[neek]

[MtnGoat]

I made nothing up, a poster was advocating for it.

[neek]

[joker]

Well places like the South Rim at the Grand Canyon and the upper Virgin River Valley at Zion have gone to this, and people who experienced the period right before in each case as well as the after seem to mostly agree that it's a good chance in those cases. I haven't been out 8 mile ever, so don't know if it's reached a similar point or not. But sometimes reality trumps ideology...

[Cyclopath]

[slabbyd]

Limited number of reservable parking spaces. Anyone who whats to show up on the fly (or didn't get a reservation) has to take a shuttle that costs $. Something like this should get implemented at MRNP (where the gate backup can extend 3-5 miles and hours on a busy weekend). 1500 reservable car spots and a shuttle every x minutes like in Zion. All paid by entrance fees. Obviously much more difficult to implement at a place like Eighmile Road, though aggressive towing could do the trick. Most Americans can't stand the idea of having to take public transport so even without a cap or quota it would probably dramatically reduce numbers. But hell if you're setting up a reservation system implement it for day hikers as well.

[MtnGoat]

[MtnGoat]

[nickmtn]

Just make the parking lots bigger. Most folks are driving over 100 miles from Seattle, what is the point of making them get on a shuttle for the last 5 miles? Can't imagine it is much of an environment impact. From what I can tell both Stuart Lake and Eight Mile have old logging roads that extend from the current parking lots, so widen them a bit and convert them into additional parking. The area has already been impacted. The way I see it those mountains surrounding Colchuck Lake have been standing for millions of years and will go on standing for millions more, but it is only in the last couple thousand years that the earth has had a species capable of appreciating their aesthetics and beauty. And who knows how long we'll be around! Seems like we are doing those mountains a disservice by limiting the number of people who can get up there and see them!

[neek]

[Cyclopath]

[contour5]

If you widen the road and quadruple the parking space, then you've got like 800 cars and several thousand day hikers on the trail to Colchuck. What if there are zombies lurking among the sweaty groaning masses? What then? The slowest, most untrailworthy will be stampeded; crushed, pummeled and gnawed at. And they'll never see it coming because fully half the dayhikers out there look exactly like zombies after a couple of steep miles. I'm thinking fully automated shuttle buses that deliver hikers to random trailheads, and then assigns them their hike for the day, based on an algorithm that takes into account trailworthiness, hiker density, recent impact levels and other important factors. So, basically you won't know where you're going until you get there and the little kiosk spits out a ticket with your name and destination on it. The whole system could be bankrolled by producing a fake reality tv show and merch campaign.

[HitTheTrail]

My daughter attended a friend's wedding at Inspiration Lake in the core area last saturday. The couple wanted a sunrise ceremony so the wedding party hit the Colchuck TH just after midnight. She said they could not believe the current situation, even after Labor Day. It was a small group and she and several others went out via Snow Lakes but the bride and groom backtracked to Aasgard Pass. She thinks they will have lifetime memories about that event for several reasons. I got the feeling that may be her last trip up there even though she is now a local in Leavenworth.

[JPH]

[JonnyQuest]