Is it too hot to go to the Grand Canyon in July?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Planning a trip with 3 active kids (10, 14, 16) in July. There’s a tour that works for our dates and looks great except I’m worried about extreme heat. Thoughts? |
Anonymous
|
Sigh.
The south rim of the Grand Canyon is at about 7000 feet. Think Ponderosa pine forests. The sun can be intense but it’s not extreme heat like lower elevation parts of Arizona. It can get hot down in the canyon if that’s what you mean by a tour. |
Anonymous
As long as you don’t hike down into the Canyon it will be fine. It’s nowhere near as hot as the Valley at the rim. Maybe in the 90s tops with no humidity. |
Anonymous
| I don’t know. But it was WAY too cold at the end of March, so summer sounds better! |
Anonymous
|
You should do much less. There are stretches of trail with no water. So, you can stay at the top.
Alternative plan: wait until they are closer to teen age and raft through the Grand Canyon with OARS (a company). It is exciting and relaxing and at the end you can hike out after spending the night at Canyon Ranch. |
Anonymous
Why sigh? |
Anonymous
| Hiking into the canyon would get hot, but can be timed appropriately by leaving at dawn. Or just don’t go very far. |
Anonymous
| I went in the summer with my kids. Yes, it’s hot. The first day I noticed hikers with those backpacks with a tube holding their water supply and I got worried. 😫 Stop for a few cases of water on your drive in. |
Anonymous
| Yes. It’s way too hot. |
Anonymous
|
Yes, the kids will be hot and miserable, especially if there is a heat wave, so I'd temper your expectations on what the kids will be able to do.
We went in June 2021 during the western heat wave, and it was so, so hot after about 9am (we got there at 6:30am). |
Anonymous
| Please, please be very aware of the dangers of the Grand Canyon. Especially from dehydration. And for some light reading https://www.hastingsandhastings.com/grand-canyon-deaths/ |
Anonymous
Because PP is a snob and thinks everyone was born with this knowledge. 
Op, IDK how long you're going on this trip, but honestly, there isn't a whole lot to do at the Grand Canyon itself except look at it from the different viewpoints and it starts to look the same. If you're hiking, I'm guessing you'd be doing a shorter hike and not going all the way to the bottom in July with kids, so I am wondering how to plan to fill the days? This at most, takes one full day. Clark Griswold was right about the Grand Canyon. You see it, you look at it and you leave. |
Anonymous
| My answer depends on what you’re planning to do at the Grand Canyon. Are you hiking into the canyon? Are you staying up by the rim and only going to hermit point and Desert watchtower? |
Anonymous
|
It would be too hot for us. We went in early April and it was perfect. We are heat intolerant, though.
I wouldn't go to the Grand Canyon without hiking down into the canyon. If you hike at sunrise, you should be okay. The nights should be pleasant. |
Anonymous
| Way too hot. |