It's my sister's birthday and she wants to go somewhere at the end of February for a long weekend. She suggested going to the Grand Canyon. What will the weather be like then? Will it be too cold to hike and be outside to see everything?
2007-11-28 04:37:49 · 4 answers · asked by Mary 2 in Travel ➔ United States ➔ Other - United States
Because it is at 7000 feet elevation, the Grand Canyon does get cold in winter and will periodically get snow storms throughout the year. However, snow storms have generally been less frequent and less severe the last few years. Unless there is a major storm hitting (which occurs about 4-6 times a winter and generally last 1-3 days), than it usually not too cold for hiking or sightseeing, but you will want to be dressed accordingly.
Personally, I prefer hiking the South Rim in winter and schedule all of my big backpack and hiking trips for then (I will be hiking there in a couple of weeks). The canyon is very peaceful without all the crowds and the cool weather is nice for hiking (remember too that if you are going deep into the canyon, it gets warmer as you go lower - the bottom is comparable to Phoenix).
One tip if you do go, bring along a pair of instep-crampons or YakTraks just in case. Even if there is no storm while you are there, shady spots on the upper trails can have icy or mushy spots for the first mile or two for several weeks after a good storm.
The only real Con to going in winter in my opinion, is you are rolling the dice a bit that a big storm does not hit while you are there, but recently the odds of a really nasty 'stay inside all day' storm hitting on any given winter weekend is probably less than 1 in 4.
2007-11-28 06:22:13 · answer #1 · answered by sascoaz 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The south side of the canyon is open all year. You will not see everything in a week-end. check the nps.gov then look up grand canyon to find the average temp feb. It might be a little chilly to camp. But there are plenty of hotels and you should be able to find a room in feb. You might look in the mule rides down into the canyon, but you will need to make resv. soon as they book up fast. My daughter and I did the mule rides last april it was a blast.
2007-11-28 14:20:02 · answer #2 · answered by huskydog2001 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cold yes, but not sub-zero or anything. There can be snow on the ground then.
2007-11-28 12:42:56 · answer #3 · answered by Fester Frump 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Really cold!
2007-11-28 12:45:43 · answer #4 · answered by Wounded Duck 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋