Zion National Park Warning or Danger Tips by GuthrieColin

The summer months in Zion mean two things. Warmer temperatures and more thunderstorms are likely. The average daily high temperature is over 90 degrees in June-September. The number of Thunderstorms spikes during July and August to more than 14 per month. They are usually expected in the afternoon and can occur almost without warning.
The danger involved is greatest in the case of flash flooding. For visitors hiking the narrows these flash floods can easily take your life. The small streams can come thundering down the narrow canyons with hundreds of logs and other debris and take you with them. The narrows provide little room for refuge from these floods so one must be extremely aware of any loud noises when hiking up the river.

Leave a Comment

When hiking on Zion's many trails you will undoubtedly run across some of its less forgiving plant species. Within the park grows a few notable dangerous ones.
The first and most obvious is The Prickly Pear Cactus which has pear shaped "leaves" that have up to 1 inch (2.2 cm) long spines that are very sharp. They flower with yellow or purple flowers and can be quite inviting.
The next plant to watch out for is Poison Ivy. I did not encounter any of this plant variety but it is listed as one of the species that live in the park so it is important to be aware of that fact.
The last plant which I found to be the most common to run into was the Yucca Plant. It looks similar to a dwarfed palm tree It has long extremely tough leaves with very sharp spines at their ends. The leaves just so happen to be about 4 feet (1.2 m) off the ground in general and very easily poke into you if you are not watching out for them.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/print-narrative.cfm?destID=1560&catID=1560026077