Fiery Furnace permits on hold as Arches National Park faces worker shortages

Hikers scramble through the rocks in Fiery Furnace. Photo: Andrew Kuhn : NPS.

Officials from Arches National Park announced late last week that the popular Fiery Furnace hike is closed to the public until the park is able to hire and train sufficient staff.

This off-the-beaten path trail became popular in the 1990s, but due to the technical nature of the terrain, the National Park Service implemented a permit system that restricts entry to 75 people per day.

The only way to visit the Fiery Furnace is with an individual permit or on a ranger-guided tour. The hike typically opens to visitors on President’s Day, and ranger-led hikes are offered in spring and fall.

Both ranger and self-guided tours are staff intensive, and with the recent layoffs and confusion over temporary staff hires across the park service, officials decided to close the hike until further notice.

“Given the volume of visitation right now, we’re at a level where if we don’t have our seasonal workers to help us manage the front desk and issue permits, we have to put our full-time workers toward the basics,” Arches NP spokesperson Karen Henker told Backpacker.

Technical difficulties

The Fiery Furnace hike is filled with maze-like terrain and requires a level of physical fitness and technical preparation to complete. Hikers walk and climb on broken sandstone, along narrow ledges and in loose sand, according to the park’s website. “There are gaps you must jump across and narrow places that you must squeeze into and pull yourself up and through. In some places, you must hold yourself off the ground by pushing against the sandstone walls with your hands and feet.”

The nature of the terrain means that search and rescue efforts can be complicated, Henker told the Moab Times-Independent. “I’ve been on a search and rescue in the Fiery Furnace,” she said. “It was a twisted ankle — it still took five hours and 10 people.”

Once seasonal employees are hired and trained, the hike will reopen to the public, according to Henker

“The Fiery Furnace is not closed full stop forever,” she told Moab Times-Independent. “This is a measure we’re taking until we have those seasonals here. Then we can get back to what we like to offer the public — because it is a great place to explore.”