Ranch tours and horseback rides near the West Rim

6 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

Two places near the West Rim carry “ranch” in their name, and they are easy to mix up. Grand Canyon Western Ranch is a private ranch at 3750 E Diamond Bar Road near Meadview, about 15 miles from Grand Canyon West, with horseback and wagon rides. Hualapai Point is one of the three points inside Grand Canyon West, run by Grand Canyon Resort Corporation, which belongs to the Hualapai Tribe; some tour descriptions still call it Hualapai Ranch. The rides on this page take place at the private ranch or at a ranch of another tour operator, not at Hualapai Point.

A day at Grand Canyon Western Ranch

The ranch describes itself as a 165-acre high-desert property below Spirit Mountain, first owned by a cowboy outlaw in the 1880s. A herd of bison lives on the land, and the rides follow what the ranch calls the historic Mormon Trail. The ranch day tour from Las Vegas starts with a shuttle from the Strip, stops for photos at Hoover Dam and passes through the Joshua tree forest; the schedule allows about two hours on the road each way.

At the ranch you choose between a 45-minute horseback ride and a ride in a covered wagon drawn by two Belgian draft horses. The horseback ride is designed for beginners on gentle, well-trained horses and leads through Joshua trees to Buffalo Point, with views of Spirit Mountain and Iron Mountain. Riders must be 9 or older; children aged 8 and under can take a pony ride. Lunch and live cowboy entertainment follow, and the tour needs at least two guests to run.

Wear closed-toe shoes; sandals and flip-flops are not allowed. The operator advises people with back problems, recent surgery or limited mobility against the day because of the rough desert ground and the wagon. Reviewers praise guides who are patient with beginners, the bison and the ribs at lunch. One found the drive took up a large part of the day and the ride short, and another, who had seen the canyon before, was glad of something different.

Helicopter flights to and from the ranch

5 Star Grand Canyon Helicopter Tours links the ranch with the canyon by air. Its Western Ranch Adventure starts with a hotel pick-up and a flight from the company’s VIP heliport in Las Vegas over Hoover Dam, the bypass bridge and Fortification Hill. The helicopter descends about 1,500 feet below the West Rim and then lands at the ranch, where you spend about two hours with a Western lunch before the flight back over the Strip. The overnight option replaces the return flight with a cabin at the ranch, dinner, breakfast and a campfire with cowboy entertainment, and you go back to Las Vegas by Sprinter van the next day.

The same company runs the trip by mini-coach, with a photo stop on the bypass bridge above Hoover Dam, a stop among the Joshua trees, lunch at the ranch headquarters and a flight from the ranch’s own heliport above and below the rim. That tour page gives the flight as 20 minutes in one place and 25 in another. On all these tours the horseback ride, the wagon ride and the buffalo safari are extras that you pay for at the ranch, and passengers over 250 lb must buy a second seat on the helicopter.

If you come by car, the 20-minute flight from the ranch heliport crosses the Joshua tree forest and the Grand Wash Cliffs, descends about 1,500 feet below the West Rim and climbs out of Quartermaster Canyon before returning to the ranch. It needs at least five passengers, and you should arrive 30 minutes before departure. The ranch is about two hours from Las Vegas by road; our getting there page describes the route along Pierce Ferry Road and Diamond Bar Road.

Joshua trees and other ranch tours

The road to the West Rim is part of the experience. Grand Canyon West describes Diamond Bar Road as crossing a high-desert forest of Joshua trees, and the US Geological Survey has photographed Joshua trees and creosote bush on Grapevine Mesa, about 4 miles north of Meadview on Pierce Ferry Road. Desert Wonder Adventures takes riders into that landscape: a guided horseback ride through the Joshua trees past corralled bison and up to higher ground, followed by lunch at a Western ranch that the operator says once belonged to a bank and train robber, with a singing cowboy. Its schedule lists Grand Canyon Western Ranch as the stop. Pick-ups run from Las Vegas, Laughlin, Kingman and Lake Havasu City, riders must be 9 or older, closed-toe shoes are required, a liability release must be signed and there is a weight limit.

Las Vegas Outdoor Adventures has a ranch of its own. After a helicopter flight and a pontoon ride at Grand Canyon West, lunch is served at the company’s Last Chance Restaurant and Saloon on its private ranch, with a petting zoo of miniature animals and a close look at bison; a guided horseback ride or an ATV tour can be added. The pontoon part is described on our Colorado River page.

Hualapai Point inside Grand Canyon West

Hualapai Point is one of the three points at Grand Canyon West served by the hop-on hop-off shuttle, along with Eagle Point and Guano Point. Grand Canyon West presents it as a place to learn about the lives of the Hualapai through exhibits and food, set along a dusty Western-style street. The zipline is here, the Walapai Trading Post sells crafts, with Tribe Ambassadors present from Sunday to Tuesday, and there is the Hwal’bay Gallery, the Gwe Ma’jo restaurant and a group of rustic cabins. Two extra hiking trails are open to All-Access Pass holders and cabin guests. Horseback riding is not among the activities Grand Canyon West lists for the area.

Ranching itself is part of life on the reservation: the Hualapai Tribe names tourism, cattle ranching and arts and crafts as its principal economic activities. For everything else at the rim, see our overview of things to do at Grand Canyon West.