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Arizona, USA · North America · northern hemisphere
Grand Canyon is at its best for hiking in April to May and September to October. Good but not prime in March, June and November. Crowds peak in July and bottom out in January.
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiking | 6 | 44 | 63 | 89 | 91 | 72 | 21 | 23 | 91 | 91 | 62 | 40 |
| Wildlife | 15 | 42 | 67 | 90 | 90 | 67 | 15 | 15 | 90 | 90 | 67 | 15 |
| Crowds |
Swipe the table sideways for the rest of the year.
The rim is at 2,100m and the river is at 750m, so the canyon runs well over 10°C warmer at the bottom — a pleasant 24°C on the rim in July is nearer 40°C at Phantom Ranch
Paved rim walking for the most part, or serious descents with a punishing return. No guide needed; a water plan is essential.
Hiking below the rim between 10am and 4pm in summer. The Park Service actively discourages it and rescues more than 300 people a year — the descent feels easy and the climb out in inner-canyon heat does not.
May through August at the South Rim, and every weekend from spring break onward
The rim trail is paved, flat and genuinely spectacular, which does most of the work. Anything below the rim is not a family walk, and the drops are unfenced in many places.
Rooms inside the park book thirteen months ahead, and water-line damage has closed them before now — check before counting on one. Tusayan is at the gate and expensive for what it is; Williams and Flagstaff are an hour or so away, cheaper, and Flagstaff is a real town.
The rim is pleasant while the inner canyon is 40–45°C. The Park Service pulls people out by helicopter every summer.May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Monsoon storms flood the side canyons and bring lightning onto an exposed rim.Jul · Aug
Kept out of the score on purpose. Averaging a rare catastrophe into a monthly number would tell you something false; the warning is the honest form.
Rim to river and back in a day is the classic mistake; the Park Service says plainly not to attempt it. Turn-around time matters more than distance — the climb out takes roughly twice as long as the descent.
0 is this destination’s own quietest month and 100 its busiest. The scale never compares one destination to another. Source: NPS GRCA
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