edjim

We may be in Las Vegas in February. Would a day trip to Zion be worth the drive, given the likely cold weather?

happytrailstoyou

Definitely. However, if the roads are too icy, go to Death Valley instead.

HTTY

InSandy

What did you hope to do? If all you want to do is a brief tour of the main canyon then yes you could do that in a day drive. Hiking is going to be a bit harder to do if the trails have ice and (in the higher elevations) snow, many of them will be closed so there won't be as much to do. But then you wouldn't have time anyway.

So if what you want to do is visit the park and just see what it is about there is no bad time to do that. The main canyon cliffs and colors don't change, the river will be running, the turkeys and deer will be there. It is a world apart and less crowded in the winter so a nice place to unwind.

utahtea

We've been in mid February and the park is beautiful, but as others have mentioned you might be limited on the hiking. There was a good 6 - 8 inches of snow on the ground when we arrived but it melted within a few days. The Riverside Walk to get to the narrows only went a short distance because it was closed due to snow. Lower Emerald Pools trail was icy and very dangerous. There was no going past the Lower Pools.

Utahtea

spirobulldog

IMOP, Zion and DV desere more than just a day trip. Plus it is more driving to get to both than what I thought it would be from Vegas.

What about Red Rock Canyon or Valley of Fire State Park? They are closer and have some nice hiking.

www.deserthighlights.com offers some guided hikes/canyoneering from Vegas. It isn't listed on their website, but they just started offering it a couple of months ago. Call them and they can shoot you an email.

emalloy

While I like Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire very much, I would spend the time to drive to either Zion or Death Valley, even for only one day. Driving in this beautiful area is part of the pleasure of the trip.

InSandy

It will take about 3 hrs to drive from LV to Zion (and of course 3 hrs back). In mid February you'll have about 10 1/2 hrs of daylight. So if you leave by 7am you'd have about 7 hrs of daylight in which to visit the park. That is if you want to drive back in the dark.

spirobulldog

If you do pick Zion or DV. I would go with DV. You can hike there in the winter far easier than the summer. Some of the best/main Zion hikes will likly not be doable in Feb.

edjim

Thanks for the input. We've been to DV, Valley of Fire and Red Rock Canyon during the winter. Agree that DV and Zion deserve more than a day. I've been to Zion in the summer but was uncertain whether you could get around at all in the winter there.

alane

was there last year at the end of february....narrows was very cold ...snow on the ground ....canyon overlook trail was open and beautiful...short trail....not a lot of people .....

emalloy

A few years ago we were there in early February and it was fine, temps in the high 50's, dry trails, so few crowds that we were able to get lodging without reservations for 6 (three rooms) in the park.

Watch the weather and go for it when it looks good!