Hiking Zion? You’ll need a permit to climb Angels Landing in 2024

It’s dangerous and sometimes deadly. But it can be an absolute thrill for hikers.

The popular Angels Landing trail at Zion National Park in southern Utah is expected to be packed with visitors in 2024. And park officials are ready to handle the crush, thanks to a lottery system that was introduced in 2022.

Hikers who want to take on the angelic challenge now can apply for four seasonal lotteries, officials have announced.

Seasonal lotteries

March 1 to May 31: Lottery opens 8 a.m. Jan. 1 (Mountain Time). Lottery closes 11:59 p.m. Jan. 20. Permits will be issued Jan. 25.

June 1 to Aug. 31: Lottery opens 8 a.m. April 1. Lottery closes 11:59 p.m. April 20. Permits will be issued April 25.

Sept. 1 to Nov. 30: Lottery opens 8 a.m. July 1. Lottery closes 11:59 p.m. July 20. Permits will be issued July 25.

Dec. 1 to Feb. 28, 2025: Lottery opens 8 a.m. Oct. 1. Lottery closes 11:59 p.m. Oct. 20. Permits will be issued Oct. 25.

Hikers can also apply the day before hikes to get a permit to visit Angels Landing. Learn more about the lotteries at go.nps.gov/AngelsLanding.

If hikers don’t win a permit, they can apply again in a different lottery the day before their planned hike. The cost is $6 per application for a permit for up to six people. If a hiker wins the seasonal lottery, the cost for the permit is $3 per person listed on the permit.

Facts about the program

— Zion has issued nearly 400,000 permits since the Angels Landing Pilot Permit Program began.

— Park rangers said the program has spread hikers’ start times throughout the day, alleviating crowding and congestion on the trail.

— Zion hosted about 4.7 million visitors in 2022, its second busiest on record.

“Visitors and rangers report that the program has been successful at reducing crowding and congestion,” Jeff Bradybaugh, Zion’s superintendent, said in a statement. “We are building on this success as we prepare for 2024.”

Dangers at Angels

If you hike the trail this year, be prepared. It’s not for the faint of heart. At least 13 hikers have fallen and died from Angels Landing, or the trail to it, since 2000.

“If it’s not the most dangerous trail in America, it’s one of the top five,” Travis Heggie told The Associated Press in 2021. Heggie is an associate professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who studies deaths in the national park system.

By hiking standards, the trail to Angels Landing isn’t that long or steep. Most hikers take a route that’s a 5-mile roundtrip with a 1,500-foot elevation gain. The highlight is Angels Landing — an overlook at 5,800 feet with views of the park’s red rock pillars and the peaks and valleys of southwest Utah.

About the last third of the trail has steep drops on the sides.

Contact Mark Davis at mdavis@reviewjournal.com.