Planning next summer trip, july vs august

[sherby]

Hi, we're planning to come back to our second trip this summer, like last year we'll concentrate on the Sawatch and the Front range (and those between). We need to decide between starting our trip between July 23th up to August 5th. We'll be in CO for 3 weeks (including the 2 day trip out and back from Montreal). So end of July - beg. of august or fully in august. Main decision point would be the weather, e.g. frequency of afternoon thunderstorms. Last year we did last 2 weeks of July and first week of august and we got almost perfect weather except a crazy hale storm while camping at Hoover pass. Any comments/questions/tips welcome.

[zootloopz]

The later you start into August the better your chances of good weather will be.

Early to mid June can be great pre-monsoon, just have to deal with late season snow. Mid to late June the monsoon picks up through July, and in my experience the monsoon is still present but is calming down from early to mid August. By mid August the monsoon should be gone, and you just have to deal with an early season snow storm generally the 2nd or 3rd week of September.

[mtree]

Its a crap shoot. Sure, later in August there's less possibility of storms, but that's not a guarantee. I've been caught in storms many times in August. BIG STORMS! Sneffels, Culebra, Uncompahgre, Tabeguache, Missouri, and the list goes on. I've also had lots of great weather in July. You'll be out for 2 weeks. Don't sweat the small stuff.

[SchralpTheGnar]

Sammy Hagar and Loverboy will be at red rocks on august 11th

[Scott P]

It also depends on which area you're going to. In the Front Range, peak storm season is July and early August, with late August a little drier while in the San Juans it tends to be later with August and September being the wettest months and thunderstorm season last into September. Early In the San Juans, early July tends to be drier than late August early September.

[jrbren_vt]

Just stay on east coast time and get really early starts and you'll miss the lion's share of the thunderstorms. It rarely rains all day, usually the storms are afternoon. I did my first 2 Colorado trips when I lived in the Burlington, VT area, hence my screen name. Stayed on east coast time so getting up at 4 or 5 was no big deal, because it was really 6 or 7 to me.

[sherby]

Just stay on east coast time and get really early starts and you'll miss the lion's share of the thunderstorms. It rarely rains all day, usually the storms are afternoon. I did my first 2 Colorado trips when I lived in the Burlington, VT area, hence my screen name. Stayed on east coast time so getting up at 4 or 5 was no big deal, because it was really 6 or 7 to me.

That's exactly what we did last summer. On longer hike like the Holycross loop, we were a bit more anxious about it, this summer it will be La Plata and a couple others (Apostles traverse I guess).

[NovaDevi25]

Don't have a ton of 14er experience but tons of hiking experience over a couple of decades, and really any time in June, July, or August I've learned to count on afternoon storms in all of them. It's absolutely miserable to be caught out without the appropriate gear. We learned to start early and plan to at least be below treeline by 2:00, usually we'd be off-trail by 2:00 though. I've been caught in freak snowstorms in August and had perfect days in June and vice versa. I've never found myself too depressed by being prepared for some crappy weather even during the Summer months.

[peter303]

Even Longs, the slowest mountain to melt out its last ice, is usually hikeable by then.

[seannunn]

I went almost 20 years going in July and only had to turn around on 1 or 2 mountains due to AM rains.
Then I got hammered 2 years in a row in the Crestones in early August.
So it is kind of random. As others have said, USUALLY it doesn't rain much in the AM's even during "monsoon" season.
Start early, summit and be back into the trees (in a perfect world) by noon, and back to a vehicle or tent by 2pm, take a rain jacket, and most of the time you will be OK.

Sean Nunn