Best Time of Year for Utah?

[paulndot]

Planning an extensive trip to Utah (doing the big 5 parks) and wondering what the best time of year would be? Ideally, we're doing the White Rim trail in Canyonlands, The Subway and Narrows in Zion, and hopefully get down to the north rim of Grand Canyon. My wife is concerned about monsoon season. I'm a bit more worried about the temps since we'll be overnighting on the White Rim and in a few other spots. Summertime tent camping kinda sucks, but if that's the best time to go.

Also looking to avoid crowds. Some of the trails in the Smoky Mountains looked like the lines at an amusement park - NOT why we want to go to the great outdoors.

Looking for suggestions from the locals!!

 

[LandCruiser]

Depends on the year. It can get snowy and shitty up until MAY and you'll have a lot more to worry about than heat. But it's been relatively warm this year, so that may not be the case.

I would keep an eye out on the park and trail closures, but summer is the only safe time to avoid freak winter storms if you're humping it all the way from FL. May/June is probably your best bet. April/May if you like to gamble.

It's 65 on the Palmer Ridge here right now, tho.

 

[KidVermicious]

August.

 

[HOJeepster]

August.

Ha, nope. I assume you were kidding.

May-June; temps will be hitting the upper 70's-80's, and the crowds won't be too crazy yet.

Anything past July and it will be hot hot hot.

 

[paulndot]

Thanks guys...

So what about the other end of the year? SEP/ OCT?

 

[Jimmy_D]

Don't know about other areas but Moab is covered up during September and October.

 

[HOJeepster]

Thanks guys...

So what about the other end of the year? SEP/ OCT?

Even better.

 

[LandCruiser]

Thanks guys...

So what about the other end of the year? SEP/ OCT?

nope.

 

[paulndot]

Don't know about other areas but Moab is covered up during September and October.

Covered up? By tourists or snow? Coming from touristy FL... we like avoid them as much as possible.

 

[Jimmy_D]

Covered up? By tourists or snow?

Visitors. It can snow, but if so, it will usually be in the La Sal Mountains just outside of Moab (it did so late last September). I've been there in May, late September or early October periodically over the last 10 years and I've never seen as many people as I did there late last September. The place was covered up. Not all that many people on the trails but tons of folks in town.

 

[KidVermicious]

Ha, nope. I assume you were kidding.

No, I'm not. The best time to visit the national parks in Utah is outside tourist season. If he wants to avoid crowds, spring and fall are the worst times to visit.

 

[wallytoo]

No, I'm not. The best time to visit the national parks in Utah is outside tourist season. If he wants to avoid crowds, spring and fall are the worst times to visit.

perhaps.

my trip to the southwest in 2016 was in july. plenty of crowds at canyonlands, arches, grand canyon, cnm, etc. even death valley had modest crowds.

wally

 

[AKmoney]

Mid/Late October. The weather is crisp, the leaves start to change color and the huge crowds are gone.

 

[paulndot]

Thanks for all the help. Looks like we'll be going in October. Unfortunately, our work schedules really don't permit a summer trip and later in the winter seems a bit sketch for newbies. If I knew the area better - snow is not a bother. We'll be out of the parks just in time to avoid the UEA break. There were a few blurbs about this on the NPS sites.

We'll spend a couple of days at each: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Zion & Grand Canyon (north rim). Any suggestions? Must see / Stay away from? Can't miss or "don't even think about it" stuff?

 

[Riverfisher]

We'll spend a couple of days at each: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Zion & Grand Canyon (north rim). Any suggestions? Must see / Stay away from? Can't miss or "don't even think about it" stuff?

October is a great call. I would recommend a visit to Goblin Valley State Park if you can work it in. It's a truly unique place. If you are traveling with kids, it's a must do. There is a fantastic slot canyon hike nearby as well called Little Wild Horse Canyon. It's a moderate hike but incredibly cool. Just DON'T even consider it if it has been raining or there is rain in the forecast; people die. Arches is great and easy; be sure to do the hike to the iconic Delicate Arch (it's the one on our license plate). Capitol Reef is one of my personal favorites.
The comments about Moab are accurate; awesome town but uber busy all the time these days.

Don't underestimate how far apart these places are from each other. Utah is a massive state and there is a lot of "you can't get there from here; not in less that five hours" type routes. Use google maps to estimate drive times before you go.

Have fun!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[BrianSD_42]

A lot of folks here mentioned October to avoid the crowds. I would gander that the crowds mainly die out after September 15th each because by that time school is back in session. Kids and college students can't easily miss the first two weeks of school.

For my next trip to Moab I'll be considering any time before July 1st and after September 15th.

 

[SaxAndLiz]

Some tips

Avoid trails used by horses, etc. They stink .

Also, when hiking down into the valleys be prepared for 20+ F drop in temp once you are out of direct sunlight. I was on a hike where we had stripped to one layer because of the heat. On the way back, we had to hurry because of rapid temp. drops.

 

[Koko4]

My girlfriend and I are just now finishing up a Utah trip. We've been out here about a week; originally we were going to start at Zion, but the Narrows were closed at the beginning of the week, so we flipped the trip around.

We started at Arches NP, which is gorgeous! You've got to do the Delicate Arch hike if you go there. Then we made our way across the state to Capital Reef, Escalante, and then finally to Zion.

I'd recommend bringing a ton of food, and plenty of large water containers. We had two one-gallon jugs that we kept filling up at visitor centers (almost all NP visitor centers had a water-filling station). We camped on BLM lands when we were in Escalante, and we found a cool canyon campsite near Moab on the second night. The camping in Moab was kind of difficult to find - one night we went to a site that had 130 spots and they were ALL filled - on a Sunday! If you need the location of the place we went, PM me.

Capital Reef and Escalante in particular were super rural. We only ran across one (HIGHLY overpriced) grocery store near Escalante. I'd recommend bringing most of your meals, because there are not too many choices for food in the small towns surrounding these places. Moab and Zion did have good food choices, though.

When we were in Escalante, we drove 26mi down a dirt road and did some slot canyons (Peek-a-Boo Canyon and Spooky Gulch). They were both amazing, and I'd recommend doing it if you can.

In Capital Reef, we did a couple of short hikes (check out the city of Fruita - it's a bunch of orchards nestled away in the canyon, and you can actually pick and eat the fruit when it's in-season!).

Zion was SUPER crowded. If you need to check the water flow, you can go to this site - https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?09405500. The flow has to be below 150cfs for a 24-hr period for the Narrows to be open. We lucked out - yesterday it was at 142cfs and we were able to go! The river was damn strong, though. We rented dry suits, shoes, and sticks. There's a place near shuttle stop #7 in Springdale (near a rock, gem, and mineral store) that rents the gear cheaper than the place right by Zion. It was $35/person for the dry pants, the shoes, and the stick. WELL worth it.

At night, it got pretty cold - down into the 30's, I believe. If you're camping, bring one of those $20 fleece liners that go inside your sleeping bag. It made all the difference, and the girlfriend stayed happy and warm!

Have fun!! It's gorgeous out there, and there's plenty to do. Southern Utah is great!

 

[paulndot]

THANKS!

I appreciate the heads-up. We've been planning for a while now...maybe even "overplanning". LoL. For us, being all the way down at the end of Florida (damn near), these trips way out west are once in a (young) lifetime. After I retire - we'll be back, but probably not in shape to do any of the hikes. Those will be the "window tour" days.

 

[paulndot]

My girlfriend and I are just now finishing up a Utah trip. We've been out here about a week; originally we were going to start at Zion, but the Narrows were closed at the beginning of the week, so we flipped the trip around.

We started at Arches NP, which is gorgeous! You've got to do the Delicate Arch hike if you go there. Then we made our way across the state to Capital Reef, Escalante, and then finally to Zion.

I'd recommend bringing a ton of food, and plenty of large water containers. We had two one-gallon jugs that we kept filling up at visitor centers (almost all NP visitor centers had a water-filling station). We camped on BLM lands when we were in Escalante, and we found a cool canyon campsite near Moab on the second night. The camping in Moab was kind of difficult to find - one night we went to a site that had 130 spots and they were ALL filled - on a Sunday! If you need the location of the place we went, PM me.

Capital Reef and Escalante in particular were super rural. We only ran across one (HIGHLY overpriced) grocery store near Escalante. I'd recommend bringing most of your meals, because there are not too many choices for food in the small towns surrounding these places. Moab and Zion did have good food choices, though.

When we were in Escalante, we drove 26mi down a dirt road and did some slot canyons (Peek-a-Boo Canyon and Spooky Gulch). They were both amazing, and I'd recommend doing it if you can.

In Capital Reef, we did a couple of short hikes (check out the city of Fruita - it's a bunch of orchards nestled away in the canyon, and you can actually pick and eat the fruit when it's in-season!).

Zion was SUPER crowded. If you need to check the water flow, you can go to this site - https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?09405500. The flow has to be below 150cfs for a 24-hr period for the Narrows to be open. We lucked out - yesterday it was at 142cfs and we were able to go! The river was damn strong, though. We rented dry suits, shoes, and sticks. There's a place near shuttle stop #7 in Springdale (near a rock, gem, and mineral store) that rents the gear cheaper than the place right by Zion. It was $35/person for the dry pants, the shoes, and the stick. WELL worth it.

At night, it got pretty cold - down into the 30's, I believe. If you're camping, bring one of those $20 fleece liners that go inside your sleeping bag. It made all the difference, and the girlfriend stayed happy and warm!

Have fun!! It's gorgeous out there, and there's plenty to do. Southern Utah is great!

Great info... THANKS A MILLION!