ST. GEORGE — Sand Hollow State Park is executing new technology to streamline the visitor experience. This comes on the heels of the Southern Utah reservoir bursting with an increase in visitation.

Sand Hollow’s new park manager, Candace Smith, told St. George News that improvements will include a digitized annual pass so visitors can use their cellphones when entering the park. Smith said people often lose their physical pass or leave it in another vehicle.

“We’re trying to be more proficient in getting our customers into the park in a reasonable time with less lines,” Smith said. “We’re also getting some new live video feeds along our entrance line area so you can see if our lines are long into the park.”

Devan Chavez, Utah Department of Natural Resources public information officer and program manager, told St. George News that Sand Hollow was the most visited state park in the calendar year in 2023, with over 1.4 million visitors. Snow Canyon State Park came in third place statewide.

Chavez said thanks to a “fantastic water year,” Sand Hollow and Snow Canyon parks, as well as others in Utah, experienced a significant increase in visitation last year.

“People could take their paddle boards, kayaks and boats to picnic on the beach,” Chavez said, “so those parks saw a very large increase.”

Another improvement at Sand Hollow State Park will be live video feeds showing water levels and the entrance lines. Smith said those interested can visit Sand Hollow’s website and see the temperature, water levels and the reservoir’s crowds. If the water is above 65 degrees, shallow areas are more prone to have a microscopic parasite, which causes the harmless yet irritating rash known as swimmer’s itch.

The parasite is found worldwide and is more common during the summer months; not everyone is prone to swimmer’s itch.

Smith said that Sand Hollow Park is already full of events planned for April. She added the park will be working with the community and these major events to make the least impact on residents and the land as possible.

“In April, it’s already overflowing,” Smith said. “And so at this point, yes, it is slower and colder outside now, but we’re still busy. We’re still moving forward and pieces are rolling together for what’s coming.”

But with the high visitor demand comes the decision to occasionally close the parks.

“When a park has reached capacity, we base it off the available developed parking spaces,” Chavez said. “So once a park reaches no more available parking spaces for visitors, we’ll say a park has reached capacity. So it’s closed to additional people entering until we can get some people leaving.”

Chavez said the situation became problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic when Utah experienced “a big visitation boom,” especially in Southern Utah at St. George area parks. Now, his department follows that guideline for all state parks to manage visitation.

Smith pointed out that social media has also impacted the parks. She said now the world is getting to know what Southern Utah has to offer.

“Social media is just blowing us out of the water,” Smith said. “And keeping up with that is trying to manage all of those moving and revolving pieces, which is an obstacle we’re all working on.”

Chavez added that his office expects park visitation statewide to increase steadily. He said his department is investing in the infrastructure of parks. He cited the improvements at Quail Creek, Snow Canyon, Gunlock State Parks and Sand Hollow State Park’s new campgrounds. Chavez also thanked the Washington County Water District for their efforts to help manage Southern Utah’s waterways.

“The world was back open after the pandemic and the word was already out about Utah,” he said. “Utah’s hidden gems have become crown jewels that continued to shine this year.”

The top 10 most-visited Utah parks in 2023 feature water recreation. Chavez said all parks had increases in visitations ranging from 6% at Bear Lake to 63% at Willard Bay, Utah Lake, Quail Creek, Gunlock, Palisade and East Canyon state parks.

According to the Utah Division of State Parks, the least and most-popular parks for 2023:

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