Loved. To. Death.

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Jorts
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Loved. To. Death.

Post by Jorts »

Another trailhead bites the dust. The hordes are slowly suffocating Colorado like a plague of locusts.

https://www.vaildaily.com/news/eagle-va ... ls%20Road.
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Jon Frohlich
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Jon Frohlich »

How does having people park at the school that has a larger lot solve anything? I assume Pitkin Lake and the Gore Creek THs are next.
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Scott P
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Scott P »

Luckily, only a small part of Colorado is like that and there are many places you can go in Colorado and not see a soul (even on holiday weekends).

Although it is sad that this has to happen, I still find it humorous that some still tout the extremely well known and crowded Gore Range as some secret or unknown. I think this shows that it is not.
The Gore Range has been very well known and very crowded for many years now. It's not surprising that something like this happened.
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by justiner »

Ride. A. Bike.
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Scott P »

Jon Frohlich wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:28 pm How does having people park at the school that has a larger lot solve anything?
Presumably fewer people would hike the trail? Just a guess.
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Tornadoman »

Scott P wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:36 pm Luckily, only a small part of Colorado is like that and there are many places you can go in Colorado and not see a soul (even on holiday weekends).

Although it is sad that this has to happen, I still find it humorous that some still tout the extremely well known and crowded Gore Range as some secret or unknown. I think this shows that it is not.
The Gore Range has been very well known and very crowded for many years now. It's not surprising that something like this happened.
I would say the Gore Range trails are moderately busy in my experience. Never seen numbers above 20 or 25 or so on any trail (which may be luck); while 100+ is common on Front Range trails. The peaks seem pretty quiet, may or may not encounter 1-2 other parties on a summer weekend. Just what I have seen, and I haven't even done the more obscure peaks yet.
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Chicago Transplant »

Its because basically every time a hotel guest asks the front desk/concierge "what is a good hike in Vail" they get sent to Booth Falls. 90% of the people who hike that trail never make it farther than the waterfall. Last year a lot of the other trails, Pitkin and Gore Creek in particular, saw a big bump in campers over past years too.

The trails have never been "unknown", they have parking lots right next to I-70, lots of people hike the trails. People just usually don't go farther than the lakes. Summit has the same problem, generally Buffalo Cabin trailhead in Wildernest or the Meadow Creek and Tenmile Creek trailheads by the 2 Frisco Exits are packed on weekends. Booth Lake I have seen over 100, but only in the first 2 miles (and only one way, I saw nobody in the morning going up to The Spider). Lily Pad Lake is pretty bad on the Summit side.

As to Jon's question, its because the people who live on the road are upset that people are parking on the street or flying through their neighborhood. Closing the parking at the trailhead moves the cars out of their neighborhood. I don't think it solves the crowding on the trail problem at all.
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by SkaredShtles »

Scott P wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:36 pm Luckily, only a small part of Colorado is like that and there are many places you can go in Colorado and not see a soul (even on holiday weekends).

Although it is sad that this has to happen, I still find it humorous that some still tout the extremely well known and crowded Gore Range as some secret or unknown. I think this shows that it is not.
The Gore Range has been very well known and very crowded for many years now. It's not surprising that something like this happened.
Most people hiking that side of the range don't even *know* it's the Gore Range. :mrgreen:
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Scott P »

Tornadoman wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:55 pmI would say the Gore Range trails are moderately busy in my experience. Never seen numbers above 20 or 25
Of course crowded might be a matter of opinion, but there's an old saying that two's company; three's a crowd. 20-25 defintely qualifies as extremely crowded in my book.
The peaks seem pretty quiet, may or may not encounter 1-2 other parties on a summer weekend.
1-2 parties a weekend defintely doesn't qualify as uncrowded or little known. A lot of places and peaks in Colorado might not see that many parties in a decade.

Anyway, I don't think I have ever climbed a Gore summit on a summer weekend and not seen people, even on the so called "obscure" peaks. This was true even 15-20 years ago.

Someone once told commented to me that Bubble Lake might be the most remote place in Colorado. I laughed. It's not remote by any means and it would be hard to spend a summer weekend there without seeing other people, even if they are just ants up on Powell or Peak C.

Anyway, I do love the Gores. So does everyone else. That's why it's so well known and crowded. It's beautiful and easy to access. Plus since it isn't remote, most places are easy to access.
Last edited by Scott P on Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Scott P »

SkaredShtles wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:12 pmMost people hiking that side of the range don't even *know* it's the Gore Range. :mrgreen:
That's probably true, just like some naive people think Mount Powell is in the northern Gores. :mrgreen:
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Jorts »

Scott P wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:13 pm Anyway, I don't think I have ever climbed a Gore summit on a summer weekend and not seen people, even on the so called "obscure" peaks. This was true even 15-20 years ago.
Really? That sucks. Here are the peaks in the Gore where I didn’t see anyone on a summer weekend day:

Eagles Nest
C through E
L :thumbup: MNO
XYZ
The Partners
W
Solitude-Climbers-Skiers
Valhalla-Palomino-Snow
Silverthorne massif
Red
Wichita (numerous times)

Guess it would have been easier to list where I’ve actually seen another party:
Powell
Keller
Buffalo

You must’ve been doing something unusual to encounter so many people.
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Re: Loved. To. Death.

Post by Tornadoman »

Jorts wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 6:02 pm
Scott P wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:13 pm Anyway, I don't think I have ever climbed a Gore summit on a summer weekend and not seen people, even on the so called "obscure" peaks. This was true even 15-20 years ago.
Really? That sucks. Here are the peaks in the Gore where I didn’t see anyone on a summer weekend day:

Eagles Nest
C through E
L :thumbup: MNO
XYZ
The Partners
W
Solitude-Climbers-Skiers
Valhalla-Palomino-Snow
Silverthorne massif
Red
Wichita (numerous times)

Guess it would have been easier to list where I’ve actually seen another party:
Powell
Keller
Buffalo

You must’ve been doing something unusual to encounter so many people.
Keller was one where we saw zero people car to car, but there were TONS of cars in the lot. I have no idea where those people were, but none of them were in the same place as us.

.
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