Disappointing photos show crowds at one of Utah's most popular national parks

For many, Utah evokes images of iconic red sandstone arches. It's on Utah's license plate; it's splattered across travel guides; it's the focal point for murals in the state's capital. The best place to view those feats of nature is at Arches National Park in Southern Utah.

Arches National Park is one of five national parks in the state. It was Utah's third-most-visited park in 2022 with nearly 1.5 million people exploring the 76,500-acre park, according to the National Park Service.

Source: National Park Service

I visited the park for two days in May 2022, right before Memorial Day Weekend, which typically marks the start of the national parks' busy season. I hoped to avoid large crowds by arriving before the holiday.

Source: Insider

But even then, I found it nearly impossible to steer clear of people.

For me, the crowding started at the entrance. In 2022, the park implemented a reservation system to mitigate traffic and people. In order to enter Arches between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m., visitors must have a timed-entry ticket. The reservations open three months in advance and cost $2.

With my reservation in hand, I hoped to enter the park without a long line of cars. But I arrived on a Monday evening to find more than two dozen cars waiting to enter.

The following day when I visited again around lunchtime, the line was even longer, with cars stretching to the nearby highway.

Inside Arches National Park, the hordes of people continued. Almost every parking lot I saw was full.

And once I finally secured a parking spot, I thought the entrances to hikes and viewpoints were similarly packed.

At summits and major viewpoints, crowds were practically a guarantee.

The crowds also made it a challenge to snap people-less photographs.

But I couldn't blame other visitors — I also wanted photographs in front of the stunning arches.

To get a great shot, I had to wait my turn. For some of the park's more popular arches, like Delicate Arch, lines formed, and I waited for about 10 minutes with others who were eager to pose underneath.

But after two days in Arches, I understood why the park entices so many. I'd never seen such impressive terrain, and it felt impossible to comprehend that I was exploring an environment that is 100 million years in the making.

Source: National Park Service

While I could hardly avoid people either day I visited Arches, I hunted down a few moments of solitude by picking smart times to explore the park.

For example on Monday night when the sun set, I stayed to stargaze in one of the few remaining dark skies in the contiguous US. As the Little Dipper and Orion's Belt appeared, I noticed that the bulk of the crowds disappeared.

Source: National Park Service

It was these moments that left a lasting impression. And as I drove out of the park and down the winding road between canyons and spires, I was already planning my next trip back.

That trip happened nearly a year later. I was itching to view Utah's rusty red structures again. So I planned a trip with two friends back to the region.

As I debated where to go, I feared Arches would be crowded — even in late March. So this time, I opted for Arches' neighbor, Canyonlands National Park.

Depending on the entrance used, Canyonlands is either 30 minutes or 1.5 hours from Arches and had just 780,000 visitors in 2022 — about 680,000 fewer than Arches. Plus, Canyonlands has 181,000 more acres than Arches.

Source: National Park Service

But instead of sticking to popular trails off main roads, which is what I did in Arches, I hiked into the backcountry for a two-night backpacking trip.

As we drove into the park, I was already experiencing fewer crowds. At the entrance, for instance, there was a line of two cars — instead of two dozen I experienced at Arches.

Inside Canyonlands, I did spot a crowded parking lot, but it was also smaller than any parking lot I saw in Arches.

Once on the trail, I spotted just a handful of people on the first day, which felt much emptier than any hike I did in Arches.

On the second afternoon, we hiked deeper into the national park where we went 4.5 hours without seeing another hiker.

It was just us, the wildlife, and the striking rock formations. I've rarely felt that isolated in nature, and as I wandered through the canyons, arches, and spires, the solitude was magical.

The two trips taught me a handful of lessons about visiting national parks. If I want an uncrowded experience, I need to visit less-popular national parks and head deeper into the backcountry.

And if I don't have time to hike 20-plus miles, I'll try to plan my visits for early and late hours in the day.

But regardless of crowds, I've decided that every national park is worth a visit. They're places where I can discover more about myself and the diverse landscapes that fill my home country.