What to know about the Grand Canyon as wildfires burn, claiming a historic lodge
This year will be different, at least for one portion of the park. A wildfire has torn through a historic lodge and ended the season for the canyon's North Rim, a place where visitors could find less bustle in one of the country's most iconic national parks.
As firefighters continue to fight the blaze, here's what to know about Grand Canyon National Park.
Bigger than Rhode Island
The Colorado River cuts through Grand Canyon National Park for about 278 miles (447 kilometers), pushing across northwestern Arizona. The eastern boundary is near the state's northern border with Utah, while the western edge is near Nevada.
Grand Canyon National Park is about 1,900 square miles (nearly 5,000 square kilometers), according to the National Park Service, which makes it bigger than Rhode Island.
The park is unique because of its canyon walls, which boast horizontal layers of red, orange and purple rock. The average depth of the iconic formation is about a mile (1.6 kilometers), while the average width is about 10 miles (16 kilometers).
'Four Empire State Buildings stacked one atop the other would not reach the rim,' Lance Newman wrote in the introduction to the 2011 book, 'The Grand Canyon Reader.'
The north and south rims
Within the park are the north and south rims, which are the primary travel destinations because of their accessibility.
The North Rim receives 10% of park visitors and is known for more quiet and solitude, according to the park service. It's open from mid-May to mid-October because of the snow. But the wildfires have closed it for the rest of the season, destroying a historic lodge and dozens of cabins.
The South Rim is open all year. It's more bustling and boasts a historic district, which dates to when the first steam-powered train arrived in 1901.
A car trip between the rims takes five hours, according to the park service. That's because there's only one way across the Colorado River by vehicle, and its 137 miles (231 kilometers) from the South Rim Village.
Hiking between rims is a shorter distance, 21 miles (34 kilometers), though by no means easy. It includes crossing the river on a narrow foot bridge 70 feet (21 meters) above the water.
Unexplored by Europeans for 235 years
The Grand Canyon was formed with the shifting of tectonic plates, which lifted layers of rock into a high and relatively flat plateau, according to the park service. About 5 million to 6 million years ago, the Colorado River began to carve its way downward, slowly deepening and widening the gorge.
The oldest human artifacts in the area date to about 12,000 years ago, when small bands of people hunted bison, the park service said. There were gradual shifts to agriculture, the building of pueblos and the development of trade routes. Today, 11 tribes have historic connections to the canyon, including the Hopi and the Diné (Navajo).
The Spanish were the first Europeans to the see the Grand Canyon in 1540, according to the park service. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and his Spanish army were searching for fabled cities of gold.
'The Hopi were able to fool the Spaniards into thinking that the area was an impenetrable wasteland and was not navigable anyway,' the park service wrote on its website, adding that the canyon 'was left unexplored by Europeans for 235 years.'
In the late 1850s, an Army lieutenant explored the Grand Canyon in search of a viable trade route, the park service said. Joseph Christmas Ives described it as 'altogether valueless" and predicted it 'shall be forever unvisited.'
The Grand Canyon began to draw much more interest after expeditions in 1869 and 1871 by geologist John Wesley Powell.
Powell described rock layers in the canyon's towering walls: "creamy orange above, then bright vermilion, and below, purple and chocolate beds, with green and yellow sands.'
'You cannot improve on it'
As the years went on, more explorers arrived by boat, on foot and on horseback, often with the help of Native American guides. Wealthy travelers came by stagecoach from Flagstaff to the South Rim in the 1880s. After the arrival of trains, the automobile became the more popular mode of travel in the 1930s.
Early entrepreneurs charged $1 to hike down the Bright Angel Trail used by the Havasupai people whose current-day reservation lies in the depths of the Grand Canyon.
President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation to create the park in 1919 but Teddy Roosevelt is credited for its early preservation as a game reserve and a national monument.
He famously said: 'Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.'
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Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Fire crews along Grand Canyon are trying to save cabins after loss of historic lodge
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Crews fighting a wildfire that destroyed the nearly century-old Grand Canyon Lodge and a visitors center were focused Tuesday on stopping the flames from consuming nearby cabins, mule stables and other structures, fire officials said. Firefighters are dealing with a pair of wildfires along the park's less-visited North Rim that together have burned through more than 90 square miles (233 kilometers). That's more than twice the size of the entire Walt Disney World complex in Florida. Each blaze grew overnight into Tuesday, but fire officials expressed optimism that they had slowed the spread of the White Sage Fire, the larger of the two. Tourists standing along the park's popular South Rim on Tuesday could see plumes of smoke rising above the canyon walls and a haze hanging over the sweeping vista. 'By the afternoon, it was completely socked in,' Christi Anderson said of the smoke that had filled the canyon the day before. 'You couldn't see anything, none of that. It was crazy.' Anderson was visiting from California and considered herself lucky because she had shifted her reservation to the South Rim in the preceding days. Otherwise she would have been among those forced to evacuate. The Dragon Bravo Fire, ignited by a lightning strike on July 4, destroyed the lodge and dozens of cabins over the weekend. That fire had been allowed to burn for days before strong winds caused it to erupt, leading to questions about the National Park Service's decision not to aggressively attack the fire right away. Four days into the fire, the Park Service said it was being allowed to burn to benefit the land. Then on Friday, fire officials and the Park Service warned visitors to evacuate immediately as the fire grew by nearly eight times within a day. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has called for a federal investigation into the Park Service's handling of the fire and plans to meet with leaders from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, her office said. U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego have asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum how the administration plans to track wildfire decision-making under a recent executive order to consolidate federal firefighting forces into a single program. The Associated Press has left phone and email messages with Park Service officials seeking comment about how the fire was managed. Over the years, managers at the Grand Canyon have successfully used fire to benefit the landscape, with the park having what some experts say is an exemplary fire management program that has tapped both prescribed fire and wildfires to improve forest health. Andi Thode, a professor of fire ecology and management at Northern Arizona University and the lead at the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, said park managers have even re-burned some areas in multiple places over the years to create what she called 'one of the best jigsaw puzzles' on public land. She noted that fire behavior decreased significantly when the Dragon Bravo Fire burned into the footprint of a previously burned area. 'So creating that heterogeneity across the landscape, using fire is a really critical tool moving forward to be able to help in the future with these wildfire events that are happening at the worst time in the worst weather conditions with the driest fuels,' Thode said. Fire officials on Tuesday said the Dragon Bravo Fire had spread to nearly 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) while the larger White Sage Fire had charred 81 square miles (210 square kilometers). Neither blaze had any containment. Park officials have closed access to the North Rim, a more isolated area that draws only about 10% of the Grand Canyon's millions of annual visitors. Hikers in the area were evacuated and rafters on the Colorado River, which snakes through the canyon, were told to bypass Phantom Ranch, an outpost of cabins and dormitories. Trails to the area from the canyon's North and South rims also were closed. The Dragon Bravo Fire flared up Saturday night, fueled by high winds. Firefighters used aerial fire retardant drops near the lodge before they had to pull back because of a chlorine gas leak at a water treatment plant, the park service said. ___ Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Christopher Keller and Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Washington Post
Fire crews along Grand Canyon are trying to save cabins after loss of historic lodge
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — Crews fighting a wildfire that destroyed the nearly century-old Grand Canyon Lodge and a visitors center were focused Tuesday on stopping the flames from consuming nearby cabins, mule stables and other structures, fire officials said. Firefighters are dealing with a pair of wildfires along the park's less-visited North Rim that together have burned through more than 90 square miles (233 kilometers). That's more than twice the size of the entire Walt Disney World complex in Florida. Each blaze grew overnight into Tuesday, but fire officials expressed optimism that they had slowed the spread of the White Sage Fire, the larger of the two. Tourists standing along the park's popular South Rim on Tuesday could see plumes of smoke rising above the canyon walls and a haze hanging over the sweeping vista. 'By the afternoon, it was completely socked in,' Christi Anderson said of the smoke that had filled the canyon the day before. 'You couldn't see anything, none of that. It was crazy.' Anderson was visiting from California and considered herself lucky because she had shifted her reservation to the South Rim in the preceding days. Otherwise she would have been among those forced to evacuate. The Dragon Bravo Fire, ignited by a lightning strike on July 4, destroyed the lodge and dozens of cabins over the weekend. That fire had been allowed to burn for days before strong winds caused it to erupt, leading to questions about the National Park Service's decision not to aggressively attack the fire right away. Four days into the fire, the Park Service said it was being allowed to burn to benefit the land. Then on Friday, fire officials and the Park Service warned visitors to evacuate immediately as the fire grew by nearly eight times within a day. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has called for a federal investigation into the Park Service's handling of the fire and plans to meet with leaders from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, her office said. U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego have asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum how the administration plans to track wildfire decision-making under a recent executive order to consolidate federal firefighting forces into a single program. The Associated Press has left phone and email messages with Park Service officials seeking comment about how the fire was managed. Over the years, managers at the Grand Canyon have successfully used fire to benefit the landscape, with the park having what some experts say is an exemplary fire management program that has tapped both prescribed fire and wildfires to improve forest health. Andi Thode, a professor of fire ecology and management at Northern Arizona University and the lead at the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, said park managers have even re-burned some areas in multiple places over the years to create what she called 'one of the best jigsaw puzzles' on public land. She noted that fire behavior decreased significantly when the Dragon Bravo Fire burned into the footprint of a previously burned area. 'So creating that heterogeneity across the landscape, using fire is a really critical tool moving forward to be able to help in the future with these wildfire events that are happening at the worst time in the worst weather conditions with the driest fuels,' Thode said. Fire officials on Tuesday said the Dragon Bravo Fire had spread to nearly 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) while the larger White Sage Fire had charred 81 square miles (210 square kilometers). Neither blaze had any containment. Park officials have closed access to the North Rim, a more isolated area that draws only about 10% of the Grand Canyon's millions of annual visitors . Hikers in the area were evacuated and rafters on the Colorado River, which snakes through the canyon, were told to bypass Phantom Ranch, an outpost of cabins and dormitories. Trails to the area from the canyon's North and South rims also were closed. The Dragon Bravo Fire flared up Saturday night, fueled by high winds. Firefighters used aerial fire retardant drops near the lodge before they had to pull back because of a chlorine gas leak at a water treatment plant, the park service said. ___ Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Christopher Keller and Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
Associated Press
5 hours ago
- Associated Press
Fire crews along Grand Canyon are trying to save cabins after loss of historic lodge
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Crews fighting a wildfire that destroyed the nearly century-old Grand Canyon Lodge and a visitors center were focused Tuesday on stopping the flames from consuming nearby cabins, mule stables and other structures, fire officials said. Firefighters are dealing with a pair of wildfires along the park's less-visited North Rim that together have burned through more than 90 square miles (233 kilometers). That's more than twice the size of the entire Walt Disney World complex in Florida. Each blaze grew overnight into Tuesday, but fire officials expressed optimism that they had slowed the spread of the White Sage Fire, the larger of the two. Tourists standing along the park's popular South Rim on Tuesday could see plumes of smoke rising above the canyon walls and a haze hanging over the sweeping vista. 'By the afternoon, it was completely socked in,' Christi Anderson said of the smoke that had filled the canyon the day before. 'You couldn't see anything, none of that. It was crazy.' Anderson was visiting from California and considered herself lucky because she had shifted her reservation to the South Rim in the preceding days. Otherwise she would have been among those forced to evacuate. The Dragon Bravo Fire, ignited by a lightning strike on July 4, destroyed the lodge and dozens of cabins over the weekend. That fire had been allowed to burn for days before strong winds caused it to erupt, leading to questions about the National Park Service's decision not to aggressively attack the fire right away. Four days into the fire, the Park Service said it was being allowed to burn to benefit the land. Then on Friday, fire officials and the Park Service warned visitors to evacuate immediately as the fire grew by nearly eight times within a day. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has called for a federal investigation into the Park Service's handling of the fire and plans to meet with leaders from the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior, her office said. U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego have asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum how the administration plans to track wildfire decision-making under a recent executive order to consolidate federal firefighting forces into a single program. The Associated Press has left phone and email messages with Park Service officials seeking comment about how the fire was managed. Over the years, managers at the Grand Canyon have successfully used fire to benefit the landscape, with the park having what some experts say is an exemplary fire management program that has tapped both prescribed fire and wildfires to improve forest health. Andi Thode, a professor of fire ecology and management at Northern Arizona University and the lead at the Southwest Fire Science Consortium, said park managers have even re-burned some areas in multiple places over the years to create what she called 'one of the best jigsaw puzzles' on public land. She noted that fire behavior decreased significantly when the Dragon Bravo Fire burned into the footprint of a previously burned area. 'So creating that heterogeneity across the landscape, using fire is a really critical tool moving forward to be able to help in the future with these wildfire events that are happening at the worst time in the worst weather conditions with the driest fuels,' Thode said. Fire officials on Tuesday said the Dragon Bravo Fire had spread to nearly 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) while the larger White Sage Fire had charred 81 square miles (210 square kilometers). Neither blaze had any containment. Park officials have closed access to the North Rim, a more isolated area that draws only about 10% of the Grand Canyon's millions of annual visitors. Hikers in the area were evacuated and rafters on the Colorado River, which snakes through the canyon, were told to bypass Phantom Ranch, an outpost of cabins and dormitories. Trails to the area from the canyon's North and South rims also were closed. The Dragon Bravo Fire flared up Saturday night, fueled by high winds. Firefighters used aerial fire retardant drops near the lodge before they had to pull back because of a chlorine gas leak at a water treatment plant, the park service said. ___ Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Christopher Keller and Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
