Out of the ashes the Grand Canyon’s North Rim reopens

The Dragon Bravo Fire swept over about 150,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 100 structures

Published: May 20, 2026, 9:01 p.m. MDT

Marianne Schmits, from Vermont, watches the sunset fall over the canyon at Cape Royal after opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Friday, May 15, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. The Dragon Bravo Fire started July 4, 2025, and burned until late September. It swept over about 150,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 100 structures on the North Rim, including the famous Grand Canyon Lodge, employee housing and the area’s wastewater treatment facility. The North Rim is operating in a limited capacity, as many trails are still closed due to fire recovery efforts. There is currently no lodging or potable water available on the North Rim. Tess Crowley, Deseret News

The West Environment

Out of the ashes the Grand Canyon’s North Rim reopens

The Dragon Bravo Fire swept over about 150,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 100 structures

Published: May 20, 2026, 9:01 p.m. MDT

By Eva Terry

Eva Terry is a staff writer with the Politics and the West team, covering energy and the environment.

Just after midnight on May 15, Jeff Spencer left the Grand Canyon’s southern rim and headed north. Under the stars and in the early morning light, he descended into the gorge, hiked more than 20 miles, then ascended 6,161 feet back up. By 9:30 a.m., he stood at Coconino Overlook, just 0.7 miles from the top of the North Rim.

With hands on his hips, looking out at the canyon’s towering red walls, the 67-year-old began to cry.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s a real special place. It makes me feel so small … It makes me feel that God is so big.”

Spencer referenced the hikers he’d met on the trail that morning. “Everybody’s got a story. This is a magical place. It’s a spiritual place. I feel small, and God is so big,” he said.

Jeff Spencer, 67, from Arkansas, cries as he looks out at Coconino Overlook at approximately the halfway point of his 42-mile trek, known as Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim, or R3, on the North Kaibab Trail on opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Friday, May 15, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Though it was a victory to climb out at the North Rim, Spencer was only halfway done with his 42-mile trek, known as Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim or R3. In about 20 minutes, he’d be back on his way, speeding down the dusty switchbacks.

His 9 p.m. summit up the South Rim concluded his 10th R3 since 2014.

For many people like Spencer, the Grand Canyon is sacred ground. Its 277 miles reveal millions of years of history, exposed to the light in its 6,000-foot depth. Every year, around 5 million people peer into its ravines, hike in its tributaries or paddle its river.

But last year, the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, which only sees about 10% of the national park’s visitors, suffered major damage. Lightning strikes set off two wildfires, which quickly grew out of control.

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The North Rim reopens after last summer’s devastating fires

U.S. park rangers Aaron Kavesky, left, Tim Hopp, center, and Ed Keable, superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park, right, open the gate at 6 a.m. on opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Friday, May 15, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. The Dragon Bravo Fire started July 4, 2025, and burned until late September. It swept over about 150,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 100 structures on the North Rim, including the famous Grand Canyon Lodge, employee housing and the area’s wastewater treatment facility. The North Rim is operating in a limited capacity, as many trails are still closed due to fire recovery efforts. There is currently no lodging or potable water available on the North Rim. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

At 5:45 a.m. last Friday, a crew of rangers chatted behind the park entrance’s bolted gate. They hoisted an American flag into the air, the bottom end attached to the rope with a ziptie. Cars were beginning to congregate in front of the gate for the park’s 6 a.m. reopening.

This was no typical return to the park; many rangers were worried it wouldn’t happen.

For a good chunk of the previous season, no one was allowed in the North Rim besides firefighters. The Dragon Bravo Fire started last Fourth of July and burned until late September. It swept over about 150,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 100 structures on the North Rim, including the famous Grand Canyon Lodge, employee housing and the area’s waste water treatment facility.

Tim Hopp, U.S. park ranger, opens the gate at 6 a.m. on opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Friday, May 15, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

One park ranger, Kim Streif, recalled seeing the fire when it was just a small plume of smoke. She remembered reassuring a woman in a parking lot and saying, “It’s 30 miles away. It’s not going to come all the way here.”

“I wasn’t concerned about it,” she told the Deseret News.

Warren Adams, the Grand Canyon Lodge’s former deli manager and current Aramark operations manager for the North Rim, recalled taking a selfie with a co-worker, capturing the smoke rising in the distance. “When we left, we were all thinking we’d be back in a couple days,” he said.

Warren Adams, the Grand Canyon Lodge’s former deli manager and current Aramark operations manager for the North Rim, looks out at a viewpoint near his RV home on the North Rim after closing up the general store for the evening after opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Friday, May 15, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. The Dragon Bravo Fire started July 4, 2025, and burned until late September. Adams helped evacuate his dog and 170 employees in 45 minutes. The fire swept over about 150,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 100 structures on the North Rim, including the famous Grand Canyon Lodge, employee housing and the area’s wastewater treatment facility. Visitors and employees living on the North Rim, like Adams, currently have no potable water. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

But 40 mile-per-hour winds made the flames difficult to fight. Adams helped evacuate 170 employees in 45 minutes, and by the time the Dragon Bravo Fire was extinguished, suppression costs had mounted to $135,000,000.

Visitors weren’t allowed back in the park until Oct. 1, and even then, access was severely limited.

Many employees were worried they wouldn’t be able to return to the North Rim for the 2026 summer season at all, since the fire had wiped out so much.

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What will the North Rim’s 2026 season look like?

The Abegg and Christensen families hike on the North Kaibab Trail the day after opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Saturday, May 16, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Joëlle Baird, the public affairs officer for Grand Canyon National Park, greeted a few reporters at Jacob’s Lake Inn last Thursday afternoon. She’d hiked 21 miles from the South Rim, where she lives with her family, to the North Rim the previous morning.

For this year’s summer season, she explained, all paved roads, the North Kaibab Trail and many lookout points have reopened. The North Rim Campground is expected to open to visitors sometime in June.

However, even as access returns, one issue still plagues the North Rim: an absence of water. The area’s former wastewater treatment facility sits in a pile of rubble next to the remains of the lodge. As of mid-May, potable water is unavailable for hikers and employees alike.

Jesse Martinez, front manager, hammers a sign about North Rim fire recovery outside Jacob Lake Inn the night before the reopening of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Thursday, May 14, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. Jacob Lake Inn, 44 miles north of the North Rim, is the gateway to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and this year, the closest lodging to the park after the Dragon Bravo Fire burned down the famous Grand Canyon Lodge. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

As a result, all Grand Canyon staff are currently based on the South Rim. They’re assigned eight-day shifts on the North Rim to help keep the area open to visitors.

Baird said the park is hoping to construct a temporary wastewater treatment plant on the North Rim this fall, which would hopefully be online by next spring. Assuming no complications, employee housing and visitor cabins may have access to water during the 2027 season.

If this is the case, overnight lodging may selectively return to areas that were damaged by the fire.

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Hikers return to the North Rim unsure of what they’d find

Ryan Emmett, from Cedar City, hikes among fire-damaged trees on the North Kaibab Trail the day after opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Saturday, May 16, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Throughout the morning on the day the North Rim reopened, hikers panted up its switchbacks. Some had started in the South Rim at 9:30 p.m. the night before. Others paused their hikes for two-hour naps on the floor of the canyon before picking themselves back up and carrying on.

Paul Aguirre from Henderson, Nevada, hiked down from the North Kaibab Trail on Friday morning. In the sunshine amid the gently swaying greenery, he stood looking out at the Roaring Springs tributary canyon.

“I was expecting more total devastation,” he said. “But it’s not. It’s patchy. The burn hit some places really hard, and some places look really bad, but look at all the greenery still here.”

Zayden Castillo, left, and girlfriend Ashley Yuribe, right, from New Orleans, take a break for a snack while hiking on the North Kaibab Trail the day after opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Saturday, May 16, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

He referenced the Ponderosa trees around him and the wildflowers blooming in the grass. “It makes my heart feel good that it’s not totally gone,” Aguirre said through tears.

Just before lightning ignited the fires last summer, Aguirre had convinced his sister and her husband to come experience the North Rim with him. They’d watched the sunrise together from the East Rim Viewpoint. So Aguirre went back to the same spot the day before the park opened to see if it had survived.

“I looked down that side canyon, and it’s all gone. All burnt. You see soil all the way, far as you can see. That ... that hurt,” he said. “That’s what I was expecting to see here.”

Aguirre was expecting the North Kaibab Trail to look the same.

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Watching the sun rise and fall

Riccardo, no last name given, from Italy, watches the sunset fall over the canyon at Cape Royal after opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Friday, May 15, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

On Friday evening as the sun dropped beneath the horizon, a man from Italy named Riccardo stood atop the Cape Royal lookout point. He stood there undisturbed, watching the day turn to night.

He was joined on the ridge’s rocky edge by a handful of strangers. Each sat quietly, watching the sun’s orange light pierce the red rocks below. Marianne Schmits, who spends her retirement traveling the West in a van, stretched out to the right. Two women from Salt Lake City sat center stage, their legs dangling over the edge.

Riccardo stood off to the left, at times blocking the little bulb of the sun with his right arm, staring directly into the light.

As he left the lookout point, he told the Deseret News, “A week ago, I was in the South Rim.”

“I don’t know why, but I cried a little bit. Tonight, no. Not because it’s not good, but just because one time is enough,” he said.

“Maybe the sun is our God, and when he comes up, he lives among us for a while, because we need light, warmth. ... Without light and warmth we can’t live — I can’t live," Riccardo said with a laugh.

Maybe the sunset touches us because it’s our god leaving for a little while, he wondered.

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The North Rim may emerge healthier because of Dragon Bravo

Fire-damaged trees line the Grand Canyon Highway the day after opening day of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Saturday, May 16, 2026, following devastating wildfires in 2025. The Dragon Bravo Fire started July 4, 2025, and burned until late September. It swept over about 150,000 acres of land and destroyed more than 100 structures on the North Rim, including the famous Grand Canyon Lodge, employee housing and the area’s wastewater treatment facility. The North Rim is operating in a limited capacity, as many trails are still closed due to fire recovery efforts. There is currently no lodging or potable water available on the North Rim. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Within the Dragon Bravo Fire’s roughly 230-mile path, 74% had low-severity burns or no fire impact at all. “It’s a patchwork mosaic of impact in terms of losses from the Dragon Bravo Fire,” Baird explained.

However, the high-impact areas reduced large sections of the North Rim’s vibrant woods to rows of blackened trunks with bare branches. As stark as these areas appear, the burning is necessary to regenerate the earth. Wildfires are natural; they enrich the soil to support new growth.

Just as the North Rim’s land will be strengthened from the fire, Dragon Bravo is also giving the park service an opportunity to “reimagine what the North Rim could look like,” Baird said.

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The North Rim’s water infrastructure has historically been above ground, leaving it vulnerable to damage. The system is exposed to the elements, rock falls and freeze/thaw cycles.

Baird said the park plans on pumping water from Roaring Springs to the North Rim through a borehole, a system similar to the South Rim’s.

“We’ve often been limited in our infrastructure,” Baird explained. “We have an operating season that’s only six months long — May 15-Oct. 15 — of any given year. This opportunity ahead of us really allows us to reimagine if the park could have an extended season also on the North Rim.

Upgrades to infrastructure could “potentially support a season that’s year-round,” she said.