Fires close popular Zion park trail, grow in Grand Canyon

A 50-acre wildfire in Zion National Park forced the closure of a popular hiking trail Saturday, according to the National Park Service.

And two much larger fires burning in Grand Canyon National Park limited visibility for drivers Saturday morning and merged in the afternoon to form one wildfire, the U.S. Forest Service said.

At Zion, about 160 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the West Rim Trail from the Grotto to Scout Lookout was closed because of a lightning-caused wildfire and the possibility of falling debris, according to an alert on the Park Service’s website.

The closure made Angels Landing impossible to reach through Zion Canyon, the alert said.

The Cathedral fire started during a thunder­storm Thursday night. It is burning in a remote location atop a mesa on Cathedral Mountain, just west of Angels Landing, the Park Service said in a release.

The fire is hard to access, which makes it too dangerous to put firefighters near the blaze. They would need to be flown to the fire by helicopter, the release said.

The Cathedral fire was showing “active fire” behavior, which includes running and torching trees on top of the mesa, but it wasn’t threatening any park resources, Park Services spokesman David Eaker said in the release.

“Fire is a natural part of the ecosystem in this area and it is being allowed to play its natural role as long as there are no direct threats to park resources or visitor safety,” Eaker said.

At the Grand Canyon, about 270 miles east of Las Vegas, the lightning-caused blaze that originally was two fires, called the Mason and Old fires, is being managed within a predefined 16,100-acre planning area about 7 miles southeast of Tusayan, Ariz., and 4 miles south of Grandview Lookout Tower.

Four fires were caused by lightning on the southeast edge of the national park. The other two fires are being monitored but are showing little to no activity.

No road closures are planned in the area of the 1,915-acre Mason blaze, which is expected to grow south and east along Forest Road 684, but drivers are advised to use extreme caution when traveling in and around roads north of the fire because of firefighters working there and possible reduced visibility due to smoke.

Road crews were hauling gravel to make improvements to heavily used roads north of the blaze along Forest Roads 301, 301A, 302 and 320, the release said.

The Old fire was only 6 acres when it merged with the Mason fire, but Forest Service spokeswoman Margaret Hangan said firefighters wanted the two blazes to combine so crews wouldn’t be trapped in the quarter-mile gap between the fires.

Combining two fires that are being pushed in different directions by wind creates a safer work environment for firefighters, Hangan said.

Smoke from the Mason fire is expected to blow northeast toward Desert View in the Grand Canyon and Cameron, Ariz.

Cooler temperatures and winds in the morning brought smoke closer to the ground, making it visible in Tusayan and as far south as Red Butte.

“Visitors during the day near Desert View and toward Cameron are smelling the smoke, but they aren’t being smoked out by any means,” Hangan said.

The smoke lifted and shifted directions as afternoon temperatures rose, the Forest Service said.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter: @lauxkimber