The iconic Angels Landing trail in Zion National Park in Utah was closed Wednesday until further notice after the trail suffered damage in the chain section. “Day-before lotteries may be canceled or delayed,” reads a closure notice on the national park’s website.
The Angels Landing trail is among the most popular in the park, which is itself the second-most visited in the country after Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Last year, just under 5 million people traveled to Utah to view the area’s deep sandstone canyons, and of those, about 200,000 climbed Angels Landing.
Hikers gain just under 1,500 feet of elevation over the 5.4-mile round-trip trek, which is widely regarded as a strenuous endeavor. The path, which was first created in 1926, follows a narrow spire of rock to its summit. Toward the top, hikers rely on chains to navigate a knife’s edge known as the Hogsback or the Spine, and the reward for reaching the top is a sweeping view into Zion Canyon.
In April, a man died after falling from the trail — the first fall-related death reported since the park implemented a reservations system for the dangerous route in 2022.
Southwest Contributing Parks Editor Amanda Heidt contributed to this report.