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Grand Canyon travelers: It's so hot there now, your shoes might melt

Make a footwear mistake in these temperatures and you'll beat up your feet.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
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  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
grand-canyon-shoes-crop

The heat is on in the Grand Canyon this week.

 Twitter

Take this advice and run with it: The National Park Service is warning travelers to the Grand that it's so hot there this week, even your shoes might turn on you. In a tweet sent Monday, the Grand Canyon branch of the NPS shared a photograph of some well-worn shoes with the soles peeling away. 

"Grand Canyon is an unforgiving environment," the tweet warned. "The heat inside the canyon can cause shoes to come apart and heavy hiking boots can trap sweat and lead to painful blisters. Before setting off on a hike, understand the limitations of yourself and your gear."

On Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for Grand Canyon Country. The message cautioned travelers that the area was facing "dangerously hot conditions with high temperatures of 105 to 113 degrees below 4000 feet." While those temperatures may sound like a normal summer day to some in the southwest, Grand Canyon visitors are often unaccustomed to the heat and don't come properly prepared.

The National Weather Service in Flagstaff tweeted that temperatures should begin to cool on Thursday.

The National Park Service's site for Grand Canyon National Park notes that park rangers respond to heat-exhausted hikers every day during the summer and suggests travelers avoid hiking between the peak sun hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.