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NPS works to stabilize<br>Bright Angel Trail wall

It’s probably the most popular and most-used trail in the park. There’s easy access, it’s in a highly-visited area and unlike some other trails, there’s water along the way.

Tourists looking for the popular Bright Angel trailhead find a detour. The trail can be accessed near Kolb Studio.

But the trailhead to Bright Angel Trail has been closed over the past couple of weeks and will be for most of the summer while National Park Service crews work to repair a crumbling wall.

Bernard Ponyah, Grand Canyon National Park trail supervisor, said crews will dismantle about 2,100 square feet of the unstable wall, which is situated on the right side of the trail.

“We’re going to tear the whole wall out and see what it looks like,” Ponyah said. “We may leave it as is. We may just leave it and have the reveg people come in.”

Ponyah said he’s trying to find some pictures of the old trail to see what that portion of the Bright Angel looked like before the wall was built.

About a month ago, Ponyah said a piece of the wall came out and after looking at it, there were concerns about its stabilization. Squirrels seem to be the culprit.

“The bottom, about two feet of it, fell out,” Ponyah said. “There’s kind of a hollow in the back of it. The squirrels have been burrowing back there. There’s hardly anything back there.”

Also, a tree had been growing in the middle of the wall. An arborist came out to look at it and as a result, it was removed.

The trail was closed as a safety precaution for visitors, although mules are still using it.

“They’re the only ones using it,” Ponyah said. “And we’ve got a fence up on the edge of the trail. That’s just a safety net in case rocks fall out.”

The NPS has not yet started dismantling the wall yet. Ponyah said they’re in the process of hiring people for the job.

Working on the trail could be potentially dangerous. Ponyah said a job hazard analysis is currently being done and workers will actually be anchored using climbing harnesses.

Ponyah expects the trailhead to be closed from 30-60 days. Visitors can now access the trail at a point near Kolb Studio.


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