One of the most popular hikes in US closes indefinitely in Utah amid Trump layoffs

Brooke Baitinger, The Charlotte Observer on Mar 27, 2025

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One of the most coveted hikes in the country has closed indefinitely, the Utah national park said in a recent announcement. The closure is likely due to President Donald Trump’s administration’s layoffs.

Arches National Park announced it will not offer ranger-led tours or issue self-guided permits to visitors to go through Fiery Furnace “until further notice,” and said the area is temporarily closed in an alert on March 23.

The alert is also posted at the top of a web page with information about ranger-led programs and Fiery Furnace hikes.

The alert does not offer any information about if or when the area will reopen to permit-holders and ranger-led tours.

“We look forward to offering these services soon,” it says.

Fiery Furnace is a maze-like cluster of “irregular and broken sandstone … narrow ledges above drop-offs,” and loose sand, the web page says.

The park typically allowed about 100 visitors to explore the site each day, Axios reported.

And while the park did not provide information about what caused the closure, a spokesperson seemed to imply it was connected to the Trump administration laying off roughly 1,000 park service workers.

“Normally, (seasonal workers) would have been here by this time, and we could have offered those services, but that got a little delayed this year,” park spokesperson Karen Henker told the outlet.

The Trump administration then implemented a hiring freeze that rescinded job offers to about 5,000 seasonal workers, the outlet reported. Public outcry got the offers reinstated and more than 2,000 seasonal positions added.

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