Mob scenes on the trails last weekend

I have pondered this problem deeply and found the solution – bowling. Consider for a moment the advantages of that gregarious pastime over hiking:

- You’ll save time. Your nearest bowling alley is bound to be way closer than that distant trailhead you’d otherwise be clogging up.
- You’ll save money. All that driving you avoid will save on gas and vehicular wear and tear, offsetting the modest fees bowling alleys charge. For equipment, all you’ll need is pair of bowling shoes, which you can rent for a pittance.
- You’ll support your local economy. The dough you do spend will go straight into the pockets of a local business, instead of the oil companies and the big corporations that manufacture all that pricey hiking gear, in places like China and the Philippines.
- Good exercise, but safe. You’ll get an all-over work-out with frequent breaks, without dicey river crossings to soak you, roots and mossy rocks to send you sprawling or (if you bushwhack) spruce belts to lacerate you.
- You’ll Leave No Trace. If all of you and your friends take my advice, in a year or two those herd-paths will all be grown in, except of course the ones used by actual herds.

Amicus said:

I have pondered this problem deeply and found the solution – bowling. Consider for a moment the advantages of that gregarious pastime over hiking:

- You’ll save time. Your nearest bowling alley is bound to be way closer than that distant trailhead you’d otherwise be clogging up.
- You’ll save money. All that driving you avoid will save on gas and vehicular wear and tear, offsetting the modest fees bowling alleys charge. For equipment, all you’ll need is pair of bowling shoes, which you can rent for a pittance.
- You’ll support your local economy. The dough you do spend will go straight into the pockets of a local business, instead of the oil companies and the big corporations that manufacture all that pricey hiking gear, in places like China and the Philippines.
- Good exercise, but safe. You’ll get an all-over work-out with frequent breaks, without dicey river crossings to soak you, roots and mossy rocks to send you sprawling or (if you bushwhack) spruce belts to lacerate you.
- You’ll Leave No Trace. If all of you and your friends take my advice, in a year or two those herd-paths will all be grown in, except of course the ones used by actual herds.

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Still too high impact for my taste. Think of all those trees that are cut down to make those bowling alleys. Not to mention all the wear and tear on the environment getting to the trees in the first place even before the cutting takes place.

B the Hiker said:

<snip> They could even hand out little cards with website links to Leave No Trace </snip>
Brian

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Hand out cards at the summit? I think that moose behind you (avatar pix) should give you a dope slap. People will be picking up dropped cards for months.

Amicus said:

I have pondered this problem deeply and found the solution – bowling. Consider for a moment the advantages of that gregarious pastime over hiking:

- You’ll save time. Your nearest bowling alley is bound to be way closer than that distant trailhead you’d otherwise be clogging up.
- You’ll save money. All that driving you avoid will save on gas and vehicular wear and tear, offsetting the modest fees bowling alleys charge. For equipment, all you’ll need is pair of bowling shoes, which you can rent for a pittance.
- You’ll support your local economy. The dough you do spend will go straight into the pockets of a local business, instead of the oil companies and the big corporations that manufacture all that pricey hiking gear, in places like China and the Philippines.
- Good exercise, but safe. You’ll get an all-over work-out with frequent breaks, without dicey river crossings to soak you, roots and mossy rocks to send you sprawling or (if you bushwhack) spruce belts to lacerate you.
- You’ll Leave No Trace. If all of you and your friends take my advice, in a year or two those herd-paths will all be grown in, except of course the ones used by actual herds.

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Dude! What about the White Russians (Caucasians)? So much more satisfying than filtered water or Powerade. The Dude abides...

marnof said:

Dude! What about the White Russians (Caucasians)? So much more satisfying than filtered water or Powerade. The Dude abides...

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So true, and hot pizza beats gorp by a mile.

B the Hiker said:

Up in the Green Mountains on a nice day on the weekend, the GMC will usually have some kid at each summit talking to people about proper trail behavior. I think someone frequently heads up from Greenleaf to do the same on one Franconia peak or another.

That might be the way to go. We (being the AMC) might organize more naturalists to spend time on the busy summits, including Chocorua, which is probably one of the busiest, and let these folks have a quick conversation with folks about carry in/carry out, not feeding the birds, and so on. They could even hand out little cards with website links to Leave No Trace, Hike Safe, and even the AMC, where people like myself can talk about stewardship and show it in action.

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Reminder, y'all that the WMNF does have a service at popular trailheads (Lincoln Woods, Old Bridle Path, Ammo trailhead) where volunteers act as trail stewards. Among other advice we certainly discuss leave no trace ethics. This is a fun volunteer opportunity to give back, and share your expertise! If you are interested, please PM me.

--Carla

We had already hiked several 4000 footers when I came upon a flyer, "Are you a Peakbagger?" I thought it was about bringing a bag to help clean up the trails and summits but it opened up another world of hiking. No telling what a well placed flyer or piece of advice can lead to. Kudos to those who make unobtrusive efforts to share the joys and responsibilities of hiking.

Maine has a pocket sized booklet with a hunter orange cover titled, "You Alone in the Maine Woods." It is an eye grabber and quite informative ... moreso than the leave no trace flyers I see but then, most of leave no trace is fairly instinctive and I wonder that so many people need to be told these things.

As for "mobs", there are plenty of places to obtain solitude if that is a goal of priority (with me, the priority can change from hike to hike). I often prefer solitude for the wildlife observation opportunities it creates. On the other hand, we've met some lifelong friendships amongst such mobs. My attitude, quit griping and enjoy the moment.

B the Hiker said:

Up in the Green Mountains on a nice day on the weekend, the GMC will usually have some kid at each summit talking to people about proper trail behavior. I think someone frequently heads up from Greenleaf to do the same on one Franconia peak or another.

That might be the way to go. We (being the AMC) might organize more naturalists to spend time on the busy summits, including Chocorua, which is probably one of the busiest, and let these folks have a quick conversation with folks about carry in/carry out, not feeding the birds, and so on. They could even hand out little cards with website links to Leave No Trace, Hike Safe, and even the AMC, where people like myself can talk about stewardship and show it in action.

I don't that most of the folks we see feeding the birds and acting stupid are intentionally acting in ways they shouldn't; but rather they simply don't know any better.

Brian

Brian

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That's a good idea but you should take it to the next level. The naturalist should be issues Taser's and if you see some moron acting like a moron, Tase him or her, then stuff your card into his shirt for when he wakes up.

I did what will probably be my last Franconia Ridge Loop on a weekend this past Saturday. I had a great time with my group but there were way too many people, and I think I saw every single trail "etiquette" broken. Trash everywhere, groups as large as 25, people either shoving there way past people or simply refusing to move over and let faster hikers go by, etc. I saw way too many dogs unattended, including one that almost provoked a pit bull (who was leashed with the owner doing what he could to prevent it) into attacking him, while his owner stood there and smiled. I did what I could with picking up trash, but I drew the line at dirty tissues/toilet paper and cigarette butts (many thanks to the teenager who left a trail of TP, quite possibly used, coming out from his pant leg all through the rocky section of Old Bridle Path.). I couldn't believe the number of tissues I saw thrown into the scrub along the trail. And then there was the number of people who were improperly equipped/prepared on a day that had potential for bad weather. I know I'm preaching to the Choir here, but I think I'll either skip weekends all together or seek out more remote hikes and avoid the s#@t show.

We considered bowling while in Lake Placid at Bowlwinkles but passed.

If you'd take bowling alley pizza over gorp, you're doing gorp wrong. (Latest batch, started with swiss mix from stores, added some chex mix, dark choc Cranberries, M&M's)

Shame about the traffic on the ridge, assume the cars were parked all along the road again. Should make it illegal to park on Parkway shoulder to help limit people. (Overflow at Cannon with Shuttle? not sure how many people park at Marcy Field but the shuttle for the Garden is weekends only and during week, people are forced to do road walk or go elsewhere. In ADK that is Marcy or Giant )

Ridge is a little quieter after foliage and before winter.

Why should it be illegal?

Canon was parked to the gills as well at least under the tram.

Tim

At the rate I'm seeing new hikers on the trails, I'm not looking forward to late fall and winter...

Went up Greenleaf on Saturday - while the ridge was again packed (we were passing a group every minute or two) the Greenleaf trail had considerably less traffic from the tram to the hut. The Lincoln slide had even less (though I think we saw Pacman's boot prints a few times.)

I've seen what seems to be an increase in people in the generally popular areas as well this year. Franconia Ridge, Mount Washington, Pinkham Notch, Appalachia have all seemed very busy. I have not noticed the increase in general though on less popular trails. Waumbek has not been "all the rage" this year for example.

I swear I had this same discussion 20 years ago, when one July day mid-week we counted over 100 people and twelve dogs on Lafayette...

Raven said:

I've seen what seems to be an increase in people in the generally popular areas as well this year. Franconia Ridge, Mount Washington, Pinkham Notch, Appalachia have all seemed very busy. I have not noticed the increase in general though on less popular trails. Waumbek has not been "all the rage" this year for example.

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It would be really cool to see an animation of the trail reports map on TrailsNH to get an idea of year to year change (assuming reports are roughly correlated to use). I think it would be interesting to see the seasonal changes too (as patterns change when the snow starts falling and melting).

TJsName said:

It would be really cool to see an animation of the trail reports map on TrailsNH to get an idea of year to year change (assuming reports are roughly correlated to use). I think it would be interesting to see the seasonal changes too (as patterns change when the snow starts falling and melting).

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You can definitely see seasonally adjusted traffic on vftt.org.

Tim

Stinkyfeet said:

Robert Redford is currently working on his adaptation of Bill Bryson's A Walk In the Woods, starring (who else?) Robert Redford and Nick Nolte as Katz. Wonder what effect this will have on the (already too high IMO) Appalachian Trail numbers...

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I think backpacking in general could see a bump as a movie with Reese Witherspoon will be coming out December- Wild. Based on Book by Cheryl Strayed's PCT hike.

Thought I'd share my two cents...

I never really realized how popular hiking has really become until I hiked Mount Eisenhower one weekend in June. My Dad and I got to the trailhead before 8 AM, and it was full then (but there weren't cars parked on the road yet). As the hike went on, the hordes of hikers really started to show. When we got to the top, people starting coming by the dozens. At the most, there was probably 40-50 people on the top when we were there. I run a YouTube channel (I go by "hiker0100") where I post videos of my travels (partly for informational purposes and partly for entertainment purposes), and it was so bad up there that I couldn't get my usual summit clip. I had to pan my camera around the hordes to get a quick 20 second clip with no narration. As we began the descent, we didn't go more than a minute or two without seeing someone. Finally, when we got back to the trailhead, there were cars parked 200 feet down the road, both sides and both directions. And on the way home driving through Franconia Notch, the were cars parked for 1/2 a mile each way on the highway at the OBP/Falling Waters TH. Then shortly after the hike, I saw a few threads online about the crowds and how they've never been this bad.

To be honest, I think I've seen more people hiking in just summer 2014 alone than I ever did in all of 2011, 2012, and even 2013, which was one of my most productive years.

I definitely agree that social media plays a huge part in this. When I first got into serious hiking in 2011, almost none of my friends, Facebook or not, hiked at all. Now, I'm hearing way more stories from my friends about adventures they went on, because it's the new "thing" to do.

I can't wait for winter to roll around, and reading this thread made me feel that way even more. The ONLY time I've ever hiked a 4K and saw no one was this past winter, in early March to be exact, on Mount Garfield. 12 miles of complete solitude.

I'll end my rant with this: I guess from here on out (or until the economy crashes again ), we're gonna have to just get more creative with ways of finding solitude.

Interesting comment about the economy. I am curious if a bad economy drives more hiking, or inhibits it? I will say, when I started, my mother's reason was "where else can I keep 5 kids occupied for 6 hours, tire them out, and it doesn't cost anything more than gas?" Of course, that was before wearing/carrying $1000 worth of gear was "required". Then, it was workboots, jeans, and sweatshirts.