Hiking the Angels Landing Trail in Zion National Park
Distance: 5.2 miles / 8.4 km
Elevation Gain: ~1,500 ft. / 457 m
The Angels Landing Trail is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful day hikes in Zion National Park!
However, the Angels Landing Trail is also the single-most popular day hike in Zion, which inevitably means that Angels Landing has changed over the years from what it used to be.
By this, I mean that following the trail’s explosion in popularity, due entirely to social media, the Angels Landing Trail is now managed under a permit system in an effort to reduce the number of visitors hiking the narrow trail.
That being said, I’ve been visiting Zion and hiking the Angels Landing Trail for many years, both before and after the implementation of the permit system, to be able to share and compare my honest thoughts about each experience.
How Hard is Angels Landing?
The Angels Landing Trail is absolutely beyond some peoples’ ability. There’s no nice way to say it, but many people do not have the physical capability to hike Angels Landing, both because of the physical requirements and comfortability to high-exposure areas, while potentially hiking on snow and black ice during the off-season months.
On the upper elevations of the trail, you cannot fall, and many people have died hiking Angels Landing before. I believe some of this can be blamed on the sheer lack of preparation among hikers, as the trail is more serious of a hike than people give it credit for. I’ve seen people up there without water during the hot summer months and walking in designer shoes when there’s black ice on the chains.
I don’t know why it needs to be said, but take the trail seriously!
My Experience With an Angels Landing Permit
First of all, without enforcement, the Angels Landing permit system is NOT helping to reduce crowds. I now exclusively hike Angels Landing for sunrise because it’s the only way to enjoy the trail without hoards of people. However, both before and after the implementation of the permit, the way down from Angels Landing has always been very crowded. Today, it’s mostly people who do not have permits.
This is because people are legally allowed to hike up to Scout Lookout without a permit, but during my experience with a permit, north of 95% of people that I was passing on the way down the chains were illegally hiking without one.
For two reasons, the permit system is not helping. Since law enforcement doesn’t always hike up to Scout Lookout to check permits, which they need to daily, people simply keep hiking past Scout Lookout without consequence. The second is that allowing people to hike up to Scout Lookout without a permit still attracts the same amount of people on the trail as if there wasn’t a permit in place. In my opinion, the permit needs to be for the entire trail to be effective, and enforcement needs to be checking at the trailhead regularly.
Without these measures, Angels Landing unfortunately becomes much more dangerous for everyone hiking, and I’ll explain why later.
How to Get an Angels Landing Permit?
With all that said, it seems like the Angels Landing permit is here to stay. I can only hope that some changes are made to actually make it serve its purpose.
As for getting a permit to hike past Scout Lookout, there are two options.
If you know the dates of your trip in advance, you can apply for the advanced seasonal lottery at this link here.
The second option is the daily lottery, which is how most people apply, and it’s how I got my Angels Landing permit. You can apply for the daily lottery one day in advance at this link here.
Do NOT try to use my lottery email as your permit! I purposefully excluded some of the most important sections of the email to try and prevent people from cheating the system.
How Hard is it to Get an Angels Landing Permit?
If you’re wondering how likely it is for you to be successfully awarded an Angels Landing permit, it really comes down to two factors. First, how busy is the season/ dates that are applying for, and second, the lottery drawing is truly and completely 100% random no matter how many days in a row you have been applying.
Here’s what I mean. I was awarded my permit for this hike during the busy March spring break season, and I was very lucky to say the least. Dates like this, especially during the busy summer months, will have a much higher number of applicants than other times of the year.
Secondly, I know that the lottery drawing is completely random because of the people that I talked to on the hike down. It took me two days of unsuccessful submissions before I was awarded a permit, but other people that I talked to said that they had been applying for more than a week straight without any luck. On top of this, I ran into one woman on the hike down who said she had a permit for the day prior but decided not to use it because of the really crappy bad weather. Then, she applied for a second day in a row and was successfully awarded twice. I hope that this shows that receiving a permit is completely by chance.
Angels Landing Trailhead Parking
Parking for any trail in Zion Canyon is located either at the Zion Visitor Center, or the Zion Human History Museum.
From either of these two locations, you need to ride the Zion Canyon Shuttle to the trailhead. Know that after 9 a.m. during most times of the year, parking in these two spots becomes extremely competitive, and the park service may shut down parking altogether and tell you to park in Springdale.
If this is the case, you can ride the shuttle from Spingdale to get into the park.
Google Maps Directions: Zion Visitor Center / Zion Human History Museum
The Zion Canyon Shuttle
From either the visitor center or the museum, ride the shuttle up the canyon to Stop 6.
The shuttle does not run early enough to take it to the trailhead for a sunrise hike so if you want to learn how to hike Angels Landing for sunrise without other people, read the section at the end.
Hiking Checklist - Zion
Here is a complete list of must-have things that you will want for any hike in Zion National Park.
In addition to the list below, you are required to carry a copy of your permit and valid photo ID to hike Angels Landing past Scout Lookout.
Additional Off-Season Gear
Depending on the winter snowpack, Angels Landing can be covered in snow and ice well into March and even April. This is why micro-spikes are a must on the upper elevations of Angels Landing where the consequences of falling are at their highest.
If you’re coming during the off-season (October - March), bring spikes! I personally use the Yaktrax below.
Hiking the Angels Landing Trail
Don’t forget to pack a headlamp for a sunrise hike.
Generally speaking, I did a pretty good job to take photos without other groups of people in them, meaning that these photos don’t accurately show how busy the Angels Landing gets from the moment the first shuttle arrives in the morning.
On the far side of the bridge, go right to continue along the Virgin River.
Soon after crossing the bridge you will start to get views of Angels Landing.
Eventually, the trail becomes paved and will remain this way until Scout Lookout.
At this area on the lower switchbacks, the views of the Zion Canyon start to get better and better!
Please do your part.
Walter’s Wiggles
The infamous Walter’s Wiggles are a series of 21 steep switchbacks that take you up to Scout Lookout just below Angels Landing.
There’s a cool history about the switchbacks that you may hear about on the shuttle.
This was only a handful of the many people on the trail after I watched sunrise.
Scout Lookout
This photo was taken at Scout Lookout shortly after 9 a.m.
There are bathrooms at Scout Lookout, and it’s the only place that you’ll find them on the Angels Landing Trail.
Angels Landing
Take it from someone who has received a conservation fine in the past, the risk is not worth it.
For me, it meant a fine, a court date, and travel back to the place where I received the fine. Now I can’t say what a citation at Angels Landing is like, but the penalties definitely are not worth it!
Below I have photos of every section of the chains that lead up to the summit of Angels Landing so that you know what to expect.
Most importantly, nearly every section beyond this point are no-fall zones, meaning a fall off of the trail beyond Scout Lookout would likely to be fatal.
From this point on, the top of Angels Landing will start to become visible.
Additionally, sections like the wet spot in the photo below was black ice when I hiked up for sunrise. Seriously, take your time. Shady spots like this may stay frozen long after sunrise, even if the trail is fine elsewhere.
A few of the following photos are looking back up the canyon.
The photo below is the last set of chains before the summit ridge.
Angels Landing Summit
Angels Landing summit is 5,790 ft. (1,165 m).
From the summit, you’ll get amazing views of both the upper and lower canyon as well as other notable places like Observation Point.
How to Hike Angels Landing for Sunrise?
The best time of day to hike Angels Landing is before the sun comes up!
That being said, vehicles aren’t allowed in to drive into the canyon, meaning the closest you can park to the trailhead is 3.3 miles (5.3 km) away at Canyon Junction or 4.0 miles (6.4 km) away at the Zion Human History Museum if the gate for the Mt. Carmel Highway is closed at the junction, which means the museum is the only option.
From wherever you park, you can either walk or bike your way to the Grotto Trailhead. However, renting bikes in Springdale can be a challenge if you are awarded a day-before permit, as the results are typically announced around 4 p.m.
However, if you rent in advance using the link below, you can enjoy the e-bike as a full-day rental, even if you aren’t awarded a permit.
Additionally, one of my favorite things about booking through Viator is the reserve-now-and-pay-later option. As long as you’re booking more than three days in advance, you have the option to book ahead and cancel in the future if you change your mind.
Angels Landing Sunrise Parking
The photo below on the left is the parking lot at the Zion Human History Museum that was completely overflowing with cars by 10:30 a.m. when I returned. One car was literally blocking all other cars for my spot as I was leaving.
The second photo below on the right is the parking area at Canyon Junction just past the Mt. Carmel Hwy gate.
