As luck would have it for me this trip I did not have a great stay at this park. First off I wanted to do some night photography and the first night I was at the park it was overcast and no stars could be seen. It rained all night with bouts of thunderstorms all evening. The next day was going to be a hike from the Visitor Center to the campground on Rim Rock Trail and back to the Visitor Center on the Uplands Trail. I had to leave the campground by 0900 since they were doing some road work and were one day behind and the crew had only been on site two days, it did not look good for that project. After breakfast in the parking lot of the Visitor Center I got ready for my hike. When I opened the door to the van and looked out I saw lots of smoke and then fire on the North Rim of the Canyon. That was not good but it was across the canyon and the helicopter was putting out the fire so I was like no big deal. The fire trucks and firemen were coming into the Visitor Center so I was thinking they were going to direct the helicopter. I decided to see if I could get a better look at the fire and noticed lots of smoke on the South side of the canyon, my side. A Ranger told me that the Visitor Center was closed. I went back to the van and took photo of the North Rim fire and then drove to the other side of the parking lot for some South Rim fire photos. Well I was told that the Park was now closed and I had to leave the area. Driving to the campground, I went to see the Campground Host and see if there was an evacuation order for the campground. Yep he told me that I would have to leave the campground and would not know when/if I could return to the campground. Guess I had to follow directions and I left the park. On the road out I noticed a turn off and it had a view of the South Rim fire so I stopped to watch the fire to see what was happening, hoping I could go back into the park. Seeing the fire grow was not a good sign. You could see entire trees start to smoke then go up in flames. After about 20 minutes I decided it was time to depart and head away from the park and into Montrose, the closest town. While in town I got an email saying my night at the campground was refunded, so no going back to the park. I was unable to get any night photos in the park this trip. It is the belief that a lightening strike in the evening caused the start of the fire but in the AM the winds picked up and got the blaze going. I sure hope the fires were put out quickly and that nobody got hurt. Guess another trip to the Canyon is in order for me to get those night photos once again.
