In June of 2006, the Warm Fire was started by a lightning strike on Grand Canyon’s North Rim. By the time it was contained about a month later, 60,000 acres on the North Rim had burned. The fire resulted in the evacuation of tourists and employees, and closed the park for about 1 week. GrandCanyon.com associate Ron W. recently visited the North Rim with his wife and young daughter. I had a chance to chat with him this morning about his visit:
Alley Kaye: How long were you at the park?
Ron W: Just for a day. We picked up picnic supplies in Page, then headed up via Bitter Springs and Marble Canyon. It was my wife’s first visit to that area in a really long time and she was particularly impressed by the Vermillion Cliffs.
AK: Where did you go in the park?
RW: Our first stop was Point Imperial. Then we went to the Visitors’ Center and the Grand Canyon Lodge. We walked to Bright Angel Point from the Lodge, which is an easy quarter mile walk. There’s some “up and down” parts, but it’s a nice paved trail. We also went to Cape Royal.
AK: How was the weather?
RW: Beautiful – intermittent rain, it was kind of “misty” the whole day. The rain smelled so good in the pine trees; made you want to keep your windows rolled down. (Editor’s note: at 8,000’ above sea level, Grand Canyon’s North Rim runs about 10 degrees cooler than the South Rim)
AK: Did you see the area affected by the fire?
RW: It’s actually quite a ways outside the Grand Canyon National Park boundary, about 25 miles North of the entrance. You start seeing it about 5 miles South of Jacob Lake. It wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it was still eerie. You drive through and all of a sudden see what a vast area of what looks like huge black toothpicks. Trees weren’t burned down to the stumps, but the branches were completely burned off. The burn area itself was kind of “patchy:” you’d see places where one side of the road would be charred trees as far as the eye could see, then the other side would be unaffected, though the fire did jump the highway in some places. Some of the trees were scorched but not killed. As for the park, it didn’t even get touched. You can tell that there’s been some fires inside the park in the past, but this fire didn’t get in that far.
AK: Did the fact that there’d been a fire recently have a negative impact on your Grand Canyon experience?
RW: Not at all. It actually enhanced the trip visually with the contrast of the burned area against the living trees. It’s a very educational opportunity to witness the power of Nature. I’ll bet that come autumn, it will be really interesting to see the juxtaposition of the charred black area up against all that color. (Editor’s Note: the North Rim supports plant life that the drier South Rim cannot, which means in addition to conifer [pine] trees, the North Rim also has birches, aspens and oak trees. During the second and third week of September, these trees put on a radiant display of color. An amazing photo op!)
AK: Was it still a bit shocking to see all that devastation?
RW: I’m definitely sad that it happened because I am a deer hunter and a lot of their habitat was destroyed. All the back roads into the forest are closed off, too. People from Page like to camp up there and a lot of that area is going to be off-limits for awhile. (Editor’s Note: hunting is prohibited within Grand Canyon National Park. The area Ron refers to is outside the park.)
AK: So, you didn’t see any wildlife up there?
RW: Quite the opposite, we saw tons of deer, including lots of big bucks with antlers in velvet. We saw a wild turkey with some chicks, and we finally saw our first Kaibab Squirrel, which was cool. (Editor’s Note: Grand Canyon North Rim also features wildlife that you won’t find anywhere else. The Kaibab Squirrel, with its distinct gray coat and tufted ears, is unique to the North Rim.)
AK: What kinds of activities are going on there that visitors might like to take part in?
RW: The Visitor Center is nice, it’s located next to bathrooms at the main parking lot at Grand Canyon Lodge. The rangers are very helpful and knowledgeable about history, geology and biology. They have the Junior Ranger program there, plus there’s a Ranger Walk 8.30 every morning. There’s also a ranger talk about three or four times a day next to the fireplace outside the Grand Canyon Lodge. They talk about a variety of topics such as Grand Canyon geology, question and answer sessions, etc. These are all free.
AK: Even though you’ve been to the Grand Canyon many times, did you learn anything new on this trip?
RW: Definitely! The main thing I learned was that there are a lot more hiking trails than I previously thought. In fact, while I was there I got a permit to hike the Widforss Trail which I’m excited about. It’s about 10 miles long and goes along the canyon rim, then into the forest, then re-emerges at Widforss Point. You can camp along the trail, though there are no facilities like toilets or water. Not a lot of folks know about this trail either, so getting permits is relatively easy. I also got a better feel for the diversity of the plant life there from the Cape Royal walk. There are plaques along the trail from the parking lot that explain the various species of plants, their significance to the ecosystem and the ways Native Americans used the plants. I also learned that Cape Royal is an example of what’s called a “microclimate:” even though it’s at the same altitude as the rest of the North Rim, because of the warm updrafts from down in the canyon, and lack of natural obstruction, the prevailing landscape is more desert-ish: pinion forest, creosote bushes, etc. They also had a lot of warnings posted about lightning what with it being monsoon season and all. Did you know that one in every 10 trees along the canyon rim has been struck by lightning? I didn’t! (Editor’s Note: “monsoon season” refers to a phenomenon in the Southwest where late afternoon thunderstorms roll in from the Gulf of Mexico. These storms can produce heavy rain and lots of lightning, but are typically brief.)
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