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Arches National Park to end timed entry program on October 4

Photo by National Park Service
/
V. Verdin

Starting October 4, the timed entry system at Arches National Park will end, letting visitors enter the park whenever they want.

In an effort to address the surge of people, the National Park Service rolled out a timed entry system for Arches National Park on April 3. For the past several months, visitors were allowed to enter the park for a limited amount of time, but the testing of that program will soon end.

Officials say that they will analyze the visitor traffic data collected during the test in an effort to decide whether the program would be worth continuing in the future.

Patricia Trap, Arches Superintendent, says that the program met many of the goals officials set out to achieve. Some of the goals they were aiming for consisted of improving visitor experiences and distributing visitation times throughout the day.

However, with the timed entry program coming to a close, Arches National Park is warning visitors about increased wait times to enter beginning on October 4. Crowded parking lots and trails are to be expected as well as temporary delays as more people will have the freedom to enter the park as they wish.

Jared Gereau is pursuing a Journalism major with an emphasis in Social Media at Utah State University. He is planning on using his experience to pursue a career with USU Athletics sometime after he graduates. In his free time, Jared enjoys watching movies, playing games and creating content for his YouTube channel.