Wasatch/Uintas conditions late April/early May

Vegan.Hiker

Vegan.Hiker

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I'll have a few extra days in the area that I want to use wisely at the end of April, early May. One option but that may not be feasible was to hike from the North Rim to the South Rim and then fly home out of Phoenix (I started another thread for advice on that possibility), another option would be spending some time in the mountains closer to SLC and flying out of there. I know every year is different, but are late April/early May "typically" hikable conditions if typical even applies. Am I better off just staying further south in the desert that time of year?

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
You'll probably have some snow in most places in the Wasatch around then, unless our Winter is really dry. I'd imagine the higher places in the Uintas will still have a good amount of snow. The lower elevations in the Uintas may be hikeable, but you'd have to ask someone else for input on that. I have no experience in the low elevations other than passing through. You could probably find something to do in either range, but it all depends on how much snow you're willing to deal with.

If you want to avoid the snow, staying down South is your best bet.
 
It's prime time for desert at that time of year, and very very shoulder season in the mtns. I believe April is the second snowiest month of the year in northern Utah, after March. If you were to do a Uintas trip, you would be doing it on skis/snowbshoes/crampons. It would be a fantastic adventure but I wouldn't call it a hiking adventure per se - it'd be a few levels of difficulty/involvement above that. Any time bThisefore about mid-June, in a typical snow year, is going to be 100% on snow.

This is all dependant on elevation, of course, but anything that's really worth visiting from out of state (the high alpine stuff) is going to be firmly locked in winter still. Also Mirror Lake Highway won't be plowed until at least Memorial Day, and none of the dirt roads will be passable either unless you have a snow machine. In short, I might suggest the desert for that timeframe unless you're looking for a truly badass trip
 
As a concrete data point, our snowpack in the Wasatch typically peaks around the end of April or early May - right around the time you'd be here
 
Thanks guys, kind of what I had suspected based on what I've heard just hanging around BCP now for a while. I'll spend my time further south. I'll be finishing up a week in Death Hollow and want to spend a few extra days out there afterwards before flying home. It probably makes the most sense to stay down there around Bryce, Captial Reef, Escalante right? A north to south rim to rim doesn't sound feasible that time of year either.
 
Nick said:
Go south! Is it really too early for rim to rim then? It's a great time to be on the Colorado Plateau.
Click to expand...

Might be a good time to do a rim to rim but accessing the north Kaibab TH to start from the north sounds very difficult. It sounds like the roads getting to the park, no less the trailhead, are all closed until May 15th and covered in snow.
 
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