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Best Practices For Angels Landing Pilot Permit Program

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Published Date

April 7, 2023

If you want to hike Angels Landing Trail you'll need a permit to do so for 2023, Zion National Park / NPS - Caitlin Ceci

If you are planning to hike the vertigo-inducing Angels Landing Trail, you’ll need a permit to do so for 2023. Zion National Park wants to share some fast facts and advice on how you can improve your permit application.

Since the pilot program began on April 1, 2022:

  • Zion has issued over 210,000 permits to hikers.
  • The average group size was 2.3 hikers.
  • Hikers’ start times are more evenly distributed throughout the day.
  • Rangers observed, and hikers reported, less crowding and congestion on the trail than in past years.
  • The Angels Landing Pilot Permit Program accommodated about 80% of the hiker use the National Park Service recorded in studies conducted in 2019 and 2021.

2023 Summer Seasonal Lottery

Planning a visit to Zion National Park this summer? Until 11:59 p.m. MT on April 20, you can apply for a permit to hike Angels Landing between June 1 and August 31. Learn how at go.nps.gov/AngelsLanding.

Improve your application

After one year of reviewing data, we want to share information that will improve your application. The park’s ranked-choice application system allows you to pick the days, times, and number of hikers that work best for your group.

When you apply, remember to:

  • Fill out the entire application to take advantage of the ranked-choice application system. 
    • Pick multiple hike start times and/or days that work best for your group.
  • Select different group sizes if the number of hikers would change on different dates or at different start times.
  • Be mindful of schedules for both Seasonal Lotteries (which happen quarterly) and Day-before Lotteries (open 12:01 a.m. to 3 p.m. MT the day-before your planned hike).

Zion is using the experience gained managing the pilot permit program to inform a park-wide visitor use planning effort. The National Park Service will ask for public comments on a draft plan so that visitors continue to enjoy the landscapes, plants, animals, and history that define this special place long into the future.

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