Angel's Landing Timing/Hiking without Permit?
I've been really excited for a trip to Zion that I've been planning for October 2026, booked in October 2025 until I went to sign up for the Angel's Landing Fall Season Lottery, only to find out that all 4 (full) days we will be there are the 4 days park staff will be conducting trail maintenance.
I'm now scrambling to try to see what my options are for doing Angel's Landing during my visit.
I've done Yosemite's Half Dome before and didn't have a permit for that, but when I got to the "permit section" where an NPS staff member was waiting to check permits, you could wait there to tag along with another person who had an opening in their permit. Does Angel's Landing do the same thing?
When I did Half Dome, I didn't get to the staff member until about 1-2pm and they said I was lucky to even still be able to meet someone with a free permit by that time of day, so I'm also looking for times of day that this can be attempted at Angel's Landing, and what times of day this hike seems to be done.
With my current travel schedule, I wouldn't be able to get to the start of the hike until maybe 5pm on day 1. Is this too late to expect anyone with a permit, in case I don't get a permit for that day? Is there any info anywhere that would say or show how late the park rangers wait at the permit section to view permits? I am also looking into booking earlier flights to get there sooner as an option.