Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Grand Canyon Temperature Question

I know there's a lot of Whitney folks here who have done various hikes on the Grand Canyon. I'm looking at a R2R hike in early October. I've found information about the average day and night time temperatures at both the North and South Rim. I'm wondering if there's a way to look at those averages and see how it will warm up as we descend and ascend in and out of the canyon.

I know there's not a way to predict what the weather will be but if there's a way to figure out how much warmer it gets as we descend and ascend that would be useful.

A pretty good rule of thumb is whatever the temperature is forecast to be in Phoenix is probably what you'll see at the bottom of the canyon. Whatever the high temperature is for the North Rim figure it's probably going to be 25-30 degrees warmer at the bottom although it could get hotter than that. So if the high is forecast to hit 75 degrees on the North Rim you're looking at temperatures of 100+ at the bottom. If it's forecast to be 105 degrees in Phoenix it'll probably be about that at the bottom of the Canyon

Are you doing this as a day hike or are you planning on doing a couple day backpacking trip? You can use this as a guideline for what temperatures will be at different points along the way. For example, the North Rim trail starts at about 8200' and drops to Phantom Ranch at around 2500'. Along the way you'll pass Cottonwood Campground at an elevation of 4080'. A normal rule of thumb for the Sierra is about 3 degrees per 1000' but during early October in the Grand Canyon I'd put that number at closer to 5 degrees per 1000'. So if it's 60 degrees at the trail head figure it's about 80 degrees at Cottonwood or Indian Gardens at 3800'. These numbers aren't exact but that'll give you a good estimate of the range of temperatures to expect.

Two things to keep an eye on while planning a R2R;

1. Phantom Ranch temps (here's the NOAA link)
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php...40#.Vd8qpflViD1
2. % chance of thunderstorms

I'd avoid attempting a R2R if either (or both ) approach 100

Just my $0.02
Cheers,
Rick

This website has the monthly averages.

http://www.grandcanyontreks.org/preciptemps.htm

Hump-day bump for the Big Canyon and a reminder this might be a good time to check it out.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/17/travel/gallery/grand-canyon-trails-best-usa/index.html

This was such a great hike. Weather was great and the information provided here was super helpful. We did R2R as a day hike and took about 12 1/2 hours. The scenery in the Grand Canyon is awesome! I had forgotten just how beautiful it is there. We will definitely be back for more!!

It was great to see all the folks on the trail doing the hike. I was amazed at all the trail runners doing it R2R2R. That was cool to see. Loved seeing all the different people from those backpacking it over a period of 2-3 days to the ones speed hiking and running it.

My only disappointment in the trip was the attitude and conduct of the rangers and volunteers. Rangers giving us hassles because we didn't have a permit even though they specifically said a permit wasn't required unless we're over 12 people. That begs a couple questions. What's the difference between a group of 14 and two groups of 7?? What if we meet some folks on the trail and hike with them for a bit and our combined number exceeds 12? What's the difference? Shame on you rangers for souring the mood of the hike every time we ran into one of you.

We also had a volunteer who was making negative comments about the trail runners. This particular volunteer was saying he had run R2R2R many times "back in the day" when he "was younger" BUT "what's happening down here now is out of control". To me that's truly idiotic to hear. It's OK for him to do R2R2R but now nobody else should because lots of people are doing it???? What's so "out of control"? The trail is plenty wide enough to accommodate anybody doing it however they want.

Other than the rangers and volunteers it was a great experience and I look forward to a return trip there.