The Elk Fire, Year Three: Morels and Regrowth in the Bighorns
July 21, 2026 · 7 min read read · Wyo Stays Journal
Three growing seasons after the Elk Fire burned across the eastern face of the Bighorns near Dayton, the burn area is recovering the way northern forests do — fast on the ground, slowly overhead. Grass, fireweed, and aspen shoots are reclaiming the black; the standing dead lodgepole will take decades. For morel hunters, the famous post-fire flush has largely passed, but the story on the ground is worth the walk.
The fire started with a lightning strike in September 2024 in rough country roughly fifteen miles northwest of Dayton, Wyoming, and ran hard through October — past 96,000 acres by the end of that month, with final tallies reported near 100,000 acres before winter snow shut it down; it was declared out in early January 2025. For a while it was the whole conversation in Sheridan County: smoke over the valley, evacuation notices along the mountain front, crews staged in town. Wyo Stays is a licensed, insured Wyoming vacation rental brokerage in downtown Sheridan — we hosted our share of displaced neighbors and fire personnel that fall — and we've watched the mountain's slow answer ever since. This post is that answer, three years in.
The Elk Fire and Morels: What Year Three Actually Offers
Burn morels are the reason mushroom hunters chase fresh fire scars: in conifer country, the spring after a burn typically produces a heavy flush, the second spring a smaller one, and by the third season the burn effect has mostly faded back toward normal woodland levels. This burn followed the pattern — springs 2025 and 2026 drew pickers into the accessible edges of the burn, and by now, year three, the easy bonanza is over. What remains is honest morel hunting: moist drainages inside and around the burn, edges where fire skipped and stuttered, and the usual late-May-to-June window that all Bighorn morels keep, moving upslope as the ground warms.
| Season | Burn recovery (typical pattern, observed locally) | Morel prospects |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 — first spring | Bare black ground; first grass and fireweed; flood and debris risk in drainages | Heaviest burn-morel flush, where access allowed |
| 2026 — second spring | Strong green-up in grass and shrubs; aspen suckers; elk and deer on new feed | Smaller secondary flush, patchier |
| 2027 — year three | Wildflower years begin; young aspen waist-high in places; snags starting to fall | Near-normal levels; hunt drainages and burn edges, not the black |
If morels are your whole mission, treat the burn as one stop, not the destination — the technique, safety notes, and identification basics in our Bighorns morel foraging guide apply everywhere on the mountain, wet springs willing.
How Is the Burn Area Recovering?
Walk the burn's edge in July and the color surprises people: not gray, but green shot through with magenta. Fireweed owns a young burn — whole hillsides of it — with grasses, lupine, and arnica moving in behind. Aspen, which resprouts from its roots, comes back like it was fired from a gun; stands that looked erased are already thickets of pale young stems. Lodgepole pine plays the long game its cones are built for — heat-opened seeds mean a carpet of seedlings that will be knee-high before this decade is out and a forest again in our grandchildren's time. Wildlife reads the burn as a buffet: elk and deer work the new grass at dawn, bluebirds and woodpeckers work the snags, and the snags themselves — this matters — fall without warning, especially in wind. Locals call them widowmakers and mean it.
The spring after the fire, I stood where the flames crossed and counted more shades of green than I could name. The mountain wasn't ruined. It was starting over, loudly. — a Wyo Stays local
Visiting Burn Country Responsibly
Trail and road conditions inside a recovering burn change year to year — washouts, hazard-tree removal, and closures get posted and lifted as crews work — so check the Bighorn National Forest's alerts page at fs.usda.gov or call the Tongue Ranger District before building a day around any specific trailhead on the mountain's east face above Dayton and Ranchester. A few standing rules of burn travel: stay out of the black on windy days because of falling snags; camp well clear of standing dead trees always; expect drainages to flash harder than they did pre-fire, since burned slopes shed rain fast; and stay on durable surfaces, because recovering soil is fragile and every shortcut prints for years.
Foragers should know the legal side too — mushroom and berry gathering on the forest has personal-use rules and permit thresholds, covered in our guide to foraging rules on the Bighorn National Forest. And if you want the burn explained by people who work it, Sheridan and Dayton's local outfitters run trips into this country and carry current knowledge of what's open, what's blooming, and where the elk are — worth every dollar in a landscape that rewrites itself annually.
Stay Nearby: Cabins Near the Burn-Area Trailheads
Dayton and Ranchester sit at the foot of the burn country, and our cabins and mountain homes there — and in Story and Big Horn — put the US-14 trailheads minutes from your coffee pot. Full kitchens for post-hike dinners, laundry for trail-dusted clothes, decks with a straight view of the mountain doing its slow, green work. Spring morel window or July wildflower peak, check availability at book.wyostays.com — Book Direct — No Channel Fees — and give yourself more than one day; the burn reads differently every morning.
Practical Tips
- Check Bighorn NF alerts (fs.usda.gov) or call the Tongue Ranger District before committing to any burn-area trailhead.
- Stay out of standing dead timber in wind, and never camp under snags — they fall silently.
- Morel window is typically late May–June, moving upslope; hunt drainages and burn edges in year three.
- Carry more water than the map suggests; burned country has less shade than you remember.
- Base close so you can go at dawn — browse Dayton-side homes at book.wyostays.com.
FAQ: The Burn Area, Three Years On
Q: How big was the 2024 Elk Fire?
A: The Elk Fire ignited by lightning in September 2024 about fifteen miles northwest of Dayton, Wyoming, and burned through October — surpassing 96,000 acres by late that month, with final reports putting it near 100,000 acres on the Bighorn National Forest and adjacent lands. Snow ended its run, and it was declared out in early January 2025.
Q: Are there still morels in the burn area?
A: Some, but the gold-rush years were the first two springs after the fire, which is the normal burn-morel pattern in conifer country. By year three, expect closer-to-normal woodland numbers: hunt moist drainages, burn edges, and mixed live-and-dead timber in the typical late-May-to-June window rather than the open black, and treat any flush as a bonus.
Q: Are the trails in the burn area open?
A: Status changes as hazard-tree work and washout repairs progress, so don't trust a year-old trip report — check the Bighorn National Forest alerts page at fs.usda.gov or call the ranger district before you go. Many routes on the east face reopened as crews cleared them, but individual trails and roads can close again after storms take down burned snags.
Q: Is it safe to hike in a burned forest?
A: Generally yes, with burn-specific habits: standing dead trees fall without warning, so avoid the black in wind and never linger or camp beneath snags. Burned slopes also shed rain fast, so stay alert to flash flows in drainages during storms. Footing is dustier and shade is scarce — carry extra water and expect the country to feel bigger than it looks.
Fires this size mark a mountain range for a lifetime, but they don't end it — the Bighorns are answering the fire in fireweed, aspen, and elk on new grass, and watching that answer unfold is one of the most quietly moving trips you can make in Wyoming. Come see year three for yourself — plan your stay at wyostays.com.