I'm planning a trip to both parks for April 2014. For a variety of reasons it looks like mid-month is not going to work for traveling there so my question is how cold is it in the earlier part of the month and how crowded the later part of the month?

Thank you!

I went one year at the end of April and thought the weather was really nice. We left from Las Vegas, shorts weather to Zion, short sleeve weather. By the time we got to Bryce, I needed a jacket as there was still snow on parts of the ground. A sweatshirt with layers probably would have been ok but I get cold easily. Zion was perfect as I remember wearing a sweatshirt in the morning and evening but taking it off during the day. Outside of Bryce near Rubys didn't have a lot of people as we where there the week before things were really starting to open up for the season. I didn't find Zion all that crowded either and would go again this same time of year.

Bryce will probably be cold at either time. Late April would most likely be less crowded as you won't have summer vacationers yet, and you will also miss any spring breakers that might be there in early April.

Thanks sassy27! Very helpful info especially since one of us gets very cold, very easily.

Thanks WhereAreWe! Yes, the spring break crowds are going into the calculations as in I want to miss them.

I was in Zion the first week of May 2013 and the weather was perfect.

Warm enough to be in shirt sleeves and shorts. Cool enough that it never felt too hot. Since I was doing a LOT of hiking and biking I didn't mind the temps.

The water in the Virgin River was cold - about 48 degrees, so a dry suit was required for my bottoms up hike. The water level was pretty high. My guess is it may be too high in April for hiking.

I was at Bryce ~ 5/6 or 5/7, and there was snow every night. Daytime high were in the 40's. Would have been nice if it was about 10 degrees warmer, but the cold didn't bother me. I did see a lot of tourists in shorts and t-shirts or light jackets get chased off the trails when there were snow squalls during the day but they only lasted about 15min then I had the trails basically to myself.

I would say go as late as you can in April. If you get cold, go hiking. That always warms you up.

Thanks everyone! Looks like later wins, hands down!