Forest Fires | Grand Canyon | north rim | Arizona

Controlled burns in forests are often necessary to consume the accumulated debris from trees, which sometimes reduces wildfires.

In 2006 thousands of acres of Ponderosa pines burned near the road leading to the Grand Canyon, 2% of the area was hot enough to kill pine stands. 

 Since Aspen trees grow from roots, unlike most trees, they will get more sun after these burns and will produce more trees. There are hundreds of small Aspen growing in the area of this burn. When they get tall enough, they may provide shade for conifers to grow. 

 

There was a recent large burn near the north rim of the Grand Canyon, reported to have been started by lightning, as it had been in monsoon season. Over 14,000 acres were involved and fire crews tended to the fire, but allowed it to burn in controlled areas. I'm hoping that the controlled and managed burns lessen the impact on the animals in the area.

 

　

 

 

Shortly after the area in the Grand Canyon was opened to tourists again, I drove one of the roads that was quite involved. I could actually smell the burned area and noticed that small portions of the road had been scorched.

This is one way of getting rid of accumulated debris in forest.  These will be burned during the dry season.

This last photo shows how they thin out trees that have grown too close together, they leave the taller, healthier trees.  This tree cutting also adds to the piles that will be burned in the future.

 

This photo shows Aspens with pine trees in the background.

I have noticed that Aspens grow sometimes in tight groupings, as shown above and in the photo below.  I imagine the reason is that they grow from their roots, rather than seeds.

Grand Canyon | North Rim | Arizona

Grand Canyon is magnificent. The North Rim is very different from the South Rim, where most people visit. The South Rim has lots of people, shuttles to take them along the main road so they can get off at numerous stops to view the canyon. The North Rim has the main area where the lodge and visitor center is, as well as the campground as well as other facilities. In order to see any more of the canyon, there is a road that branches off in two different directions with multiple parking areas to see more views.
 
A very interesting spot on the way to Imperial Point - from a distance you can see a rock outcropping that has a window in it.

As you get closer, you can see a large hole in the rock wall. Through this vaguely triangular shaped hole, you can see part of the Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon.

When you get to this rock outcropping, there is a walkway to view into the Canyon. It gives you a bit of a funny feeling knowing that part of this walkway is a bridge over that hole. But, the views are great.

There is not much traffic on either of these roads, and it's a slow trip since there are winding roads and lots of dropoffs.

 This little guy was right in the middle of tourists, probably eating someone's leftovers.

And then there were bigger critters - bison!

 

One short hike promised to take me to a little log cabin that was used as a salt house left over from the early 20th century.

What I found looked like it could have been that little cabin, but it had been encased in protective foil, since there was a recent forest fire. Looks like it might have been interesting.



And then there is more scenery.....