Brandis Trail
BRANDIS TRAIL Survivor pines near the Deer Hill Trail junction Ten years ago this month, the Schultz Fire was ravaging the eastern slopes of Flagstaff’s San Francisco Peaks. Trailhead gate on the Brandis Trail The human-caused blaze, ignited from an abandoned camp fire on June 20, 2010, went on to burn more than 15,000 acres of Coconino National Forest before being contained 10 days later. The fire was followed by one of the wettest monsoon seasons on record which lead to devastating flooding. Without trees and other vegetation to stabilize and absorb runoff, heavy rains created rivers of debris that further eroded the landscape leaving behind a charred moonscape of sludge and an eerie wilderness of torched tree trunks and ashen gullies. Evidence of the 2010 Shultz Fire come early in the hike Extend the hike on the Deer Hill Trail Mountain gromwell sprout tiny white flower heads Sunset Crater (left horizon) seen from Brandis Trail Pollinators swarm around Rocky Mountain beeplants Pine