SummitPost.org

Greetings,

My friends and I will be in southern Utah mid April and I am looking to plan a top down hike of the West Rim Trail (Lava Point to the Grotto). I was wondering what type of snow conditions we might expect that time of year. Most of the literature says there should be some remaining snow, but I have heard that it has been a very dry year out there. I also heard the April is the rainiest month in Zion, is there any truth to that?

-Nick

Mid April 2011 was a high snow year and the upper portions of Kolob Terrace Road were still closed due to snow. I was not able to reach the Lava Point Trailhead by car. I could, however, hike the Wildcat Canyon Trail. You can see the amount of snow in my pictures here:

http://www.summitpost.org/wildcat-canyon-trail/721751

In 2011, I had one cloudy day rained late at night, the other 5 days were sunny.

Most of the literature says there should be some remaining snow, but I have heard that it has been a very dry year out there.

It's currently at 101% of average (about as close as you can get to average):

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=149&sid=134181

I also heard the April is the rainiest month in Zion, is there any truth to that?

No. Whoever told you that was smoking pot or something:

http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?utzion

Anyway, there probably will be snow around, but unless things change, the road should be open around then.

Zion in March is fine let alone april. Its all of 8000 feet max. Yea, will have a bit of snow, but not much. One can get dumps of a foot of snow in March/April, but will soon melt out the next day or so. Zion is beautiful when it snows.

NO big deal. Just Go. Now if you were at 9000+++ feet then would be solid snow, but below that its patchy at best.

Thank you all for your help! I am going, just booked the ticket last night. Any recommendations on campsites?

Some camping possibilities here:


http://zion100.wordpress.com/2012/02/27 ... g-options/