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Utah, USA · North America · northern hemisphere
Zion is at its best for hiking in April to May and October. Good but not prime in March, June, September and November. Crowds peak in June and bottom out in January.
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiking | 2 | 42 | 59 | 89 | 91 | 75 | 24 | 27 | 75 | 91 | 63 | 42 |
| Crowds |
Swipe the table sideways for the rest of the year.
A canyon mostly walked up rather than down, with two routes — Angels Landing and the Narrows — that both need planning: one requires a lottery permit, the other requires the river to be low enough to wade — the Narrows closes to all travel above 150 cubic feet per second, and automatically on any flash flood warning
Canyon-floor walking and exposed chain routes. No guide needed; Angels Landing needs a permit, the Narrows a flood check.
Arriving without an Angels Landing permit and expecting to walk it. The lottery runs seasonally in advance plus a day-before draw, and it is enforced at the chains.
March through November, while the shuttle runs, with summer the worst of it
The Riverside Walk is paved the whole way and genuinely easy. Emerald Pools is uneven sand and rock rather than paved, and the Park Service has it under a toxic cyanobacteria health watch — young children and dogs are especially at risk. Angels Landing has chain sections above 300m drops and is emphatically not a family walk.
Springdale is at the gate, walkable to the shuttle, and priced for it. Hurricane and La Verkin are twenty minutes out for far less, and St. George has the airport.
The Narrows is a slot canyon draining a huge area; storms far upstream arrive without warning. Check the flow rate and forecast the morning you go.Jul · Aug · Sep
Over 38°C on the canyon floor, with Angels Landing fully exposed.Jun · 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.
The Narrows is a river, not a path — check the flow rate and the flash-flood forecast the morning you go, and rent neoprene outside high summer. The canyon drains a huge area and storms upstream arrive without warning.
0 is this destination’s own quietest month and 100 its busiest. The scale never compares one destination to another. Source: NPS ZION
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