Does it get hot in Idyllwild?

Does it get HOT in Idyllwild. This is a common question I get when people are making reservations. It's hard to answer, because everyone has a different perception of what "HOT" really is.  Do you mean Palm Springs hot, where it's 100 + degrees every hour of the day?  Do you mean beach hot, where it's toasty warm in the middle of the day with a constant breeze and opportunity to dunk into the water at any time? Idyllwild in the summertime is neither of those kinds of hot.

The average "High" temperatures in July and August are around 85 degrees.  It reaches the high around 1:00 in the afternoon and starts to cool after 3:00. The mornings are gorgeous, the evenings are gorgeous, but yes, it can be hot for a few hours right in the middle of the day. 

Last year, I counted 7 days in July that reached 100 degrees.  Because this small amount of short duration heat is all we have to deal with here at 5300 feet, the majority of lodging establishments and homes to NOT HAVE AIR CONDITIONED.  Visitors to the hill seem to think this is an oddity. My recommendation is, if you have to have air conditioning, Idyllwild is not for you.

There are a handful of places that have window air conditions installed for the "faint of heart", but if visitors would take their lead from the creatures who live in the mountains and do their adventures and activities in the morning before lunch time. Then after lunch, take a rest. Sit in front of a fan (all places have fans....it's what we use to keep cool here in the mountains) and do NOTHING until after 3:00. Then the temperatures get beautiful again and you can go at it again.  It stays light out until around 8:00 PM so there is plenty of time to hike before and after the hottest time of the day.

I know that's a long explanation, but I'm always brutally honest.  If you want a short answer to "Does it get hot in Idyllwild"? Kind of....for about 3 hours a day.