>>2686359I'm gonna be straight up with you. If you tour zion or Bryce or the grand canyon this time of year, you will have very few people to deal with and you will see a side of the southwest that is enchanting, and usually reserved for locals.
But it will be pretty damn cold and you won't be able to easily access many of the most iconic trails.
If you go to zion, you can rent a drysuite and diving socks at one of the shops just outside the park. And with that, you can hike the narrows. Mid January is actually a fairly safe time to do the narrows and there won't be hardly any crowds. It would be unforgettable, even if you only went a few miles in and came back.
I've hiked angels landing in the winter, I don't even think ice was a big deal. I've never used shoe spikes up there. But I wouldn't have turned them down if they were offered to me. That last 200 yards of the hike is the only scary part.
As far as any other places near Vegas, you're only going to get warmer in death valley and maybe Joshua tree.
If you're flying into Vegas, you might set aside a day to go to the valley of fire.
It's a state park. But it's a just as beautiful as anything in the national parks. And its just a short drive from Vegas. You can also buy some pretty good fireworks from the Paiutes that live nearby
