A visitor reservation system will be tested at Arches National Park next year.
In an effort to reduce congestion and provide visitors with certainty that they'll be able to enter the park, Arches National Park will use a reservation system in 2022 to see if it solves those problems.
Such a proposal was raised back in 2017, when the park released a draft Traffic Congestion Management Plan. However, concerns that it could cost the Moab area upwards of $22 million in lost economic spending prompted the National Park Service to take a look at several other options for managing traffic. Among the options the park staff said it would examine were a shuttle system, which previously was deemed impractical, and a secondary entrance road, something Utah's governor had suggested.
Now the park is moving back towards the reservation option.
In recent years increased visitation to the park in southeastern Utah has caused problems both navigating the parks main road and finding parking inside the park, as well as on the entrance road when traffic was backed up all the way to U.S. 191. In severe cases, the Utah Highway Patrol required the park to close its entrance until the jams were resolved.
“By implementing a temporary, timed entry reservation system, our goal is to better spread visitation throughout the day to reduce traffic congestion and visitor crowding. We believe this will create a higher-quality experience while maximizing access for our visitors,” said Arches Superintendent Patricia Trap on Friday. “Additionally, we will use data gathered from this pilot to adapt and improve this system throughout the season, as well as to inform our future responses going forward.”
The pilot will run from April 3 to October 3, 2022. Visitors can book reservations first-come, first-served on Recreation.gov beginning at 8 a.m. MST on January 3, 2022.
The park will release reservations three months in advance in monthly blocks. On January 3, reservations will open for April 3 through April 30. On February 1, reservations will open for the month of May and any remaining reservations that have not been booked for April. Additional months will continue the same pattern according to following schedule:
April reservations (April 3–30) open January 3.
May reservations (May 1–31) open February 1.
June reservations (June 1–30) open March 1.
July reservations (July 1–31) open April 1.
August reservations (August 1–31) open May 1.
September reservations (September 1–30) open June 1.
October reservations (October 1–3) open July 1.
After booking a reservation, visitors will receive a Timed Entry Ticket. Timed entry tickets will be required to enter the park from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and will allow visitors to enter the park during a one-hour specified window of availability. After entering, visitors may stay in the park as long as they wish for the remainder of the day. Reservation holders may exit and re-enter the park on the same day with a correctly validated ticket.
For those without early reservations, a limited number of additional reservations will be available for purchase at 6 p.m. MDT the day before entry through Recreation.gov. Reservations must be purchased online or by calling Recreation.gov before entering the park and will not be available at the park entrance. Timed entry reservations will not be required for those with camping permits, backcountry permits, Fiery Furnace permits, special use permits, concessions contracts, or commercial use authorizations. All reservations are expected to sell out quickly, and visitors are encouraged to plan ahead.
During 2009 to 2019, annual visitation to Arches grew more than 66 percent, from 996,312 to 1,659,702. This high level of visitor use creates congestion and crowding that can negatively impact public safety, visitor experiences, and park resources. The National Park Service met with the public in two virtual meetings in September to discuss potential solutions to these challenges and solicited comments about congestion management during a 30-day comment period. Additionally, park leadership has been working to collaborate closely with the local community and other stakeholders in the implementation of this pilot.
After analyzing visitation patterns and considering comments from the public and stakeholders, the National Park Service determined that a temporary timed entry pilot could ease vehicle congestion and visitor crowding by proactively pacing visitation into the park. The park expects timed entry reservations to provide visitors with a more reliable and enjoyable experience while protecting the park’s extraordinary landscape. Additionally, data collected over the duration of the pilot will help determine timed entry’s viability as a component of a longer-term visitor access strategy.
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Comments
In a way I am all for it. Reservations are a pain and one does have to be good at planning several months in advance. Takes the 'spur of the moment' out of it. But the crowds (please do it at YNP) are insane. It's also getting to the point where one spends a months pay to stay a week at the hotels in the park (as people will pay it). But if that keeps some of the Instafake crew out, good.
I totally agree. The other day I came across an Instagram post by a "travel influencer" where she posted her drone shots and photos of the potash ponds near Moab and told everyone they should go see them. There were 100+ comments from people asking how to get there. I thought - really? Now you're going to promote the potash ponds as a tourist destination? You've got to be kidding me.
I have mixed feelings about this. The greatest negative to this is the lack of spontaneity, plus the degree of planning required, to visit public lands that one ought to be able to enter around the clock. This will only be magnified the more difficult and impractical it is to obtain reservations - for example, if they sell-out within hours or minutes of becoming available. We shall see.
On the flip side, though, for those who do obtain reservations, the experience should be far superior. To reach national forest backpacking trailheads on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, I drove the Tioga Pass road twice this summer through Yosemite National Park, during what is usually jam-packed peak visitation. This was during the time when day-use reservations, or overnight reservations, were required. In short, I was amazed. Traffic was so light, both vehicular and human. At mid-day on a Tuesday in July, the Olmstead Point parking lot was barely over a quarter full. Where dozens of cars are normally parked road-side along Tuolumne Meadows at that time of day and year, there were almost none. I wish I had been able to stay and make a visit of it; it looked delightful.