How far up into the mountains do you have to drive until it gets cooler? (Phoenix: camping, live)

[rickca]

So I've heard that when its 100 degrees in Phoenix it will be cooler in the mountains, I am wondering if this means that you can take a day trip up to go mountain bike riding or hiking or is it more of an overnight camping thing... how far of a drive is it from somewhere like Tempe to get up to a place where its a little bit cooler?

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by rickca

So I've heard that when its 100 degrees in Phoenix it will be cooler in the mountains, I am wondering if this means that you can take a day trip up to go mountain bike riding or hiking or is it more of an overnight camping thing... how far of a drive is it from somewhere like Tempe to get up to a place where its a little bit cooler?

From Tempe, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 depending on how cool you want to be. Definitely a day trip.

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by rickca

So I've heard that when its 100 degrees in Phoenix it will be cooler in the mountains, I am wondering if this means that you can take a day trip up to go mountain bike riding or hiking or is it more of an overnight camping thing... how far of a drive is it from somewhere like Tempe to get up to a place where its a little bit cooler?

You can drive to Payson, which I think takes about an hour? I forgot how long it took me too get there on my way to Fossil Creek. But I think it was less than one hour. You can drive to Flagstaff which is about an an hour and 40 minutes to two hours depending on traffic and it is almost always 25-30 degrees or more cooler than Phoenix during the Summer, many times MUCH cooler.

[Robert A]

You can get to Payson in an hour and a half. It's not exactly "cool" in the middle of the day right now (think upper 80s), but at night it is much cooler than the Phoenix metro (50s).

For the really nice daytime temps, get up to Flagstaff. About two and a half hours out.

[Huckleberry3911948]

6000 feet works for me.

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by Robert A

You can get to Payson in an hour and a half. It's not exactly "cool" in the middle of the day right now (think upper 80s), but at night it is much cooler than the Phoenix metro (50s).

For the really nice daytime temps, get up to Flagstaff. About two and a half hours out.

I don't know about you but upper 80's right now and in the summer to a Phoenician or someone who has lived in the Valley through the summer, is downright chilly, LOL!

I know it did not take longer than an hour to get to Payson and I don't drive faster than 10 over the speed limit. BUT... to someone not very comfortable driving on twisting roads the drive would take longer, LOL. I've passed people going relatively slow on the drive up to the mountains. So I imagine their trip probably takes about 15, 20, 30 extra minutes.

[rickca]

I like warm weather so 80 degrees is no problem, just much above that and its hard to do strenuous activity like mountain biking or hiking long distances.. hmmm I checked out the temperature of Payson today and even at 7 at night they are showing as 95+, is this unusual due to a heat wave?

[fcorrales80]

Originally Posted by rickca

I like warm weather so 80 degrees is no problem, just much above that and its hard to do strenuous activity like mountain biking or hiking long distances.. hmmm I checked out the temperature of Payson today and even at 7 at night they are showing as 95+, is this unusual due to a heat wave?

HUH??? You are probably looking at Phoenix temperatures and mixing something up. It is currently 72 degrees at 7:17pm in Payson. The high tomorrow will be 86 degrees. It's 95 right now in downtown Phoenix, so there is no way Payson is as warm as Phoenix.

[wit-nit]

According to the Weather Center it cools down about 5 degrees for every 1000 foot in elevation height.

[rickca]

I checked it again (I was looking at yahoo) seems there was something wrong with the temperature reading as it said 95 currently but then below said the high for the day was only 85, I guess I missed that and Yahoo's weather reading for the current temperature is obviously wrong.