About 3/4 of the hike was like this. You can see all the new aspen growing ferociously since the Warm Fire of 2006.

The Warm Fire began by a lightning strike and was initially managed for the health of the forest. Then a storm cell moved in and high winds carried the fire across SR67. A back burn was lit and ultimately almost 60,000 acres burned. The North Rim was closed and evacuated for almost a week.