best time to vist Utah national parks?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I'd like to do this trip with my husband in the next year. How long do we need? Would like to hit all of the parks and do some good hikes. We have 2 young kids so can't be gone forever. |
Anonymous
| We did that last summer. Great trip. We went for 10 days and it wasn't long enough. As far as best time, because it gets so hot, I prefer the fall. |
Anonymous
I think this is a myth or maybe it just depends when/where you go. We did north rim Grand Canyon and Bryce and Zion in late Aug (like Aug. 20-26) and we were fine. It ranged from 43 degrees in the mornings to about 89 degrees on the hottest day in the afternoon. True, it is 30 degrees hotter at the bottom of the grand canyon -- but we didn't go there. We also didn't do Moab/Arches -- so I can't speak to that. My strategy was to stay on EAST COAST time and use that to our advantage. So, for instance, we'd get up at our normal EAST coast time which was either 2 or 3 hrs different than local time (depending where you are). So, yes, we'd get up at 5:00 a.m. sometimes (which was really 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. to us) and then use those "early"hours to drive to our next location so that we could hike or do a planned activity during the coolest parts of the day. On other days, we would wake up and do our activities at that location, then use the hotter mid-afternoon part of the day to drive to our next spot. It wasn't really *that* hot, but we still arranged our day to have activities during the 9am-1pm (local) time and then again later in the evening. It worked out really well (although we often ate hot breakfasts for lunch b/c we were ready for lunch at 10 a.m. local time -- which was noon or 1:00 to us). Don't be scared of going during August. Look at weather underground or another site and see what the temps really are.... it's not always what you've heard. |
Anonymous
We just did 8 days in Utah in mid-June. It was fine in the morning but by the afternoon it was beastly hot -- 105 degrees and above. Sure, it's dry heat, but it's still hot. If you're going without the kids and so don't need to go during a school vacation, I'd go in the fall when it's cooler. We did 8 days and could have spent longer, but it was fine if that's all you have. We only went to Utah (so not the Grand Canyon) -- Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Canyon Lands, and Arches. If we had had more time, there are some state parks I would have liked to add, plus the Grand Canyon. |
Anonymous
Sorry if this is hijacking the thread (I am not OP), but I have just started planning this trip for our family with two tweens) for mid-June next year, have about 8-10 days, and would love to hear your itinerary, some of the highlights and what (if anything) you would do differently! |
Anonymous
We flew to Las Vegas, rented a car, and drove to Zion. This was a long day of travel, but there's really no way to break it up. We woke up early the next day (like a pp, we did our best to stay on east coast time) and went hiking in Zion. My kids weren't big enough to hike the Narrows, but if your kids are old/tall enough, it's the hike you want to do. Then in the afternoon, we went back to the hotel to relax and swim -- we needed a day off from travel! The next day we drove to Bryce, spent the night there and the next day hiking there. Make sure you hike down into the canyon -- staying on the rim doesn't at all give you a sense of the place! We then spent one night and one day at Capital Reef, which was my favorite park. Then we went to Moab, where we rented a house through Air bnb -- it was more expensive than a hotel, but by then we were tired of sleeping together and the kids needed some distance from each other. In Moab, we spent some time in Arches and Canyon Lands and some time outside the park doing guide-led adventure activities (rock climbing, white water rafting). This added considerable expense and wasn't necessary, but it was fun and again, the kids needed a break from hiking. Then we flew home from Grand Junction, Colorado. Other than the first day, we had about 2 hours of driving each day, which was manageable. If we had had more time, we would have added some state parks rather than spending more time in any one park, since the really long hikes weren't really accessible to us. Make sure you begin each park at the visitor center to get the junior ranger information -- the kids really loved doing it, it motivated them to participate in hikes enthusiastically, and we all learned a lot from the ranger programs. My other advice is to stay at hotels that have pools. |
Anonymous
NP. Went in early June. The elevation is also much higher. You burn so much faster. I wasn't diligent about reapplying sunscreen and got a wicked burn after a couple days in Canyonlands. Really caught me off guard. We flew in and out of Salt Lake because my brother lives there. It's about 4 hours to the parks from SLC. Long drive, but manageable. Enjoyed driving over the mountains and across the high desert. Amazing scenery unlike anything on the east coast. |
Anonymous
|
To the Pp who suggested that it's a myth that it gets really hot, huge temp differences between Bryce and Zion area and Moab. It doesn't get cool at night in the summer in Moab.
Something I didn't know is this. Capitol Reef is one of the darkest places (maybe the darkest) in the US. If I were doing it again, I'd be sure to spend a night there so I could experience it. We also flew into Vegas and drove too Moab. We stayed at Moab under the Stars. Stayed three or four nights. Hiked in Arches each morning and then two full days. Went to Canyonlands one day. Then drove to Zion area. Stopped at Capitol Reef and did some hiking. Beautiful. Spent three nights in the Zion area. Stayed in a KOA that had large furnished tents (beds and cooking facilities). Then we went to Page, AZ and hiked the Antelope spot canyons. We did a side trip to Escalante Grand Staircase. I think we hiked spooky slot but I can't recall for sure. |
Anonymous
| Why are people so concerned with staying on east coast time for trips that are 8 and 10 days (or any length of time for that matter)? I honestly don't see what you are trying to achieve by doing this. |
Anonymous
So that we could wake up early so we could hike early before it got too hot. |
Anonymous
If your body is naturally waking up at 7-8 a.m., (which could be 4-5 a.m. local time) why would you want to just sit around in your hotel room waiting for the clock to say 8:00 local time (which may be 10:00 or 11:00 to your body) before you get up and eat breakfast? And then everyone will be tired in the evening at 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. local time.... are you going to make sure everyone stays up until 9:00 local time (which is either 11:00 p.m. or midnight -- depending if you are in AZ or UT)? That seems silly to me. Why not use your body's natural waking time to your advantage? Check out of your hotel and get to the spot you want to be during those morning hours that you are awake and no one is on the roads. FWIW, we did naturally shift about an hour during a 7 day trip. It was no trouble for us to be at Zion's parking lot at 8:00 a.m. to get a spot. It was no trouble being at our Colorado river float at 10:00 a.m. even though we had a 2.5 -3 hr. drive before that -- b/c we stayed on East Coast time. No problem seeing sunrise at Bryce -- b/c it was 2 hrs. later to us! I don't see the point of wasting morning hours sitting in a hotel room when we are all awake. |
Anonymous
| We just got back from 8 days in that area and since it reached above 110 in the late afternoon, we also hiked early in the morning and that worked great. Kids are 5 and 6. We flew into Vegas and stayed for several nights in a house with a pool in St. George and made that our home base. From there we did day trips to Snow Canyon, Zion, Bryce and Cedar Breaks -- Cedar Breaks was a small national park a bit like a smaller Bryce but above 10,000 feet and much cooler during the day. We'd spend time at the pool in the afternoon. We then spent two nights in a Pioneer cabin on the north rim (no A/C) -- also cooler. We spent a final night in Vegas before flying out to end our trip. |
Anonymous
|
It's crazy hot in the summer. We went in th summer. If I went again, I would go a different season.
It can get unbearably hot, at the least unenjoyable, at the worst dangerous. |
Anonymous
| Anyone gone during Christmas? |
Anonymous
| Late spring is lovely- a little snow at Bryce, maybe some flowers starting to bloom. Cool temps |