Almost everyone who searches this is asking one of two questions: can I just show up and hike it, and what do I do now that I know I cannot.
No, and there are two lotteries. Here is the whole system, and the part most pages leave out — that a large share of the hike needs no permit at all.
The part nobody tells you first
You can hike 2.25 miles from the Grotto to Scout Lookout with no permit, no lottery and no fee. That is about 1,000 feet of climbing, it includes Walter’s Wiggles, and it ends at the saddle where the canyon opens up in front of you.
The permit covers what happens after Scout Lookout: the half-mile chain section along the fin to the summit. That is the part with the drop-offs on both sides, and it is the part rangers check for.
So before you spend two weeks chasing a lottery, be honest about which hike you actually want. If the appeal is the view, you can have it on any day you like, for free. If the appeal is the chains, read on. The trail itself — the switchbacks, the chains, water and when to go — is on the Angels Landing hike page.
Lottery one: the seasonal lottery
Apply months ahead, for a season at a time. You pick up to seven ranked day-and-time combinations, which matters more than it sounds — a single rigid choice is how people lose.
The 2026–27 windows, from the Park Service’s Angels Landing permit page and Recreation.gov:
| Hiking dates | Lottery opens, 8 a.m. MT | Closes, 11:59 p.m. MT | Permits issued |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Mar — 31 May 2026 | 13 Feb | 25 Feb | 26 Feb |
| 1 Jun — 31 Aug 2026 | 1 Apr | 20 Apr | 25 Apr |
| 1 Sep — 30 Nov 2026 | 1 Jul | 20 Jul | 25 Jul |
| 1 Dec 2026 — 28 Feb 2027 | 1 Oct | 20 Oct | 25 Oct |
| 1 Mar — 31 May 2027 | 1 Jan 2027 | 20 Jan | 25 Jan |
The winter window runs from 1 to 20 October 2026, closing at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time on the 20th, and issues its permits on the 25th. Once it has closed, a permit for a December-to-February hike comes from the day-before lottery: for a hike on 1 December, you enter on 30 November. The September-to-November lottery closed on 20 July.
The next window is for spring. The Park Service’s table, which no longer prints a year, gives the 1 March to 31 May window as opening on 1 January, closing on 20 January and issuing permits on 25 January, and Recreation.gov lists the 2027 spring lottery on exactly those dates. The 2026 spring window ran later, from 13 to 25 February with permits on the 26th. Recreation.gov’s permit page also says scheduled trail maintenance on 19 to 22 April 2027 means no permits are issued for those four days. What else changes for a March to May trip is on the spring page.
Winter is also, quietly, the best time to do this hike: the canyon is empty, the shuttle is mostly not running so the Scenic Drive opens to cars, and the exposure is far less unpleasant without summer heat. The catch is ice on the chains, which is a real reason to turn back and not a theoretical one.
One winter week is not like the others. On the 2026 schedule the park runs a holiday shuttle from 26 December to 2 January, and the Scenic Drive closes to private vehicles for it. If you win a permit for that week you ride the bus to the Grotto like everyone else. Dates are in the shuttle guide.
Lottery two: the day-before lottery
This is the one that rescues trips.
- Opens 12:01 a.m. Mountain Time
- Closes 3:00 p.m. the same day
- Results at 4:00 p.m., for the next day’s hike
It runs every single day. If you are in Springdale for four nights, that is four independent attempts, and the practical strategy is to enter every morning of your stay rather than treating one loss as the answer.
It is also where the cancellations go. The Park Service says a canceled seasonal-lottery permit rolls automatically into the day-before lottery, so the pool you are drawing from each afternoon is topped up by everyone whose plans just fell through. That is the strongest argument for entering daily.
Your odds, and what to do about them
The Park Service has published them. Its review of the first two years of the permit system, in April 2024, put the overall odds in both lotteries at about 50%, with a range from 8% in the day-before lottery on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend to 100% on some midweek days. Between 10% and 100% of applicants got permits depending on the day of the week and the time of year, and holidays and weekends were consistently the hard ones.
Two things follow:
- Rank weekdays. Of your seven seasonal-lottery choices, the Tuesday or Wednesday is worth more than the Saturday, and the park says so directly: you are more likely to get a permit mid-week.
- Enter the day-before lottery every day you are here. At anything like 50% a day, three or four independent draws make the summit likely rather than lucky.
No permit? Days that need none
Lose both lotteries and you still have most of the hike: the 2.25 miles from the Grotto up to Scout Lookout need no permit, and that is most of the climbing and much of the view. Then build the rest of the day around things no lottery gates:
- The Narrows, walked up the Virgin River from the Temple of Sinawava. The Park Service needs no permit as far as Big Spring, and the Narrows page has the gear and the 150 CFS rule. With a guide, the private Narrows hike includes the cold-water gear, and the full day with the Narrows picks up from Springdale hotels. Each card says when it has dates.
- The Scenic Drive on two wheels. Bikes may ride it while it is closed to private cars. The guided e-bike ride leaves from Springdale; biking in Zion has the rentals if you would rather ride it alone.
And enter the day-before lottery again the next morning.
What it costs
| Application fee | $6, covering up to six people |
| Permit fee if you win | $3 per person |
| Refundable? | The $6 never is. The $3 is refundable on the seasonal lottery if you cancel two or more days out, and not at all on the day-before lottery |
A group of four pays $6 to try and $12 more if they win. Eighteen dollars is not the obstacle; the calendar is.
Two things you cannot do on either lottery: change the date of a permit you hold, or transfer it to someone else. On the seasonal lottery you can shrink the group up to two days out and get the $3 back for each person you remove; you cannot add anyone. There is no resale market for these and there is nothing to buy from one.
The mistakes that actually cost people the hike
Applying for one date. You get seven ranked choices. Using one is throwing away six.
Not knowing the day-before lottery exists. People lose the seasonal lottery, conclude Angels Landing is off, and never enter the one that runs every morning of their trip.
Booking the trip around the permit. It is the wrong order. Book the trip, then enter the day-before lottery each morning, and treat the summit as a bonus on top of a hike you were going to enjoy anyway. A one-, two- and three-day plan built around that daily entry is on the itinerary page.
Going onto the chains wet. The Park Service’s own advice is not to ascend when the ground is wet or icy, because the rock becomes very slick and most accidents on the chains happen in wet conditions. A permit for a rainy day is a permit for Scout Lookout.
Carrying one bottle. The Grotto shuttle stop is the last drinkable water on the trail. The park suggests a gallon per person per day, and the climb is in full sun from mid-morning in summer.
Assuming the permit is the hard part. It is not. The chains are. Every year people win a permit, reach Scout Lookout, look at the fin, and turn around — which is a completely reasonable thing to do and not a wasted day.
Where to apply
Permits are issued through recreation.gov, not by the park directly and not by any tour operator. Anyone selling you an Angels Landing permit is not selling you an Angels Landing permit.
That is worth stating plainly, because most of the pages ranking for this search are trying to sell you a tour instead of telling you how the lottery works.
