The Grandview Trail was closed in February, 2005 due to a rock slide and reopened September 1, 2005. Below are some pictures taken on reopening day. The trail crew did some great work in hot weather to make this happen.

The slide was caused by a tree whose roots were growing through cracks in a slab of Kaibab limestone. This tree is right above some cribbed switchbacks. The slab fell off breaking into several large pieces destroying the cribbing and much of the trail below. After tumbling through the Toroweap formation some of the large pieces came to rest hundreds of vertical feet below in the Coconino sandstone layer. I could not see where the other rocks fell but it looks like a lot of rock went over the cliff. At the bottom of this page there is a photo of the slide area taken just 3 days before it occurred.

Click on the pictures thumbnails below to see a larger version.

The tree that split the rock

Closeup of the roots

Distant view of the slide

Yellow marks the path of the slide.

A 16" diameter tree snapped off

A 15' piece of Kaibab that is now in the Coconino

New cribbing

This tree is near the bottom of the Kaibab limestone. The roots on the left side are not as visible as on the right.

Notice the part of the slab on the lower right. Much more of the slab went tumbling down.

The slide took out multiple sections of the trail because it switchbacks several times in the path of the slide.

Note the tree above. Lots of timbers were used to fill in the area knocked out by the slide.

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The tree that split the rock

This tree is near the bottom of the Kaibab limestone. The roots on the left side are not as visible as on the right.