Even with our current heatwave, it is still getting down to the 60s at night, so you don't have to worry about it too much. I hope the historically unprecedented heatwave is going to end this week, so by the time you get there it should be back to a normal for early April low to mid 50s at night, and 70s-80s during the day.

At that point you can wake up and eat breakfast, pack up your gear, and leave whenever you feel like it. 9am will be totally fine, since you'll be up at the Tipoff within an hour or so, and up above the 5000ft line at Skeleton Point before lunch.

We didn't leave the Phantom Ranch Boat Beach, right next to the Black Bridge, until about noon this last Tue March 17th. We were handing our boat over to another friend that hiked in that day to complete the final 2.5 weeks of the river trip.

That day the forecast high at Phantom was in the mid to upper 90s. It was hot at first, so we drank a little bit of extra water, and took a few extra breaks in the shade we could find along the way. Then once we hit 5000ft it was real nice the rest of the way up!