I think using that site requires more effort than most people are willing to put in. Until its made into a slick app I doubt it will contribute too much to overuse. If anything, it will help hikers who want to put in the effort find less-used trails to visit.
I really don't think people are either going to sit on the couch watching Netflix, or find a trail database online and go hiking.
But it's good that people hike, and it's good that information is available. This land belongs to all of us and we all have an equal right to it.
My sense is that the national trails project (as described in the links I posted) is just getting off the ground. Any results for consumers are more than a year in the future.
Looks like a project primarily aimed and land managers doing gap analysis.
Then maybe more later.
Not sure how this drives overuse. Somehow, surely, it must be the end of the world.
Seems to show only official federal maintained trails. E.g. The Commonweath Basin trail is shown as ending at 4500ft -- and not continuing to Red Pond or up to Red Pass. Shows a nonexistant trail up the NE shoulder of Silver Peak, but doesn't show the non-official, but very well used path up Silver Peak's south ridge. Also doesn't show Mt Si or Mailbox Peak trails (which are state trails)
Also doesn't show Mt Si or Mailbox Peak trails (which are state trails)
I curate a list of 3,000+ ArcGIS server addresses many of which have trail data from various state government agencies.
https://mappingsupport.com/p/surf_gis/list-federal-state-county-city-GIS-servers.pdf
I traded email with the project lead for the national trails project and pointed out that an advanced Google search can easily determine if any specific GIS server is hosting trail data. When they get to the point of including state trails they might use this technique to help locate state trail data.
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But it's good that people hike, and it's good that information is available. This land belongs to all of us and we all have an equal right to it.
