Planning a trip to Zion National Park? Starting on April, 1 2022 visitors need a permit to hike the Angels Landing Trail. The National Park Service (NPS) will distribute the permits in an online lottery on recreation.gov. The first lottery will be held on January, 3 2022.
Angels Landing is one of the most iconic places in Zion National Park and the permits will make the experience more enjoyable for everyone. The system will make the dangerous hike less busy and safer. But you will have to plan your trip longer ahead.
Visitors can secure a permit by participating in a seasonal lottery, of a lottery on the day before their planned visit. Participating in the lottery costs $6 and anyone winning a ticket will have to pay another $3. The revenue will be used to cover the costs of the lottery and the extra personnel to give guidance to visitors and check the permits. Here you can find more information about how and when to enter the lottery.
This is a pilot-project and the NPS will have several evaluations and adjust the system when necessary. The project was started with the feedback of nearly 1000 visitors. The NPS has also learned a lot from hiker counts on the Angels Landing Trail in 2019 and 2021. Also the ticket system for the park shuttles during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 gave them a lot of information about the number of visitors.
Angles Landing is one of the best known places in Zion National Park. The park welcomed 2,8 million visitors in 2011. In 2019 this was already 4,5 million. Because of the rising number of visitors the NPS is working on a plan to guarantee every visitor an enjoyable visit. This project is the first step of this plan.
