UPDATED: Angels Landing Trail in Zion fully reopens after being closed for part of day

An undated file photo from 2017 shows hiker descending the Angels Landing route with near 1,000-foot drops on both side, Zion National Park, Utah | Photo by Caitlin Ceci/Zion National Park, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — After announcing late Saturday that the last portion of Angels Landing Trail in Zion National Park will be closed on Sunday, officials with Zion National Park said Sunday afternoon that the trail has been fully reopened.

A map shows the Angels Landing trail in Zion National Park, Utah | Map by the National Park Service, St. George News | Click to enlarge

The announcement of the closure was made by the National Park Service on Twitter late Saturday. “Angels Landing Trail will be closed beyond Scout Lookout on Sunday, 3/28 due to hazardous conditions,” the tweet states. The service released another tweet at 2 p.m. Sunday that simply stated, “Angels Landing has reopened.”

There is no elaboration on what those hazardous conditions were, though the Angels Landing trail has been the site of several recent accidents and fatalities, including the death of a man who fell to his death on March 4.

A recent investigation by Fox13Now found that 13 people have fallen to their death from the trail leading to Angels Landing since 2000, including two in the last two months.

Even with the closures, much of the trail remained open to hikers Sunday, with the portion starting at the Scout Lookout switchback to Angels Landing itself being closed, Zion National Park officials said.

In addition, the West Rim Trail, which connects to the Angels Landing Trail at Scout Lookout, remained open up to that point, but some of the spring break adventurers in town had to make do without the view.

A similar closure took place in November 2019 after a rockfall forced the same portion of the trail closed off Sunday to be prohibited to hikers for a week.

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