ZION

ger vehicles and forcing visitors onto shuttles through the busy summer months.

That worked for a while, but in recent years, the length and severity of the busy season have grown, overwhelming park amenities and the canyon itself.

“Yesterday it was a 45-minute wait to get on the shuttle,” Baltrus said. “You never saw shuttle lines until 2013, and that was only on busy weekends.”

The shuttles used to operate from April to October. This year, they started in mid-March and are set to run through the end of November. “And next year they’ll probably start even earlier,” Baltrus said.

The solution is not as simple as adding more shuttles. For one thing, Baltrus said, the park is already using all the shuttles it has, and the canyon can handle only so many people at a time.

As it is, a shuttle carrying up to 68 visitors is sent up the canyon every four minutes. “We’re moving a heck of a lot of people,” Baltrus said. “The shuttles alone can’t build us out of it.”

Some impacts of Zion’s growing popularity are easy — and unpleasant — to see.

“We’re finding a lot of human waste in the Narrows,” Baltrus said.

Meanwhile, at peak times on the park’s famed Angels Landing Trail, hikers are forced to line up in precarious places, waiting for traffic to clear.

The Park Service will be gath- ering suggestions and comments on how to handle the congestion at Zion through Nov. 23. Specific input and ideas can be submitted at one of the open houses or online at parkplanning.nps.gov/Zion. Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.