Has Zion National Park Lost Its Magic?

Zion National Park is undeniably beautiful with its sheer canyon walls, beautiful river meandering through it, and a wonderful variety of hikes. It’s this undeniable beauty that makes it popular. And by popular, I mean insanely popular. Like, third most-visited U.S. national park popular, only behind Great Smoky Mountain and Yellowstone National Parks. This seems like something that would convince you to pack your bags and go, but for us, I would say Zion’s popularity is vastly taking away from the magic that was the Zion National Park of the past.

This was my third visit to Zion National Park. In fact, I often tell people that it was in Zion, on my first visit, that I originally fell head-over-heels for travel. As an 8-year-old girl I remember the feeling of being dwarfed by the canyon walls towering overhead while standing in the Virgin River at the mouth of The Narrows. This is one of those feelings that I still find myself searching for 23 years later. In 1998, about 2.3 million visitors visited Zion. In 2021, that number is set to double, if not more than double. And, unfortunately, it absolutely shows.

In a park that’s significantly smaller than the other most-popular parks the crowding is amplified by the close proximity to the other nature-lovers. Although there are many sections of this park, most visitors only ever visit Zion Canyon, home of the famous, well, sometimes infamous, Angels Landing. 

My family has always visited the national parks to appreciate the beauty of our country, escape the hustle and bustle and find ourselves simply caught up in the beauty of earth. That was my experience in summer 1998 and March of 2008. However, this most recent visit left a poor taste in my mouth. 

Zion’s once wild + free feel now takes on the feel of an amusement park. Matt joked on our second day in the park that he never thought he’d have to wait in line to walk outside, but that’s what has happened, at least during peak season. We visited the second week of October, thinking we’d start to see dwindling crowds, but it was still absolutely packed. 

One of the tips I saw over and over again, was to get to the park early so that you could catch the first tram at 7 a.m. At our earliest, we arrived at the parking lot at 6:45 and we were on the third shuttle. That’s about 100 people in line ahead of us, and that’s to say nothing about all the people in line behind us. The line never, ever stops. We drove through to the East Entrance one day in the afternoon, there was a massive line. We arrived at 7:15 one morning and there was a massive line. And even on the way out to our cars mid-day there was a massive line. 

I’m not knocking the shuttle system. It’s absolutely efficient and the propane-fueled vehicles emit about 60% less emissions than a car. You know I love the more sustainable options, but the fact that it’s so busy and you’re crammed on shuttles does take away some of the magic and wonder of it all. 

In addition to the crazy lines for the trams, there are lines, in nature, to do particular hikes as well. The two most famous hikes in the park are Angels Landing and The Narrows and let me tell you, they’re packed! 

Our first day we did the Riverside Walk as a nice, easy trail to kick our trip in Zion off. It’s a peaceful trail nestled between the Virgin River and the canyon wall. There is a lot of beauty on this trail to take in. However, the hoards of people racing to the end of the trail to get a spot in The Narrows before it filled up absolutely took away from the peace of the area. This hike that first left me with a sense of wonder at the age of eight was now so busy that it was hard to pause and take in moments. 

We arrived at 6:45 a.m. to get in line for the shuttles to do Angels Landing. We were able to get on the third shuttle. We stopped off at the trailhead and I have to say, it was better than I expected. I knew that most of those people in line would be hiking Angels Landing or The Narrows. I was afraid that it would be like an amusement park line waiting to “ride the trail” all the way up the mountain. Luckily, that wasn’t the case. I started to feel that Zion magic again as we climbed our way up the mountain. Yes, there were several other hikers, a lot more than I’ve seen before, but still we were able to enjoy the trail, stop and soak up the beauty and get to the top no problem.

Beyond Scout’s Landing lies the chain section of the trail. This section was much scarier to me than the last time, but that’s because I’d lost my uninhibited mindset over the last 13 years. We went up with ease and only had a handful of people coming down. It flowed smoothly. People hollered down how many were in their group and we would safely step to the side to let people pass. It was like the old days again. That is, until it was time for us to descend. 

We had heard rumors of waits that were an hour or more… How is that possible on a trail? Well, it’s so crowded on this trail that the chains section is at a standstill for up to 2+ hours. It’s insane. For the most part, people were patient and understood that to go up, people must come down. But there were those rogue, impatient people trying to barrel through the people coming down. They were reaching between for the chains, crowding the areas that are extremely narrow for one person, let alone two. Circumstances like this have to be how the accidental deaths on Angels Landing have occurred. By the time we got back to Scouts Landing, I feel like I may have lost at least a couple of hours of my life due to stress. Plus, at that point, I could absolutely see how the weight is 2+ hours. There were probably 200 people sitting there trying to make their way up at some point. 

In my humble opinion, this is not sustainable in the long term. People are going to either stop visiting or more and more deaths are going to occur. I think there should be permits for trails like Angels Landing and The Narrows, and I have heard that there are talks for a lottery permit system for Angels Landing, thank god. 

The National Parks are absolutely America’s grand, great, best idea. I love that we’ve carved out spaces to protect wilderness, to let us feel wild + free, but I feel like as we’ve evolved as humans, our parks also need to evolve, and some have! We now flock to parks, thanks in large part to social media (I’m not blind that this includes me), and because of this we’re losing what makes these parks so special.

I grew up visiting National Parks and seeing the changes to these parks, especially those out west, over the last 20, 10 and even 5 years is astonishing in many ways and sad in others. I believe that these lands need to be protected and that may even mean being protected from us. While I love that ability to plan a trip to a national park somewhat spontaneously, I do believe some of our most popular parks may need to rethink the way they accept visitors just to protect some of our most beautiful lands from over-tourism. 

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While this may seem like a first-world problem that I feel like my parklands aren’t “wild” enough, and in many ways it is, it is still something I feel passionate about protecting. I want my daughter to be able to enjoy these lands, to help be a steward of our lands and advocate for their preservation and that does mean that it starts with us. I’ve always loved Zion National Park and I am saddened to feel like it has indeed lost its magic, but I do feel like it’s not too late to get it back. 

I loved my time in Zion National Park at 8, at 18 and I loved getting to experience some new parts of it at 31. But I probably won’t be visiting again for some time. I want to see it limit numbers, to preserve the wildness and hopefully lose the amusement park feel that it has. Observation Point and The Narrows are both on my hiking bucket list, so there will be a return visit, but for now, I’m going to focus on new-to-me parks, places that feel more like an escape and where I’m able to take the time to enjoy the beauty around me.

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