ArriveOutdoors
Destinations

When to go: national park weather guides

Month-by-month weather from 10 years of data, the best time to visit for hiking and camping, seasonal notes and a live forecast for each park.

Photo: Pexels
34 parks & wild places

Pick your next trip

The colored strip on each card runs January → December: Excellent Good Fair Poor hiking weather.

Where to go this month →
Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse perched on pink granite cliffs above the sea at dusk in Acadia National Park, Maine
Maine

Acadia

Best weather: Jul · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Delicate Arch standing on red slickrock under a colorful sunset sky in Arches National Park, Utah
Utah

Arches

Best weather: Apr · May · Oct

JanJunDec
Eroded, striped buttes and ridges of the Badlands Wall stretching toward the prairie horizon in Badlands National Park
South Dakota

Badlands

Best weather: May · Sep · Oct

JanJunDec
Desert scrubland and juniper-dotted hills below hazy mountain ridges at sunrise in the Big Bend region of West Texas
Texas

Big Bend

Best weather: Feb · Mar · Apr

JanJunDec
Orange and white hoodoos filling the Bryce Amphitheater, with Boat Mesa on the horizon, Bryce Canyon National Park
Utah

Bryce Canyon

Best weather: Jun · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
A river bending through hills of autumn forest, seen from a rocky bluff top
Arkansas

Buffalo National River

Best weather: Apr · Oct · Nov

JanJunDec
Jagged granite peaks and rocky alpine terrain under billowing clouds in the Wyoming high country
Wyoming

Cloud Peak Wilderness

Best weather: Jul · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Wizard Island rising from the deep blue water of Crater Lake beneath the caldera walls and low clouds
Oregon

Crater Lake

Best weather: Jul · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
A rocky woodland stream cascading through an autumn forest
Ohio

Cuyahoga Valley

Best weather: May · Sep · Oct

JanJunDec
Rippled, eroded badlands at Zabriskie Point with rugged mountains behind, Death Valley National Park
California

Death Valley

Best weather: Feb · Nov · Dec

JanJunDec
Golden marsh grasses and still water stretching to a flat horizon under a pastel sunset sky in the Florida Everglades
Florida

Everglades

Best weather: Jan · Feb · Dec

JanJunDec
Pointed peaks of the Many Glacier area rising above a lake and dense evergreen forest at dusk in Glacier National Park, Montana
Montana

Glacier

Best weather: Jul · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Layered red and tan rock walls of the Grand Canyon seen from the rim under a pastel evening sky
Arizona

Grand Canyon

Best weather: May · Sep · Oct

JanJunDec
A calm subalpine lake framed by spruce and fir trees with a forested hill beyond under a blue sky
Colorado

Grand Mesa

Best weather: Jun · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Snow-capped Teton Range and Mount Moran reflected in Jackson Lake, with driftwood on the rocky shore, Grand Teton National Park
Wyoming

Grand Teton

Best weather: Jul · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Colorado

Great Sand Dunes

Best weather: Jun · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Layered forested ridges of the Great Smoky Mountains with morning mist drifting through the valleys near Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Tennessee & North Carolina

Great Smoky Mountains

Best weather: Apr · Sep · Oct

JanJunDec
Indiana

Indiana Dunes

Best weather: May · Jul · Sep

JanJunDec
A Joshua tree in front of golden granite boulder piles at sunset in the Hidden Valley area of Joshua Tree National Park
California

Joshua Tree

Best weather: Apr · May · Oct

JanJunDec
A large limestone cave chamber with a ceiling of hanging formations, lit by two small lights
Kentucky

Mammoth Cave

Best weather: Apr · May · Oct

JanJunDec
The glaciated summit of Mount Rainier towering above jagged forested ridges, Mount Rainier National Park
Washington

Mount Rainier

Best weather: Jul · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Aerial view of a river winding through a deep, densely forested gorge in the Appalachian hills
West Virginia

New River Gorge

Best weather: Jun · Sep · Oct

JanJunDec
Turquoise Diablo Lake below steep forested slopes and a snow-streaked peak in the North Cascades
Washington

North Cascades

Best weather: May · Jul · Aug

JanJunDec
A hiker on a trail through moss-draped trees and ferns in the Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park
Washington

Olympic

Best weather: Jun · Jul · Aug

JanJunDec
Towering coast redwood trunks disappearing into morning fog in an old-growth forest
California

Redwood National and State Parks

Best weather: Jun · Jul · Aug

JanJunDec
Ypsilon Mountain's granite face rising above pine-covered slopes and autumn aspens in Rocky Mountain National Park
Colorado

Rocky Mountain

Best weather: Jun · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
A hiker walking a dirt trail between the massive cinnamon-red trunks of giant sequoias in Sequoia National Park
California

Sequoia

Best weather: Jul · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Rolling Blue Ridge Mountains fading into the distance beyond evergreen trees and a grassy overlook in early spring
Virginia

Shenandoah

Best weather: Jun · Sep · Oct

JanJunDec
Michigan

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Best weather: Jun · Jul · Aug

JanJunDec
Low fog drifting over a hillside of orange and gold fall foliage above a green meadow in the New England mountains
New Hampshire

White Mountain National Forest

Best weather: May · Jun · Sep

JanJunDec
Rolling white gypsum dunes with scattered plants in soft evening light at White Sands National Park
New Mexico

White Sands

Best weather: Mar · Apr · Nov

JanJunDec
A geyser venting a tall column of steam beside turquoise thermal pools at Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming

Yellowstone

Best weather: Jul · Aug · Sep

JanJunDec
Half Dome glowing orange in sunset alpenglow above the granite cliffs of Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park
California

Yosemite

Best weather: Jun · Sep · Oct

JanJunDec
View down Zion Canyon from the Canyon Overlook, with red sandstone cliffs and switchbacks winding through the green valley
Utah

Zion

Best weather: Apr · May · Oct

JanJunDec