Too Hot in Bryce/Zion in August?
Apr 15th, 2003 | 07:18 AM
#2
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 84
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August is hot but still O.K. as long as you respect the heat. Get out in the morning while it is still cool, relax someplace during the heat of the day and then go out again when it starts to cool down. That is what the desert animals do. You'll also enjoy the sights better because the intense sunlight in the middle of the day tends to wash the details out.
Apr 15th, 2003 | 09:32 AM
#3
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,189
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We are going at the same time. We swore we would never go back in the summer but we are going with BIL and SIL and it's the only time we could all go together.
Actually, Bryce is at a higher elevation and shouldn't be to bad. In Zion do as shao lin said. Do early morning and late afternoon hikes and then you can spend the day in the Virgin River cooling off.
Utahtea
Actually, Bryce is at a higher elevation and shouldn't be to bad. In Zion do as shao lin said. Do early morning and late afternoon hikes and then you can spend the day in the Virgin River cooling off.
Utahtea
Apr 15th, 2003 | 09:50 AM
#4
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,019
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How hot is too hot? I think that depends so much on an individual's physical conditioning that I cannot answer. I used to play tennis in August in Alabama on a hard court in the middle of the afternoon when the temperature was over 90 and the air was humid. If I tried that today, I would die.
Zion can get around 100 - 105 degrees easily in the summer, but the air is dry. People go hiking up the canyon walls in the heat, but they seem to know what they are doing.
Bryce is higher than Zion, about 4200 feet or more on the average if you are comparing the normal tourist areas. At 3.1 degrees F of temperature loss per 1,000 feet of elevation increase, you could expect Bryce to be about 86 degrees F if Zion was 100. But Bryce is usually a little cooler than the simple prediction based on altitude difference.
On the other hand, the sun is relentless during the day because of the thin air (less filtration of UV rays) and little shade. Dehydration is a factor.
If I were going, I would think that Zion was too hot and Bryce, particularly in the morning and the late afternoons, was fine.
Zion can get around 100 - 105 degrees easily in the summer, but the air is dry. People go hiking up the canyon walls in the heat, but they seem to know what they are doing.
Bryce is higher than Zion, about 4200 feet or more on the average if you are comparing the normal tourist areas. At 3.1 degrees F of temperature loss per 1,000 feet of elevation increase, you could expect Bryce to be about 86 degrees F if Zion was 100. But Bryce is usually a little cooler than the simple prediction based on altitude difference.
On the other hand, the sun is relentless during the day because of the thin air (less filtration of UV rays) and little shade. Dehydration is a factor.
If I were going, I would think that Zion was too hot and Bryce, particularly in the morning and the late afternoons, was fine.
