Buttes, spires and a rainbow at Arches National Park in Utah. (Miralex/Getty Images)

As national parks throughout the country receive more visitors than ever, a handful are turning to reservation programs to mitigate overcrowding. But while some popular summer destinations, like Yosemite and Mount Rainier's Sunrise corridor, rely on reservation programs to stagger entries, one Southwest park is pausing its timed-entry system.

Why? Because it's wildly hot.

Like many other parks, Arches' visitor numbers have skyrocketed over just the past five years. Between 2020 and 2021 alone, visitation increased by 25%, buoyed by post-quarantine "revenge travel." The spike quickly created a traffic problem - the only official entrance to Arches faces U.S. 191, a scenic highway connecting several Utah parks that also serves as the main road through the gateway town of Moab.

"I remember I was leaving town one day, and I saw people lined up for at least two and a half miles, just parked on the highway, creating super unsafe conditions just so they could wait to get into the park," Venjamin Hopkins, general manager at Moab's Aarchway Inn (yes, it's spelled that way), told SFGATE. "One time, I had somebody tell me that they waited six hours and still were not able to get in."

Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park had successfully piloted a timed-entry program in 2020. That pilot - as well as comments from elected officials and everyday citizens throughout Moab - helped Arches implement its own reservation program in 2022. With a few exceptions for tribal members, campers and Fiery Furnace ticket holders, visitors arriving in personal vehicles or on motorcycles would need to book a one-hour entry window via Recreation.gov and then display the QR code for that reservation at the entrance station during that window. The pilot was successful enough at reducing traffic that Arches repeated it in 2023 and 2024, tweaking its timing to match the park's busiest months and hours.

A full parking lot at Arches National Park in Utah. (National Park Service)

But year over year, one thing stayed the same.

"Historically, visitation to the Moab area in July and August always slows down because it's crazy hot," Karen Henker, acting public affairs specialist for Arches National Park, told SFGATE. "And if visitation is already slowing down, maybe we don't need a reservation system to help manage the crowds. There's no reason to make visitors jump through hoops if the parking lots aren't actually filling up and negatively impacting people's visits."

That line of thinking brought Arches to pause its reservation system between July 7 and August 27, 2025. For just under two months, visitors can enter the park 24 hours a day, no reservation required.

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Because Arches' timed-entry system has been paused for only a few days, it's difficult to tell whether an influx of visitors will take advantage of the reservation-free window. That's what happened in October 2022, when the park's first reservation pilot ended, Henker said. But when asked whether she thinks visitation will soar this summer, she was dubious.

"Desert heat is desert heat, and I doubt that we will see the same explosive response like we did that first October," Henker said. "Right now, we're looking at [temperatures] over a hundred, and that's just a challenging time to be traveling to and in the desert Southwest."

A heat warning sign is viewed from the trail to Landscape Arch on Oct. 3, 2023, near Moab, Utah. (George Rose/Getty Images)

The pause also gives local government officials a chance to consider how the reservation system affects Moab's economy. Last month, the Grand County Commission approved the allocation of $60,000 for an economic study by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. The study will "analyze monthly visitation data before and after the implementation of the timed-entry reservation system at Arches" and use a computer simulation of the park to capture what nearby towns' labor, housing and tourist markets might look like without the system, according to a proposal shared on the commission's website.

The study's price tag is controversial, based on comments shared by Grand County residents at the commission meeting on June 17. But so is the reservation system itself. Even Hopkins, who has largely come to appreciate the program, admitted to SFGATE that he has a "love-hate relationship" with it.

"When it was first implemented, it was the bane of my existence," Hopkins said. "It was a lot of explaining. It was a lot of helping people make their reservations and stuff like that. I had nightmares about people talking to me about the park for days."

Three years later, Hopkins believes that if Arches had clearly explained the program from the outset, fewer hiccups might have occurred. Even now, he feels the park service could do a better job of informing the public about the reservation system's intricacies and exceptions; despite having helped inn guests navigate it since its inception, he didn't know until this week that once a visitor has used their entry window to access the park, they have in-and-out privileges for the rest of the day.

The visitor center at Arches National Park in Utah. (George Rose/Getty Images/Getty Images/Getty Images)

He does have a few Arches hacks up his sleeve, though.

"We try to help people beat the system by letting them know you can go into the park 24 hours [a day], so you can go in just before the timed entry starts," Hopkins said. "We've also recommended Moab tour companies, since tours don't have to abide by the timed-entry system. But then you're paying for a whole tour, not just a park entrance fee."

Those who visit Arches this summer might not have to wake up early or hire a tour guide if they've missed the reservation window, but being at the park in July or August comes with its own obstacles.

"I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't include a safety plug," Henker said. "Prepare wisely. Choose hikes based on fitness level and the conditions of the trail. Delicate Arch is still gonna be there; we want you to survive your visit so you can come back and see it again."

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