The massive influx of tourism that people are complaining about, are absolutely NOT doing extended day hikes. People are being carted in by chartered buses and tour guides. There is no way you're seeing these families, and selfie teens 5,10,15 miles out there. Which is why I do it. Silence.
Unfortunately, this is not so. The John Muir Trail has seen extremely rapid growth [1] in the number of thru-hikers (many of whom are first-time backpackers). It’s the same story for other popular “named” trails that become bucket-list items. There is a cap on the number of permits, but people skirt around those restrictions.
Maybe the solution is to develop additional long-distance hiking networks and increase the area of protected land in the US, realizing that the cost-benefit ratio of doing so is outrageously high.
