Reopening Our National Parks: What's Open

Above, just one of many rock walls to see in Zion National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Our national parks are taking "ginger steps" at reopening.

National Parks Traveler has a press release out on what national parks are open and to what extent.

They begin it with:

Zion National Park officials were planning a limited, daylight only, reopening for Wednesday, though access could change quickly depending on how many visitors descend on the park in Utah's southwestern corner. In neighboring Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park plans to begin opening some areas of the park on May 27, while Big Bend National Park in Texas likely won't reopen before June. 

At Zion, no shuttles will be traveling Zion Canyon, so once private vehicles take up all the parking spots the drive will be closed until spaces open. Access will be allowed only during daylight hours, and rangers will close access to the scenic canyon at 6 p.m. 

The Zion-Mount Carmel Drive, the park entryway from the east, also might temporarily close if traffic congestion occurs. 

Additionally, the Zion Lodge remains closed until May 21, visitor center and campgrounds are closed, climbing, canyoneering, and overnight backpacking are prohibited at this time, and the Angels Landing chain section is closed. The Kolob Canyons area of the park also remains closed. 

Most hiking trails in Zion Canyon are expected to be open. 

Rocky Mountain National Park officials say shuttle bus operations within the Bear Lake Road corridor will begin on May 27. It is unknown at this time whether the Hiker Shuttle from the Estes Park Visitor Center will be operating this summer, they added in a release. In order to practice proper social distancing to minimize community spread of Covid-19, the capacity of the shuttle buses in the Bear Lake Corridor will be limited to 15 passengers per trip.

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