The Grand Canyon of Arizona: How to See It

by George Wharton James

As a rule, one may ride, walk or loaf outdoors, without fear of overexertion. The air is like wine, it builds one anew.

Yet the weather is not perfect. You may strike a small sandstorm in midsummer. You may hit a blizzard in midwinter. A torrential shower may drench you. A fervent sun may unduly tan you. But these deviations from Paradise come only occasionally; they are the bitter that makes the sweet more sweet.

I can safely promise you, nine times out of ten, pleasanter weather than you would find if at home. And that is the best test.

Rest-cure. Those who visit the Canyon oftenest and stay longest find the least fault with its weather. For myself, I never complain; rather I always look forward with great joy to an outing here. For besides being an unparalleled scenic spectacle, the Grand Canyon is the greatest of rest-cures. I know of nothing better for tired nerves and worn-out bodies than to summer or winter along its rim, and down below where the river runs.

Because the weather one year never is like the year before or after, I cannot accurately forecast what you will find of heat or cold, wet or dry, when you visit the Canyon. Even the "weather man" is not infallible in his predictions. I only can outline a reasonable average, resting upon observations made during a score of years.

Winter Months. From late in November to the end of April, snow may be expected at any time on the rim, though many of the most delightful days of the year occur in these months. Snow usually does not fall until after Christmas. Some years the winter is almost snowless; other years there is enough snow to make fine sleighing. June and July are the warm summer months, with August hot; but the heat is likely to be tempered by the rain. From the middle of July to about the end of October, rains may be looked for at any time, and the days after the rains are generally cool, delicious and altogether desirable. Now and again, both before and after a rain, the air will be moist and sultry, somewhat as it is in the East, but this condition is so rare as to cause surprise. Generally the air is dry, and the sun shines warmly, so that "catching cold" is infrequent.

Late Fall Most Pleasant. In my varied experience at the Canyon, I have found the months of September, October, and November most agreeable in spite of an occasional hot day in September. January and March are often perfect months, and while there may be a little (or much) snow on the rim, I regard the winter as the most delightful time for trips into the Canyon. The snow may make the trail slippery and disagreeable for the first mile or so, then one reaches the dry and snowless region where, practically, snow never falls, yet where the heat from radiating rock walls is tempered and subdued by the coolness from the snow above.

May Good for Visitors. May also is a good month for visitors, with more possibilities of agreeable days than February or April, though the warm days begin to come on apace soon after the middle of the month.

Fog in the Canyon. Upon rare occasions, fog banks sink into the Canyon deeps, and even now and again completely hide it from view. Do not let such a sight disappoint you. The fact is, you are being highly favored. If you will but exercise patience, you will see many marvels when the sun begins to work upon the fog. Slowly the great mass begins to show signs of uneasiness; large and small masses become broken off, and struggle as if to ascend; then, stretching apart as one stretches a mass of white cotton-batting, they are speedily dissipated into mist, and disappear. Below, in the deeper reaches, the fog rolls and tosses as if sleeping uneasily in its rocky bed. Great detached masses of rock that the eye had not been able to discern before are now made clear, the white fog behind them revealing their outlines in startling clearness. Indeed a fog may be called "the great revealer of the inner mysteries of the Canyon." It certainly shows forth more of the separating walls and canyons, and the detached buttes, than the most observant can discover in a month, without its presence.

Clouds and Rain. There are times, in August and September, when rain is to be expected, that the whole heavens are patched over with clouds. The sun shines on and through them, and the atmosphere becomes murky and sultry to unpleasantness. Then, suddenly, there is a change in the temperature of the upper air, the moisture is condensed, and refreshing rain falls to cool and cheer the earth that before was parched and thirsty.