Zion National Park proposing day-use permit and fee to hike Angels Landing

A six-dollar ($6) lottery application fee and a three-dollar ($3) per person fee is proposed for visitors to access Angels Landing. Photo: National Park Service

SPRINGDALE, Utah — Zion National Park is currently conducting a public outreach period on proposed changes at the park.

Park officials are proposing a day-use permit lottery for the one-half mile chained Angels Landing trail that begins at Scout Lookout. With the change, visitors would have to obtain a permit on recreation.gov in order to hike the final leg of the trail beyond Scout’s Lookout.

Those interested would have to pay a $6 fee to apply for the permit. If accepted, you would have to pay $3, which helps cover the cost of the permit program.

Permits would allow for groups of up to six people. The passes would be made available several months ahead of time. However, hikers could also acquire a permit the day before they plan to hike the trail.

In 2019, more than 300,000 visitors were on the trail.

“Growth has continued rapidly in 2021 and increasing park popularity has led to intense crowding and congestion along the Angels Landing trail,” the National Park Service (NPS) said in a press release.

NPS is currently accepting comments on the changes through September 12 (click here).