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View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science
There's also the composition of the walls. The rock walls at Grand Canyon soak up the sun's heat all day long. I live in southern Arizona at the same elevation as Phantom Ranch and the climate is very close to a match, but the bottom of the Canyon is hotter. We may be topping 110º here, but Phantom Ranch is often recording close to 120º or higher. I'm used to intense heat, however, I've found that the heat down there is a different animal. You can feel the heat radiating off the rocks at 3 am down there. There's an area a bit north of Phantom Ranch on North Kaibab Trail called The Box. It's a narrow section with 500+ foot high rock walls. Rangers will warn hikers not to be in that area between 10 am and 4 pm in the summer because it's just an oven down there and the heat can be even more deadly. (A little video and description at https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=B01C9B26-6E27-41A0-866B-839174539320[1][2] )
1: https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=B01C9B26-6E27-41A0-866B-839174539320
2: https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=B01C9B26-6E27-41A0-866B-839174539320
There's nothing here!