Yosemite may limit hikes.

[oldsarge]

Yosemite plan means fewer hikers on Half Dome - Yahoo! News

[Bojib]

All I can say is I'm torn over issues such as this. I can see both sides of the argument, and pros and cons to both.

[Grandpa]

I have never seen so many hikers in my life as on that trail from Half Dome to the Valley. I hiked Wilderness' and Parks in seven different states that summer and saw more people in one hour than all the rest of my hiking combined.

[ppine]

Grandpa,

I'm with you. Yosemite is being loved to death. I climbed Half-Dome in 1974 and it was a great trip. In April of 2010 I took my girl there and met some old friends. There was no place to park in the whole Valley during a snowstorm. We abuptly left never to return.

At the western boundary of the Park, was the remains of a large forest fire, the result of a prescribed burn set by the NPS in Sept.! As a forester, no one in their right mind sets a fire on purpose at the driest time of year.

The other problem with Yosemite is it is full of Californians. They seem like a Martian race of people to me with very unusual habits.

[wvbreamfisherman]

Was in Yosemite several years ago in February. It was fairly unusual in that there was essentially no snow anywhere at that time. Due to lack of time I had to stay on the roads, but there was not much of a crowd at that time. Talking to people that have visited there at other times, I realize just how lucky I was.

I recognize that there is a need to take the pressure off the resource, but it seems that there is a middle ground between removing the cables and having no limit to the people on the trail.

Possibly a lottery for a certain number of tickets each day along with a waiting list where you could apply for a ticket in a certain time slot, and work your way to the top. that way you could make a firm plan, or take your chances each day that you could get a ticket in the daily lottery.

This sort of thing is a problem in many National Parks, and it is difficulf to balance access to people that want to visit, with keeping the park experience at a decently natural level.

[Lamebeaver]

In Colorado, it's RMNP. TONS of visitors. Just a few miles to the north (as the crow flies) you can hike all day in parts of the Commanche Peaks wilderness and not see another soul.

I'm sure California is the same way.

[Grandpa]

We came down from Tuolomne Meadows. It was a nice trek with few people and the few were very pleasant. I wonder if thru hikers will be able to get permits for the dome when they book their trail permits? If they remove the cables no answer is needed. You won't be seeing me trying to get up there.

[ejdixon]

Whoa! That's a whole lot of hikers in the picture. If that's the crowd that hikes up everyday there, I can understand why they decided to limit the number of hikers.

[ghostdog]

There must be a lot of use at times near Tuolomne Meadows in the high country. Long time ago when we camped there and took a hike to some lake the trail was beaten down a good 20" below the meadow surface with lots of boot prints in the powdery dirt. We didn't see a soul though. The high country was scheduled to close down later that week. Its a big, rugged park though and I bet one can find solitude most any time of the year if they know where to go.

[Newanderthal]

The problem with insanely beautiful places is that a million people will go there and trample everything to death. How long before it's just an ugly scab?

Better to limit hikes now and enjoy it forever than allow everyone to enjoy it for a couple years and ruin it forever.