Grand Canyon · Hiking
Every place has a window.Penny finds it.
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The Grand Canyon’s windows are spring and autumn. Most people arrive in July, when hiking scores 21.
Hiking scores 91 in May, September and October, and 89 in April — two windows, spring and autumn, either side of a summer it is not built for. In July it scores 21.
July is also when the most people arrive: 100 on this canyon's own crowd scale, against 51 in March. The reason is the thing a rim-side thermometer will not tell you — the rim is at 2,100m and the river at 750m, so a pleasant 24°C at the top is nearer 40°C at Phantom Ranch.
Hiking below the rim between 10am and 4pm in summer. The Park Service actively discourages it and rescues more than 300 people a year.From the Grand Canyon record · when not to come
Crowd figures here are National Park Service counts for Grand Canyon National Park — counted visitors rather than a proxy, which is why a crowd claim is made at all.
Penny’s Windowpennyswindow.com · @pennyswindow