North Rim welcomes visitors as recovery continues one year after Dragon Bravo Fire

Nearly a year after the Dragon Bravo Fire changed the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park forever, I joined elected of­ficials and staff from Utah and Arizona on a July 10 tour to see how recovery is progressing and what’s ahead for rebuilding.

Left to right, photos by Celeste Meyeres:

• National Park Service staff and local officials discuss the effects of the Dragon Bravo Fire during a recent tour of the North Rim.

• The Bright Angel Point and Transept Trail trailhead at Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim is once again open to visitors following the Dragon Bravo Fire.

The tour, organized by North Rim park manage­ment, included officials from Kane and Coconino counties, Utah Sen. Dave Hinkins and staff from the offices of U.S. Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Celeste Maloy.

The historic Grand Can­yon Lodge is gone, and many surrounding build­ings were lost in the 2025 wildfire. Standing among the stone remains is a so­bering reminder of what was lost. But just beyond those ruins, another story is unfolding.

The North Rim is open, welcoming visitors once again and much of what makes it so special remains.

Point Imperial is open, the North Kaibab Trail continues to welcome rim-to-rim hikers and the camp­ground and General Store are serving visitors. Along the drive to Point Impe­rial, summer wildflowers paint the roadside in pinks, purples and yellows.

It’s easy to assume the entire North Rim burned. It didn’t.

Park officials say the Dragon Bravo Fire burned in a mosaic pattern, with about three-quarters of the landscape experiencing low-intensity fire, about one-quarter sustaining moderate damage and only about two percent classified as high severity.

Today, blackened hill­sides stand beside tall green ponderosa pines, surviving cabins and abundant wild­life. The fire changed the North Rim, but it did not erase it.

Recovery continues throughout the park. En­gineers are evaluating what can be salvaged at the lodge site while plans move forward to reopen some overnight lodging in 2027.

Kanab-based Reidhead Forest Management is re­moving hazard trees and salvaging fire-damaged timber under a U.S. Forest Service contract, improving public safety while helping supply regional sawmills.

One thing that im­pressed me most was the way park leader­ship is approaching recovery.

They’re being very mindful to listen to lo­cals. They’re carefully planning a more com­plete reopening while taking steps to pre­serve the North Rim’s “culture of quiet.”

If there’s one thing I hope Southern Utah readers take away, it’s this: while there are burned trees and miss­ing buildings, there are also tall green pines, wildlife, wildflowers and those iconic can­yon views waiting to be enjoyed.

The North Rim is healing, and it’s ready to welcome us back.

Please help us spread the word.

Those interested in supporting the North Rim’s recovery can contribute through the Grand Canyon Conser­vancy, the park’s offi­cial nonprofit partner, which has established a fund to assist recov­ery and restoration efforts.