ST. GEORGE — Congestion at the famous Angels Landing trail at Zion National Park is “a million times better,” according to some visitors, due to the year-old Pilot Permit Program.
Park officials said Monday that the Summer Seasonal Lottery would close on April 20 and the seasonal lottery will continue.
“The aim of that pilot program has been to improve visitor experiences through studies and a lot of visitor comments,” Susan McPartland, visitor use manager at Zion National Park told St. George News. “We knew there were concerns about the level of crowding on that trail. There were many instances where people were experiencing gridlock on that trail because of the high level of these concentrated times during the day.”
Ashlyn Kirkpatrick, Zion Angels Landing Pilot Permit Program lead ranger, said she met a woman who traveled from New York City to Zion National Park and was nervous about the experience of Angels Landing. The visitor was also battling a fear of heights and wasn’t sure if she could physically do it.
After the visitor’s hike, she told Kirkpatrick that if there had been the same level of crowding that had been seen previously, she probably would have needed more time to complete it.
“She was so thankful for the permit system that made it a much better experience,” Kirkpatrick said. “And it made it feel a lot safer for her as well to be able to go out and experience that and then have this bucket list item that she was able to do.
“Every single day that we are out there on the trail, they are getting that kind of feedback from the individuals that have the permit, that they are very thankful for the system and that the experience is a million times better.”
Rangers received feedback from a Southern Utah family who said they were skeptical if they would like the lottery system. Kirkpatrick said that the gentleman from Washington County said he was used to climbing Angels Landing whenever he wanted and without any restriction or planning.
“He said, ‘I was a little skeptical about this, but I’ve been doing this for the last 20 years and in the last several years, the experiences went down with the amount of crowding that were present on Angels Landing,'” Kirkpatrick said. “After he experienced it with the permit with his entire family, he said, ‘You know what? I get it. I understand why this is in place. It made it such a better experience for me and my family to experience Angels Landing.'”
The most crowded part of the Angels Landing Trail is the last half mile from Scout Lookout to Angels Landing. The National Park Service began counting the number of hikers on the trail to Angels Landing in 2019 and 2021. It also calculated the number of distributed tickets to use the park shuttle system in response to COVID-19 in 2020.
The pilot program also considered comments from nearly 1,000 members of the public, park neighbors and other stakeholders.
“The Angels Landing program has helped us monitor conditions. We’re looking at ways that we continuously improve upon that system to make that more efficient for visitors,” McPartland said. “We’re also taking lessons learned to understand how this type of site-specific management strategy can aid us in our larger visitors management plan that we’re working on.”
Tips for those planning to apply for the lottery to hike Angels Landing include submitting different time slots throughout the day to help distribute hikers. Instead of choosing 9 a.m., park staff recommends picking another, less crowded time.
Kirkpatrick said a better way to schedule is an hour or two later or an hour before your time slot. For example, if you have a hike before 9 a.m., you plan on coming around 7:45 or 8:15. If you have a hike after 9 a.m., plan a hike after 9:45 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. time slot.
“The experience is going to be better; that way, you’re going to encounter fewer visitors and it’ll help us spread out the distribution throughout the day,” Kirkpatrick said. “The other thing that’s been great about the pilot program is that we have a special opportunity to send out our confirmation emails for our permits, to have that one-on-one interaction with our visitors and be able to communicate a lot more with them.”
The confirmation emails to permit holders contain information that helps visitors better prepare for the Angels Landing hike. The emails have the latest weather conditions and more.
“Our emails help visitors stay safe out in the field and be better prepared for their hikes,” Kirkpatrick said. “We really encourage people to read all of that, that we put out for visitors because there’s a lot of really good information.”
The pilot program also found the chain section of Angels Landing, which was exceptionally narrow and built for one-way traffic, has become increasingly packed with visitors. Studies the National Park Service completed in 2017 and additional informal piloting in 2019 and 2021 found that at a certain point of use, that area had gridlock conditions along the trail.
McPartland said trail crowding was becoming much more frequent.
“That meant that visitors were often waiting for long periods of time on Scout Lookout before they even started on the trail. That concerned us because there’s no water up at Scout Lookout, there are very limited restrooms and there’s very limited shade,” McPartland said. “So we didn’t want folks to have to be up there for long periods of time.
“And the pilot program has been a way for us to manage that use so that we can still have as much use there as possible but have that more even flow of traffic so visitors can take, take their time, and feel secure as they’re going along the trail and have a better experience instead of waiting in line.”
According to a news release, Angels Landing is one of many places visitors enjoy hiking in Zion National Park. The park recorded about 2.8 million visits in 2011 and more than 5 million in 2021.
Zion National Park issues permits for Angels Landing through recreation.gov. That website is a gateway to exploring America’s outdoor and cultural destinations. Click here for more information about how the permit lottery works.
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