Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to THE home of Grand Canyon hiking. If it happens below the rim—from short day hikes to Rim2Rims and beyond—you'll learn all the tips and tricks to have your safest and most memorable Grand Canyon experience.
Host Brian Speciale brings you stories of triumph, tragedy, and trail-won wisdom—told by first-timers, seasoned vets, and Canyon insiders alike.
But don't just take our word for it; here's what our listeners say:
“I am continually inspired by the guests and the vulnerability of everyone to share their story—so others can learn and make their own.”
Whether you're planning Rim2Rim or just dreaming of hiking the Grand Canyon, this is the podcast that prepares you—mind, body, and spirit.
“An invaluable resource.”
"Brian and the community he has curated is such a welcoming place and wealth of information."
“It’s the perfect mix of inspiration, realistic caution, and tips for success.”
🎧 New episodes weekly
👣 Join the conversation in the hiKin Grand Canyon private group on Facebook
This is the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show presented by Hiken. Hiking plus kinship. That's Hiken. Together, we roam. Here's your host, my hubby, and cofounder of Heikin, Brian Special.
Brian:Alright. Thursday, July 17, and I I kinda can't believe that we're sitting here still talking about the Dragon Bravo fire with 0% containment. After the weather we had the other night and after, you know, all the days that they've they've been fighting this fire, it is still at 0%, up to 11,012 acres consumed so far on and in the North Rim Of The Grand Canyon. 594 personnel are on-site. Again, you know this thing started on July 4 as a lightning caused fire, and they were gonna try to contain it and let it run its course and take care of the the positive things that fire does in terms of underbrush and things like that and thinning out some of the fuel that these fires have to burn.
Brian:And instead, the fire got completely out of control, burned down Grand Canyon Lodge, many of the historic cabins around it, much of the infrastructure on the North Rim, and now it burns down into Roaring Springs Canyon where it's consumed. At last check, the best we can see is the fire has gone all the way down to Supai Tunnel, which is 1.7 miles below the North Kaibab Trailhead. And you can see there's a little sliver in there where they've got the the line or at least the perimeter. At least it's what it shows it on the map. Who knows if it's true or not?
Brian:Who knows how accurate it is? But you can see that there's a little sliver there. And based on the map on watch duty, the pit toilets, the building with the pit toilets at Supai Tunnel is safe. That's how it appears on the map. We do not know again whether that would translate to reality or not.
Brian:I still have not seen a single image from anywhere below the rim on North Kaibab or anywhere, so we really don't know what the damage looks like. But, if you look at the fire map, it does appear that the entire upper region of North Kaibab from the trailhead area all the way down to Supai Tunnel has been burned in in one way or the other. And how bad it was will probably help determine how long we will not have access to North Kaibab, at least accessing it from the South Side. You know that the North Rim, of course, is closed to visitor access for the rest of 2025, so who knows when we'll be able to access North Qaibab again from the trailhead itself by by driving it. But there is some good news way down below the rim.
Brian:We've, of course, been pretty stunned here about the fact that fire has gotten into Roaring Springs Canyon, and firefighters were taking defensive measures around the pump house at Roaring Springs, which is between Manzanita and Roaring Springs. And if you start to just think about that, 3,600 vertical feet below the North Rim, five and a half miles from the trailhead. Of course, the fire is not necessarily that they're worried about the fire following the direction of the North Kaibab Trail down into Roaring Springs. It's more from above, because if you know where you're at when you're in Roaring Springs, Grand Canyon Lodge in that area is not that far away. It's just basically straight up, you know, 3,600 vertical feet.
Brian:So I think the the thing that they're most worried about is the fire somehow spreading down into the canyon and into the Roaring Springs area. That has not happened. We do not now know how close it has gotten, but Rob Roy Williams talked about some of the success stories that firefighters are having in regards to the pump house.
Speaker 3:Things are looking real good. We have had no movement of the fire down on that Southeast corner for the last thirty six hours, so we're feeling really good about how that pump house is sitting. We did have crews go in a couple days ago, create, some defensible space and provide some structure protection. So, we're we're feeling really confident that that a future threat, to that pump house station is pretty minimal. So really happy to report that.
Brian:So some good news there. They also mentioned that the fire we talked about yesterday was spreading to the north by a couple of miles because of a southerly wind. What we did find out that they were able to put in defensive measures around the entrance station that we all have to drive through when we come into the park. So they were concerned enough about the fire spreading that far to the north that they took some defensive measures and, I guess, put some kind of a wrap around it, built a lie built some lines around that and other structures in the area. So they're confident that those structures will stay safe no matter what happens.
Brian:Trail closures, still the same old ones. North And South Kaibab both closed. South Kaibab and Bright Angel below Havasupai Gardens closed because of the smoke at the bottom of the canyon. Phantom Ranch remains closed as well for the same reason. The River Trail, of course, that's been closed all year for the waterline project.
Brian:Tonto is closed between Bright Angel and South Kaibab, and all the canyoneering routes that stem from those trails are closed as well. So nothing's really changed too much in the last twenty four hours, except for the size of this fire being over 11,000 acres now, and it continues to grow, and it is still at 0% containment. That is probably the most concerning part because I don't know how much there is that they are doing or can do below the rim because you're talking about some of the most inhospitable, dangerous terrain that a firefighter can come across anywhere on the planet. So there's only so much that they're gonna be able to do, so we're just gonna have to keep hoping that mother nature takes a turn. We get some big monsoons in there.
Brian:They don't get too much wind, and they have conditions that are favorable for finally bringing this thing to a halt. Also, this morning, I was able to sit down for an interview with Fox ten here in Phoenix, and I wanted to play that for you because unlike a lot of the other interviews that I have done, I got more than ten seconds or five seconds to say my piece. They kinda let me talk. And honestly, I probably talk too much because they end up having to cut me off here at the end. So stay tuned for that.
Brian:But I was really grateful for the opportunity because they let me talk about our community and what you all are feeling, what we're all feeling with losing the ability to do our hikes, and the self consciousness almost that there is because of that, because you know we're worried about. There's so many other big things to be worried about, and we might look at that and say, well, who cares about our hike? And that's true, but again, we continue to say it's okay to be upset about it. It's okay to mourn something you've been working so hard for for so long. So I was grateful that Fox ten allowed me to speak to that, and here's that interview from earlier this morning.
Speaker 4:When we talk about the Grand Canyon, there are some of the smoky skies that you can see. We're gonna bring in Brian Special. He is he's hiked the canyon many, many times, kind of an expert up there, and and he joins us this morning. Brian, can you hear us okay?
Brian:I sure can, guys. Thanks for having me. Hey.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Hi, Brian. Okay. Give us a little background on on your knowledge of of the Grand Canyon and and what you do on a daily basis. You're a big hiker.
Brian:Yeah. Sure. I've been hiking the canyon since I was 13 years old, and 1986 was the first time that I went rim to rim. That was back in the days when you would go to the South Rim, and you could fly on an airplane to the North Rim and land on a dirt strip and then get shuttled to the trailhead and start your hike that way. So those days are long gone.
Brian:But for the last couple of years, I've hosted a podcast called the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show, and we're just, intent on helping everyone have their best possible experience hiking the Grand Canyon because it's a bucket list hike for Mhmm. For so many people, which makes this all the more all the more devastating because it's it's not gonna be possible for a while.
Speaker 5:That speaks volumes. The fact that you have a podcast around the hike that shows, I think, how many people worldwide
Brian:Mhmm.
Speaker 5:Are interested in in what is this one of the seven wonders of the world.
Brian:I mean, it's a it's a bucket list hike. And and like you said, it's there's a lot of, coordination that has to go into it because of of not just the terrain, but just the logistics because you've got the north room and south room separated by about 12 miles as the crow flies. But to drive from from one room to the other, it's a four and a half hour drive Mhmm. Which is pretty hard to comprehend. So there's a lot that goes into the shuttling aspect and where to spend the night and then how to do the hike and how to train for the hike, the unique nature of hiking the canyon where you gotta hike downhill first for so long before you even go up.
Brian:So, yeah, there's a lot to it. There's a there's a big appetite for it, and there's a lot of people who are extremely, extremely disappointed because this is right in the, you know, in the heart of rim to rim season, which is only for five months. Because traditionally, the North Room is only open from May 15 through October 15, so there's a limited time when people can do it. And now, obviously, the rest of this year and, you know, if we're being honest, probably most of next year are are out formed. So a lot of people who are who are actually, I mean, we're picking up in our group just in mourning.
Brian:I mean, they feel devastated. Like, they've trained so hard for this and mentally prepared themselves for this, and now it's just kind of gone. And I think people feel, you know, a little self conscious about worrying about their hikes when so much other devastation has taken place. But we tell them it's okay. It's okay to mourn.
Brian:I mean, it's a human reaction when you work for something, and then it's it's kind of taken away from you.
Speaker 4:You know, I'm glad you mentioned that because I think it's not just the people who are working for it. But I was chatting with someone who's done it many times and is a photographer up there in the high country. And he said when he first heard about it, because he has stayed at the lodge so many times that he actually cried. He's like, you know, because it was a very emotional moment because it's a very special place. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And so, and he was heartbroken over the fact that it was, you know, there are questions about the management of the fire and things like that. Let me ask you this because there's there's some things, of course, is we try to get everything right with the media. It you know, try to dig into the details, but you know a lot more about this topic than we do. We talked we were talking about the fire on the North Rim, but we understand some of the information that you have is that the fire is also inside the canyon itself. Is that right?
Brian:Yeah. And let let me first say that I I can completely relate to to that gentleman's reaction. I mean, there have been it's it's extremely emotional, and it's hard to it's hard to it's kinda hard to put into words, you know, and make yourself understand why you feel that way about a place. But the North Rim is just there's something so special and so magical and so timeless about it. You know?
Brian:I always told people that the best way to do rim to rim would be to start on the South Rim and finish on the North Rim because when you get up there, you suddenly you know, you're in this canyon for hours and hours and hours, and then you surface and you're in the pines and you walk to the lodge, and it's like you are just in another time because everything at that lodge was the same as it essentially had been for almost a hundred years, and that and that never changed. And so I just relate to those emotional reactions that people are having because I had the same reactions. It was it's it's a difficult thing. My wife and I were just there for opening day on May 15. That's the last last time we were up there, and you you just I I never shut up about it.
Brian:Just ask her. I never shut up about the magic of the North Rim, and she feels the same way. But, yeah, for for hikers, the fact that the fire is now below the rim. And, you know, we wanna make that clear because we talk about, and I hear it reported in the media so much, the fire on the North Rim. Well, the fire now is inside the Canyon.
Brian:And to the best of our knowledge from what we've seen from the maps, it's penetrated almost two miles down the North Kaibab Trail, which is the the trail that connects the north and the south side. And knowing that area, there's a lot of vegetation. There's plenty of fuel to burn. I was just looking at some old video last night and just like, all I can see now is the vegetation and how much there was to for that fire to just to just feed on. So we know that the the fire has extended all the way down at least 1.7 miles down to the Supai Tunnel area.
Speaker 4:Wow.
Brian:So we don't know what that you know, what Upper North Kaibab is gonna look like. How bad was it? You know? Nobody knows that yet. I've heard no reports.
Brian:I've seen no image of it. I would do anything to be able to go and put eyes on that myself. But even crazier than that is the fact that yesterday or the day before, we learned that the fire crews were sending helitack teams. Mhmm. Five and a half miles down the North Kaibab Trailhead, essentially at the base of the North Rim, 3,600 vertical feet below the North Rim.
Brian:Yeah. And they were beginning defensive measures on the on the pump house down there, which provides water for the North Rim and sends water to the South Rim as well from Roaring Springs. So just the fact that they were worried about that threat
Speaker 4:You're right.
Brian:That far down the canyon is it's just it's astounding if you understand the area, and if you've ever been in the canyon to think that a fire could affect that so far down. And you were you guys were mentioning in the beginning there about the the terrain. There's no more difficult terrain on the planet that these firefighters are dealing with. And so I think
Speaker 4:Brian, my apologies. We we have to wrap real quick. But can I'm sorry. Well, let's take a quick break real quick, and we'll come back because I wanna share info on your podcast. We'll be right back.
Brian:You know, they're actually lucky they cut me off when they did because, I probably would still be talking right now. I could I could have gone on and on and on, and I intended to, but I was cut off by a commercial break. So, hey, I got to say my piece, and I'm very grateful for them giving us the opportunity to talk about our group. And, again, just the the passion and the disappointment that we're all feeling for the Grand Canyon and for losing the ability to do these these hikes that that I know you've all worked so hard for. But to that point, to that point, you know, I'm gonna continue to say, I really, really hope you will still consider coming to the canyon.
Brian:If you had your rim to rim scheduled for late September into October, I hope that you will not think that, ah, you know what? I can't do rim to rim, so it's not worth going. Guys, it is still worth coming to the Canyon. There are still unbelievable hikes that you can do and experiences that you will never ever forget. And maybe the best part of all is of course you want to come back and do your rim to rim, or your rim to rim to rim, or you want to stay at the North Rim and at the lodge and drop in from the North Side and and go to the South Side.
Brian:Of course, you want to do that. And you will be able to do that again someday. We just don't know when that will be. So maybe this could be, you know, kind of a scouting trip and a way to get out here to the Desert Southwest and get to the Grand Canyon, and still take part in all these incredible hikes that you can do from the South Rim. Because I gotta tell you, you're gonna have a better experience when you come back to do your rim to rim eventually if you do that.
Brian:If you come out here for a for a trip and do some hikes from the South Rim, you're ultimately gonna have a better experience. Why? Well, we always talk about it. Because of the unique nature of canyon hiking. You don't know how you're gonna handle the elevation.
Brian:You especially don't know how you're gonna handle the downhill before the uphill. Right? It's going to teach you a lot of lessons if you decide to to do that, and come out here and go down to the river, go to Phantom Ranch, go down to Tonto. Whatever the case may be, it is going to help you on your next hike when you come back to do rim to rim. And by the way, these are still iconic bucket list hikes.
Brian:It doesn't mean that if you can't do rim to rim, that you're not doing something big and impressive and awesome. Right? That's what these hikes are. Listen, if Bright Angel were open, I would still be up there every single month, even throughout the summer, and I'd be doing rim to river. I'd be going down South Kaibab, I'd be taking the River Trail to Bright Angel, and I would be exiting Bright Angel.
Brian:That is still a big hike. 16 and a half miles if you don't go all the way to Phantom, 17 and a half if you go all the way to Phantom and have your lemonade and such. You get to cross the Silver Bridge. You get to go down through River Trail area along the Colorado. You get to exit on Bright Angel through Devil's Corkscrew and Havasupai Gardens, and, oh, by the way, the downhill, the start of it.
Brian:You guys listen to me talk about it all the time. The iconic views on South Kaibab. They are otherworldly. There is no view, no view anywhere on the corridor trails like you will see on South Kaibab. So why not come out here and do a rim to river?
Brian:Of course, that's not available until October 1 at least if the waterline project stays on schedule and they can reopen the river trail. That is when a traditional rim to river will be an option again. So if you're coming out here October, if that's when your plans were, or it was after that until late October and November, guys, come out here and do a rim to river. I'm telling you, you're not going to regret it. You'll you'll regret it if you don't do it, and you start to see all these pictures and these accounts of the people who did decide to keep their trips and come out here and do it.
Brian:There are still places that you can stay. You can adjust your plans. If you had plans to stay on the North Rim, of course, that is out. However, you could stay in Grand Canyon Village. There are plenty of hotels in the village if you cannot get a reservation there.
Brian:Toussaint is right Toussaint? I swear. Toussaint, I'm sorry. I will mispronounce that name for the rest of my life. The second I heard it and the second I heard how to pronounce it, I'm like, well, it's too bad because that's just not gonna sit with me.
Brian:I'm not gonna ever get it right, so I'm sorry. Toussaint, Toussaint, right outside of the park. Okay? There are plenty of hotels there, this quaint, beautiful, little pass through before you get to the gate at the South Rim. There are plenty of hotels to stay in there.
Brian:If you can't get reservations in there and you wanna save a little bit money, this is what I do. I stay in Valley, which is about twenty minutes south of the South Rim, just a twenty minute drive. There's a little hotel down there called the Grand Canyon Hotel. It's nothing special. It's kind of run down.
Brian:It's maybe a little bit of a dive, some might consider, but it's good enough for me. I stay there all the time because it's half the price of what everything else is in Toussaint and in Grand Canyon Village. So, hey, I got no problem with saving a few dollars before before heading up there for the hike. So that's a good place to stay. If you have to go all the way down to Williams listen.
Brian:That's only an hour from the South Entrance Station. If you have to go to Flagstaff, that's an hour and twenty minutes from the South Entrance Station. Flagstaff and Williams, gorgeous. Gorgeous, unique, fun places in their own right. So there are places to stay.
Brian:There are ways to do this, and I so encourage you to do it. If you're coming before October 1, listen, you can still do rim to river, South Kaibab to Phantom, or South Kaibab to the river, and then back up South Kaibab. Of course, the heat mitigation strategies that we always talk about are certainly in play all the way until there is no more heat. I mean, obviously, that could be the October, late October. Last year, we were in the nineties and close to a 100 at the bottom of the canyon in mid October.
Brian:So you gotta keep that in mind if you're coming before October 1, especially, meaning that you can't do the traditional rim to river route, you're and gonna have to go back up South Kaibab. That's gonna mean even more heat mitigation. That's gonna mean not starting back up South Kaibab if it's hot until late in the evening and finishing in the dark. But that's okay too, because finishing in the dark on the South Rim is an amazing experience. I do it all summer long.
Brian:The canyon is magical at night as well. So just because you can't do the entire hike in the daylight hours should not be a reason that you don't come out here and hike the canyon if you have reservations. You can always, if you don't wanna go all the way down to the river, you can do South Kaibab to Tonto, and then across to Bright Angel, and up and out Bright Angel. Listen, that's still 13 miles, 13 plus miles, and you still gotta climb all the way up that 3,500 feet up Bright Angel from Havasupai Gardens. Difficult.
Brian:Big hike. Big hike. There's the Merry Loop, which is kind of a variation of that. I named this after my friend Mary Bannock, who I've done this with a couple of times. Down South Kaibab all the way to the river.
Brian:Hang out on Boat Beach for a while, and check out the incredible view of Black Bridge, and take your pictures, and dip your feet in the Colorado, and wade around in there. There's a calm little eddy down there, and you get to feel that ice cold Colorado River water, and make those sore feet and those tired legs recharge a little bit. Only then you can head back up South Kaibab, and then instead of going all the way up South Kaibab, you take the four, four and a half mile jaunt across Tonto, which is another experience in its own right. Tonto, you're feeling like you're standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon all by yourself. It's one of the corridor trails, but it is the corridor trail less traveled.
Brian:There's hardly ever anybody on it. It's peaceful. You just get this feeling again like you're standing all alone in the middle of the Grand Canyon, the canyon walls way off in the distance, and you just notice the incredible silence and the incredible scenery. Tonto is amazing, and then you connect with Bright Angel, you get your water at Havasupai Gardens, and up you go. That's another fantastic hike.
Brian:So there are ways to do that. That Mary Loupe, by the way, about 17 and a half miles, 18 and a half if you go all the way to Phantom Ranch. So these are still big hikes. These are still bucket list hikes. These are still hikes you will never forget as long as you live, and all they will do is drive you to come back.
Brian:You will be infected with an obsession for the Grand Canyon if you don't have it already, if you've never been here. These hikes are going to make you want to come back again and again and again, and of course, you're going to want to come back and do rim to rim, and it will be doable one day. Just be patient. And in the meantime, come to the canyon. You got this, everybody.
Brian:You got this. The canyon's not going anywhere, but we might as well take advantage of the opportunities to to spend time in it while we can because we don't know when rim to rim, North Kaibab and everything that we know and love is going to be back. Anyway, that's all I got for you this time. We will be back with another update tomorrow. I'm dedicated to continuing to do this for you guys as long as you want me to, as long as you think it's important to continue updating you.
Brian:And I I would definitely like to see that containment start to go up and and really, you know, see that crews are starting to get control of this fire because 0% containment this far into it, man, it is it's hard to believe, but on we go. Alright. Oh, one more thing before we go. We have come up with a t shirt and hoodie design, and we're selling these on our website, hikin.club, hikin.club, all profits from these things, every single dime of profit from these things will go directly to causes that support those who have been affected by the North Rim fires. This is the least we can do.
Brian:The design, it's it's it's awesome. It says North Rim rises, and in the middle, you've got a picture of Bridey, the famous Bridey the Burrow, who everyone has been shocking to listen and hear how many people have asked about Bridey the Burrow. Did the Bridey the Burrow statue survive in the North Rim fire? So we've got Bridey, and we've got the Grand Canyon Lodge in the background. It's a really, really cool kind of stylish shirt and hoodie.
Brian:So you can find those at hikin.club, hikin.club. Again, all profits from this are going to causes that support the people who were affected by the North Rim fires. Consciously, consciously, we have made a decision that we are not making a decision yet on who we're gonna give that money to. And in fact, what I think the best thing to do that's in the spirit of everything that we do in our community here, in our hiking community here, it's what we're all about as community. Right?
Brian:So I think that when the time comes, maybe we should put it to a vote of everyone, and we could come up with some causes and then kind of figure out where we want these dollars to go on behalf of our group. So that's what we're doing. It would be very easy for us to sit here and say, oh, we're giving all the money to the Red Cross or to the Grand Canyon Conservancy. We're not willing to do that yet. Okay?
Brian:We're not willing to do that yet. We don't wanna make a rash decision, and we wanna make sure that these dollars that are raised from the sale of these shirts and hoodies goes actually to the people who need it. So we still need a little bit of time to to figure out how that looks because, again, this is a fluid situation. We're talking about a fire that's still going on, a disaster resulting from a fire that still is at 0% containment. So we need for the dust to settle, so to speak, before we figure out what that is, and we want your help when it comes to deciding where to send that money to.
Brian:So again, hiking.club, hikin.club. Alright. That's all I got for you guys this time. We'll see you tomorrow again with with another update. This is the Grand Canyon Hiker Dude Show powered by Hiken.
Brian:Together, we roam.