You might one day need a reservation to enjoy this sort of sunset at Arches National Park/NPS

Another national park in Utah is thinking of moving to a reservation system to better control crowding within its borders. Officials at Arches National Park have released a draft plan for discussion that calls for reservations during peak visitation months.

Zion National Park officials back in July announced that they were studying the feasibility of requiring some form of reservation system to control crowds that in recent years have been overswhelming park resources and staff. Zion officials have been mulling three options:

• Alternative A: Make no changes from the current visitor management system.
• Alternative B: Require all visitors to obtain a reservation for their stay. With this reservation, they would be allowed to go to any of the park's frontcountry areas, places such as Zion Narrows, Angels Landing, and Observation Point.
• Alternative C: In addition to needing a reservation to enter the park, you'd need specific reservations if you wanted to enter Zion Narrows or hike to the top of Angels Landing. Day hikers heading into wilderness areas also would need to obtain permits.

A reservation system, if implemented, would apply to all areas of the park, from Zion Canyon and Checkerboard Mesa to the Kolob Canyon corner of the park.

Traffic waiting to get into Arches National Park can back up more than this during busy travel months/NPS

Across Utah at Arches National Park, staff is developing a Traffic Congestion Management Plan to address vehicle traffic and parking congestion problems that they say affect visitor access, visitor enjoyment, and resource conditions. 

Visitation to Arches National Park doubled in the past 11 years, reaching approximately 1.6 million visitors in 2016. During high-visitation season, March through October, visitors routinely wait in long lines to enter the park and then must search for empty parking spaces at all popular sites. Long lines to enter the park cause congestion at the intersection of U.S. 191 and the park entrance road, which can be a serious traffic hazard. 

The plan under consideration proposes a reservation system for entrance during high-visitation season and peak-visitation hours. This system would give visitors certainty of entry, reduce or eliminate long entrance lines, spread visitation more evenly across the day, and improve the visitor experience by ensuring available parking space, a park release said. 

Reservations would be required for vehicle entry between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., seven days a week during high-visitation season (currently March through October, but this may shift as visitation patterns change), and could be made online or by phone through www.recreation.gov. 

If the TCMP is approved, full implementation would occur no earlier than March 2019. Online reservations would be available six months before the required reservation start date. 

The park plans to host a public open house on November 16 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Grand Center, 82 N. 500 W. in Moab, Utah. The public is invited to stop by the open house any time between these hours to gather information, ask questions, and submit written comments 

Park staff invites the public to review and comment on this plan. The plan and environmental assessment will be available for public review and comment through December 4 on the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website at this page.