traffic jam

Yikes.. the 2nd picture looks like the line waiting for pictures with the summit sign on Mt Washington sometimes. between people hiking, driving and taking the cog railway it is nuts. my group decided to just take pics on the observation deck and call it good enough.

Holy crap, I have seen some congested Peaks in the Uk and Ireland but never this bad.

Looks like I-94 by me.

It's like the Vivian Creek trail in SoCal. Nuts.

Why would someone even do that?
Just find some other place to hike.

This reminds of the Pine Ridge Trail in Big Sur on weekends. I always get off that trail to explore some creek or canyon as quickly as I can. It gets crazy and it makes me feel uncomfortable. I can't even stop to take a pee.

+1 Justin,

This is the human version of Lemmings. Where are the self thinkers that would find a different hike to satisfy their need for wildness. I realize we are social beasts but this would not be fun for me

.

Notice that Nick G. is not in that photo.

Skurka's blog touched on this topic today:

http://andrewskurka.com/2013/why-the-leadville-trail-100-felt-like-lollapalooza/

Almost makes you want to channel your inner Roberto and reconsider why you didn't bring that huge Bowie knife…LOL.

Leadville…Wow. That looked horrible….I used to organize and manage endurance events, what are the race organizers thinking?? That is nuts, what about the insurance and liability factors? When we ran 100 milers our landowners, public and private knew how many people were traveling through, we were accountable for those numbers and limited the entries.

Several ways to stop all that would be to make it a race that you would have to qualify for…or lottery like the mountain bike races….And they should be limiting the numbers of entries for the space…someone got greedy. If the staging areas and trail and medical aid areas cannot handle the huge crowds then they are putting everyone at risk!

That photo reminds me of the hike to the top of Mt Lassen, lines of people snaking up the trail. Slow people holding up the procession because of narrow stretches, lots of people eating the concession stand sandwiches on top leaving the plastic containers stuffed under rocks…

Omg. That is just rediculous. I would never..Jesus, that's what I go backpacking for..to get away from crowds like that. Looks like rush hour on Madison Avenue in the city.. that's gotta be a joke or some sort of staged picture..please tell me it is?

No interest here. No peak is worth that crowd. I prefer to find places off the beaten path where I can't see or hear anyone else.

This would be why I always try to do my big hikes before and after peak seasons. Did Isle Royal this year and saw a total of 4 people on my 5 nights hiking. Did Harney peak SD by following one of the lesser used trails last week and did not see much traffic. I wasn't until I got to the peak that I ran into two groups of cross country teams running to the top. It got very crowded and uncomfortable quick.

I keep telling people not to post trip reports with directions, details, and the GPS pointy thingies; see what happens!

Glad I spend my summer in Alaska and off trail in Utah