone was wearing the headphones you see in the movies and some great classic rock was playing, but frequently, he would interject interesting information about our location or historical trivia.

As we passed over the lake, I asked about St. Thomas. It seems it should be further north from our current location, but it's difficult to tell as we are nearly 1,000 feet above the desert. The pilot wasn't familiar with formerly flooded town of St. Thomas, but seemed very interested to read up on it after the tour. 

Leaving the flooded area that is Lake Mead, the Colorado River became clearly visible as it carves it's way through the sandstone desert. We flew over a saddle that the pilot referred to as Indian Pass and from there, descended into the Grand Canyon. He pointed out the Grand Canyon West Skywalk to us as we passed by it, nearly at the same altitude. 

Dropping further into the mighty canyon, we located our landing zone, which already had the other three helicopters in our 'fleet' on the ground, each near it's own picnic table. Because of some crosswinds, our pilot had to turn around fly back in from the west, which offered us even more views of the green Colorado far below us. 

I don't know the exact elevation of our landing pad, but it was probably midway up the canyon wall. With the helicopter now on the ground and the rotors now fully stopped, the pilot opened our doors and we exited the ship. The views from up here are great. He brought out a cooler and from the nearby picnic table offered us some refreshments, including a nice glass of champagne. With this kind of view, how could I turn that down. 

We remained on the ground for about 20 minutes, which gave ample time to walk around the cliff we had landed on and explore. The pilot also suggested we take advantage of some of the nearby rocks and/or bushes to tend to matters of relief (if you know what I mean). With the bubbly now gone and having devoured a small bag of pretzels, we were asked to re-enter the helicopter and were soon in the air once again. 

Before heading back to Las Vegas, it was necessary to refuel at a location that Maverick owns out in the middle of nowhere in the desert. As we landed, our three companion ships were already on the ground, which made for an interesting view and even gave impressions of a military exercise. Once on the ground, we again exited the helicopter and were able to explore some of the desert flora, while our pilot refueled the ship. The area has a lot of Joshua trees, prickly pear, cholla, and barrel cacti, and they are quite beautiful in their natural setting.

After only about 10 minutes, we were back in the ship and on our way back to the landing strip where we started. We followed a similar path, but came into Las Vegas from the north and so flew down the length of the Strip. Again, this was an amazing view and a totally unique way to experience Las Vegas. 

The trip in total was about 2.5 hours and we covered about 80-miles each way. Our pilot was great and my co-adventurers were all very nice. Quite honestly, this was a really amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyway. And now, I can cross that item off of my bucket list.