[Desertsp]

Just doing some trip-planning, trying to familiarize myself with ONP, and came across this report. Starts getting interesting around page 39. https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_other/rmrs_2013_tricker_j001.pdf

[RodF]

Yes, it is an interesting report. One technical aspect of it (hiking time) was discussed here in NWhikers when the report issued in 2013. Trails both detract from wilderness solitude, and enhance it by dispersing visitation more widely. The report poses the rhetorical question "Is solitude a value if no one is there to experience it?" reminding me of "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" The policy answer is yes but recreational value is a Wilderness value, too.