Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim, Dragon Bravo expansion

[azbackpackr]

(July 27 Edit, changed headline to reflect development of fire.)
Grand Canyon Lodge at North Rim burned last night, and over the last 24 hours also the visitor center, cabins, Administration center, backpacking permit office, and numerous employee houses were burned. I heard that the mules survived and that nobody died. It'll be all over the news.
https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-i ... bravo-fire

[azbackpackr]

Update: DragonBravo Fire is almost 45,000 acres now, and yesterday seemed to be a real threat to the Kaibab Lodge.

[Jim]

. It's gotten quite large. Impressive.

[azbackpackr]

@Jim
Inciweb did not do an evening update. Watch Duty app did. They are saying 50,000 acres, up from about 45,000. They downgraded containment from 26% to 13%. It's going into the Saddle Mountain Wilderness. It's crowning on some pretty significant old forest. Not a "helpful" fire. Yesterday I saw a photo taken from Mormon Lake Overlook. The fire plume was clearly visible on the horizon, 104 miles away. 400-year-old trees are burning. What's going to grow back? Probably a lot of juniper and grass, just like what we see from Rodeo-Chedeski and Wallow fires. (2002 and 2011.)

[FOTG]

@azbackpackr
I would say we are lucky if any juniper comes back, from past fires, I’d say it’s more likely to expect miles and miles of locust up there.

[azbackpackr]

@FOTG
Oh, yes, I'd forgotten. I battled that when hiking Powell Plateau, for which I did the original hike description:

[ Powell Plateau ]

[ShatteredArm]

@FOTG
Yeah, I think I'm more bummed about the loss of some of that beautiful forest in the North Canyon / East Rim area than the lodge. Best case is the sea of young aspens you see in the old Warm Fire scar (which, incidentally, was also a fire they originally intended to "manage" in dry conditions).

[FOTG]

@ShatteredArm
100 percent. That lodge meant nothing to me. The forest was always the attraction for me. I am also glad that I am not the only one who remembers that this is the second time they bungled a fire they were just going to, “manage.”

[Jim]

Serious question: what would have made people happy?

[hikeaz]

The Dragon Bravo Fire at the Grand Canyon is well on its way to becoming absolutely historic.
Since last Tuesday, it's expanded exponentially, quintupling its size from 13,622 acres to 71,005 acres this morning. Containment dropped from 26% to 9%.
Yesterday, the fire's pyrocumulus clouds reached a height of 24,000 feet and is visible from Saint George, Utah { +/- 100 miles away)

[azbackpackr]

@hikeaz
Visible from Mormon Lake! I saw an amazing photo.

BLM has closed lands around it, such as south House Rock Valley. Info here: https://www.blm.gov/announcement/blm-ar ... bravo-fire

[RedRoxx44]

I came thru Monument Valley, Cameron area yesterday, air quality pretty bad at MV and impressive smoke plume from Dragon Bravo.

[hikeaz]

From what I can gather, besides the “developed area” around the Lodge, these more noteworthy areas fall withing the 'burned' areas on the fire map. Some firsthand, boots-on-the-ground beta would be helpful moving forward, after the areas are given the all-clear.

North Kaibab Trail, down to Supai Tunnel
Both sides of Highway 67, from the Lodge to the park entrance gate
Both sides of the Cape Royal Road, from Highway 67 north to Point Imperial, and south to Roosevelt Point
Transept Trail (entirety)
Widforss Trail (entirety)
Tiyo Point Trail (entirety)
Point Sublime Road, both sides from the highway to the Kanabowits Road, excluding The Basin meadow
Ken Patrick Trail (entirety)
Uncle Jim Loop Trail (entirety)
Obi Point Trail
Old Bright Angel Trail
The Arizona Trail from the North Kaibab TH to the north, all through the Park and beyond East Rim Viewpoint
A majority of the National Forest east of Highway 67, to the east end of the plateau including:
- upper North Canyon Trail (entirety)
- upper South Canyon Trail (entirety)
- upper Saddle Mountain TH, and some of the Saddle Mountain Trail
- East Rim Viewpoint
- Marble Viewpoint

[chumley]

@hikeaz Somebody is gonna have to contact Merriam and Webster to let them know that "managed for resource benefit" doesn't mean what they think.

[azbackpackr]

@hikeaz
You know Jamie too?

[RedRoxx44]

Firefighters save a piece of history from Dragon Bravo----https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/a ... wtab-en-us

Kinda interesting never knew about tree stands to do firespotting on the north rim.

[hikeaz]

@RedRoxx44
While looking for a nice campsite with-a-view along the Point Sublime Road I inadvertently camped next to one and did not notice it until the next morning.

[hikeaz]

Fire makes HUGE run into the Canyon
Officials said this morning that the fire has made an unexpected SIX-MILE run into the Grand Canyon since yesterday, and the perimeter is now "a mile, mile-and-a-quarter" from the Colorado River in the Kagunt Drainage.
Maps show large areas below the rim apparently affected, and the perimeter at an elevation as low as 3900' — an astounding 4300' below the North Rim.
Unfavorable weather conditions fueled this spread, which officials were clearly very surprised by (not the first time). "Phenomena" and "like a blowtorch" down that drainage is how they described it.

[Jim]

Neat

and 143,000 acres. Impressive.

[RedRoxx44]

Yep, apparently fire managers ignored 4 critical warnings that the fire could get out of control by their own metrics---https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/offic ... 91ec&ei=73
and the social media posts regarding management as they try to spin it are coming back to bite them.

[hikeaz]

@RedRoxx44