Visitor count on Mt Washington?

I was having a conversation with some of the folks at the GMC when the subject of summit counts came up. I guess Mansfield has about 40,000 people a year on the summit. Does anyone know how many Washington gets? I imagine the number must be huge, with Lakes of the Clouds hut, the auto road, the cog, and the fact that it's the highest peak in the Northeast.

Any guesses? Any official numbers? How about for other peaks in the region?

I did a quick google search and came up with 40-50k on foot, 150k via auto, and 50-60k by rail.

dug said:

I did a quick google search and came up with 40-50k on foot..l.

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That was the number that jumped out at me...that's 110-130 per day, 365 days a year. Yikes!!

PA Ridgerunner said:

That was the number that jumped out at me...that's 110-130 per day, 365 days a year. Yikes!!

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Keep in mind that through the winter it would run from zero to just a handful of hikers or so each day. A occasional really great winter day will get you a few more.

That is a pretty big pile of people!

From my few days over the past year I know that Camel's Hump gets around 300 a day on a medium-traffic day in the summer. Mansfield probably around 300-400. Those numbers are definitely bigger crowds than more remote peaks, but 300 a day doesn't actually feel very crowded.

The day before Columbus Day last year, Mansfield had 990+ summit count, and Camel's Hump had around 750. THAT felt crowded. Painfully crowded, in fact.

I haven't been on Washington in good weather yet, so I don't know what the summit feels like on a crowded day, but I can only imagine.

Guthook said:

I haven't been on Washington in good weather yet, so I don't know what the summit feels like on a crowded day, but I can only imagine.

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It feels crowded!! Although there is a lot more space than on any other peak I can think of in the Whites. Over by the antennas you can usually get a bit of elbow room, but personally, I never stay up there very long.

Guthook said:

I haven't been on Washington in good weather yet, so I don't know what the summit feels like on a crowded day, but I can only imagine.

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Lets just say you're better off hiking Mt. Adams.

I always find it amusing to see the looks that we get in our hiking gear from the "Tourists" that have arrived an easier way. Their sense of disbelief that we actually walked up makes us feel like aliens landing on a new planet.

Guthook said:

I was having a conversation with some of the folks at the GMC when the subject of summit counts came up. I guess Mansfield has about 40,000 people a year on the summit.

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Is that estimate for actual summit visits, or for those people who drive to the top of the toll road? That's nearly 110/day, which seems quite high. I've hiked Mansfield many times, and while that might be somewhat accurate on a nice summer weekend, I'd had reservations about those numbers of a weekday, particularly in cooler seasons.

The Hikers said:

I always find it amusing to see the looks that we get in our hiking gear from the "Tourists" that have arrived an easier way. Their sense of disbelief that we actually walked up makes us feel like aliens landing on a new planet.

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LOL. Try being the pariah known as a thru-hiker there! Myself and a couple others were literally quarantined to a far corner to enjoy some crappy hot chocolate! We thought about grunting like Bigfoot and scaring their kids, but decided against it.

BTW, by sheer numbers alone you'd expect some unfortunate deaths up there. While I respect Washington greatly (and love it), does anyone take into account law of averages WRT the deaths that occur up there.

I hadn't until reading this thread.

The Hikers said:

I always find it amusing to see the looks that we get in our hiking gear from the "Tourists" that have arrived an easier way. Their sense of disbelief that we actually walked up makes us feel like aliens landing on a new planet.

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I don't recall ever getting many strange looks from "tourists" to be honest. No weirder than the looks I give them. Also, I feel like the sense of disbelief usually comes from other hikers when they see how small your pack is or that you're doing a presidential traverse or that you're hiking / drinking etc. If anything it's hikers trying to act too cool that has turned me off. Everyone's just up there to have a good time.

-Dr. Wu

Kevin Rooney said:

Is that estimate for actual summit visits, or for those people who drive to the top of the toll road? That's nearly 110/day, which seems quite high. I've hiked Mansfield many times, and while that might be somewhat accurate on a nice summer weekend, I'd had reservations about those numbers of a weekday, particularly in cooler seasons.

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That's the summit count from the caretakers. The road up Mansfield only goes to a visitor's center about a mile from the actual summit. There's a counter going at the visitor's center, and a counter going at the actual summit. From my understanding, the 40,000 is just the summit part, which means people who hike up from Smuggler's Notch or from the visitor's center. It's possible that it's the visitor's center plus the summit, so some people would be counted twice, but lots of people don't get counted. The caretakers start at 8 or 9 AM, then finish at 5 PM, and there are still plenty of people coming and going after that when the sun goes down later.

Like I said, though, considering an average day in the summer is 300-400 people (even in crappy weather the counts are often above 150), and the big holiday weekends can see as many as 1000, the 40,000 doesn't seem too inflated to me.

Ed'n Lauky said:

Keep in mind that through the winter it would run from zero to just a handful of hikers or so each day. A occasional really great winter day will get you a few more.

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Exactly what I was thinking. Gotta be some summer days that see several hundred. YIKES!

PA Ridgerunner said:

Exactly what I was thinking. Gotta be some summer days that see several hundred. YIKES!

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Last Saturday as I headed down from the top of Washington I passed at least a hundred on the trail between the top and the Ammo trail head. There probably were even more on Tuckerman and the Vans and trains were coming up packed all day long. The parking lot at the top seemed full. All the cog station lots were completely full when I arrived back at my car.

However, with all of that, Lauky and I sat in relative tranquility on the steps of the Yankee building for a few minutes. Maybe because everyone else up there way was Redsox fan. It fortunately is a very large summit.

Busy place indeed ! Mt. Washington's summit is the only place I've seen my dog uncomfortable . She's never been afraid of anything , but she wasn't too happy there . So....next hike up will be dogless

Dave

lattinhill said:

Busy place indeed ! Mt. Washington's summit is the only place I've seen my dog uncomfortable . She's never been afraid of anything , but she wasn't too happy there . So....next hike up will be dogless

Dave

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Dogs are like people that way, some come into their element in crowds and some much prefer the solitude, (and obviously everything in between). With Lauky, the bigger the crowd, the happier he is. First it's "look at me." Then it's "scratch my ears please." Then if that happens it's over on the back and "now the belly please." Then it's "how about I give you a kiss?"

We went through that routine all day long. The only time I could make time was with folks who shied away from him, and there were a good number of those also. He wasn't happy about it, but I kept a tight leash on him and kept him moving in those cases.

I avoided Mansfield and Camel's Hump this weekend, despite the weather. Since I live in the staff housing at the Green Mountain Club, I got to hear from a few of the summit caretakers when they came down for days off. Mansfield had a little over 400 on Saturday, a little over 900 on Sunday. That's the count from the Chin, although that 40,000 I cited the other day is in fact for both the visitor's center and Chin combined.

Yep, I'll stick to the off season and the "lesser" peaks.

Franconia Counts

I think there were around 500 people up on the Franconia Ridge on Saturday. Conga line of people going both directions.

It seems pretty easy to get over 100 people up there on almost any summer's day, even when the weather is marginal. (And more on weekends)

What's the record for Monadnock in a day? I've read an article from 1991 that said 6,000 for Columbus Day weekend that year. I bet that's been beaten since then.

Ed'n Lauky said:

Dogs are like people that way, some come into their element in crowds and some much prefer the solitude, (and obviously everything in between). With Lauky, the bigger the crowd, the happier he is. First it's "look at me." Then it's "scratch my ears please." Then if that happens it's over on the back and "now the belly please." Then it's "how about I give you a kiss?"

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Haha! I got the first three, but no kisses, when we met on Marcy on June 30!