The Dragon Bravo Fire has forced 25.5 miles of the Arizona Trail to close from the Clear Creek Trail junction just north of Phantom Ranch to the Kaibab Plateau Trailhead at the Park/Forest boundary along Forest Road 610. Highway 67 is closed south of the Kaibab National Forest/Grand Canyon National Park boundary. Please avoid the AZT within Grand Canyon National […]
Read moreOn October 1, the Kaibab National Forest reopened 11 miles of the Arizona National Scenic Trail between the Kaibab Plateau Trailhead at the Park/Forest boundary and Forest Road 213 near Telephone Hill Trailhead. Passage 40 is now completely open! However, 29 miles of the AZT between The Tipoff (4.6 miles north of the South Kaibab Trailhead) and the Park/Forest boundary […]
Read moreArizona National Scenic Trail Thru-Hiker Update for Autumn 2025 After a dry winter and a parched spring, we all knew this could be the worst wildfire year in recent history. But we held out hope for a bountiful summer monsoon season. Instead, we keep seeing heat records being broken and rainstorms yielding just a few intermittent drops. Living in the […]
Read moreArizona Republic (July 27, 2025) by Greg Burton As the Dragon Bravo Fire climbed toward Grand Canyon Lodge, I tried to remember how many times I’d stood beside it. Was it five or six? I visited the North Rim as a boy, took my kids there and returned after they moved away. The lodge was both way station and gateway […]
Read moreGrand Canyon National Park has officially confirmed that walk-up backcountry permits will be available for spring thru-hikers in 2025 with the following date ranges: April 1 – May 14: Sites will only be available at Cottonwood Campground May 15 – June 11: Sites will also be made available at Bright Angel Campground If you are arriving before or after these […]
Read moreGrand Canyon National Park has confirmed that hikers are allowed to walk on the paved road to avoid the snowy AZT during the spring season before the road opens, typically on May 15. Mountain bikers are not allowed to ride the road and must follow the trail. The Park reiterated that hikers walking the plowed and paved North Rim Road should be aware […]
Read moreWilliams-Grand Canyon News (August 3, 2022) Over the weekend of July 16-17, Arizona Trail Association (ATA) volunteers and staff partnered with NPS Trails and Backcountry Information Center staff to remove fallen trees and clear the Arizona Trail corridor between the Widforss Trailhead and the North Rim Entrance Station. Each of the four saw teams were captained by an experienced and […]
Read moreEast Greenwich News (January 31, 2021) by Jonathan Malone It was hot, it was dry, and I was afraid that I was running out of water. I had been hiking through the high plateau desert in Arizona for three days and I had seen only a handful of people, lots of cows, and a few horses. I had heard elk and coyotes, […]
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