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Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 18th, 2019, 8:48 pm
by Water
markesc, do you just try to go to the worst/best hikes at 10am on saturday? I frankly don't understand how you feel like hiking is such a lost cause. So 'social media' took the friction out of obtaining information. No offensive but this site and others like it, outdoors project, etc greased those wheels long before insta or fb hiking groups.

with all that said on any given nice weekend there are more hikes that i could possibly shake a stick at that will be awesome and not crowded.. how are you so...limited in your options?

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 18th, 2019, 9:05 pm
by retired jerry
wildlife photography is good, nice bird photos

there must be some way to get internet to tell you what's not so much in, there are a lot of nice places that aren't so busy

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 19th, 2019, 1:20 am
by Webfoot
Koda wrote:
June 18th, 2019, 9:04 am
I haven’t posted here in a long time and its interesting to see this debate still playing out and somewhat depressing that those who don’t see the merits of not disclosing unsanctioned trails and destinations.

As I expand my recreation to reach less popular places and discover new hidden gems off the beaten path I ask myself as I stand there, can this place withstand the environmental impact of increased use? If not, I don’t share.
Do you include me in "depressing" since I was first to pen "I disagree" in this thread? I follow the principle you state. My point of contention was and is one of timing; I believe discretion is appropriate before something becomes widely disseminated, not after.
markesc wrote:
June 18th, 2019, 8:22 pm
Sadly every single time I've attempted to go anywhere in the past few years, it went from: I think I'm going to hike... to.... Looks like today will just be a drive. You can try however doing night hikes, then walk out at sunrise while the herds are arriving.
Where and when are you going that you find so prohibitive? I often have solitude or near-solitude on hikes that aren't peak draw, peak time, and I need not take the extreme of hiking in the dark even for those that are. For example I hiked to Tamanawas Falls on Memorial Day weekend, arriving at the trailhead at 9 a.m., three and a half hours after sunrise, and there were only two or three other cars. Though it was a constant stream of people hiking in as I hiked out to an overflowing lot, the hike in was tranquil.

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 19th, 2019, 4:55 am
by jessbee
Water wrote:
June 18th, 2019, 8:48 pm
on any given nice weekend there are more hikes that i could possibly shake a stick at that will be awesome and not crowded.. how are you so...limited in your options?
Agreed. Since we know exactly where everyone is going (top ten lists/social media/100 Dog mountain trip reports per day) it it's getting easier to figure out what's *not* crowded. It takes some research and planning, but isn't that what hikers are good at anyways?

I can nearly almost find solitude and when I don't I usually know what I'm in for. Even in the Three Sisters Wilderness, which the FS is wringing their hands about how crowded it is 🙄

As for posting information, I've stopped writing for Outdoor Project and hardly ever post reports any more, and geotag general locations such as which forest, park, or wilderness area instead of a particular location. I don't want to see any more permitting systems coming to the wilderness.

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 19th, 2019, 5:36 am
by kepPNW
jessbee wrote:
June 19th, 2019, 4:55 am
Water wrote:
June 18th, 2019, 8:48 pm
on any given nice weekend there are more hikes that i could possibly shake a stick at that will be awesome and not crowded.. how are you so...limited in your options?
Agreed. Since we know exactly where everyone is going (top ten lists/social media/100 Dog mountain trip reports per day) it it's getting easier to figure out what's *not* crowded. It takes some research and planning, but isn't that what hikers are good at anyways?

I can nearly almost find solitude and when I don't I usually know what I'm in for.
Ditto all that. Just couldn't believe that someone might give up on hiking because Angels Rest or Dog Mtn have become (for a few hours a week) zoos. Last weekend, we hiked twice for 45 miles, seeing eight people (all at once) on the first loop, and perhaps twelve (two groups) on the second. I just don't understand this position, but I guess "self-deporting" from the trails serves us all?

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 19th, 2019, 8:20 am
by drm
I can't speak for Markesc, but the sense I've gotten from others is that many people grow attached to certain places they have gone to for years, and if those places get too crowded they aren't really motivated to go somewhere new, because they are very attached to those familiar places. They want them to be like they were as a kid maybe. I had a cousin who went backpacking to the same lake every year, for decades. Because the fishing was good.

One odd thing about that. There is a place on Mt Adams that I liked and it got too crowded: Lookinglass Lake. But now that it has burned, almost nobody goes there any more. I can go camp there on a sunny September weekend and have it to myself. Of course it doesn't feel like the same place. But there are even better views of Mt Adams without all those confounded trees in the way. :o I actually don't like hiking in burns that much, but I do go occasionally.

So I guess we just have to make the best of it and roll with the times.

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 19th, 2019, 8:34 pm
by Charley
drm wrote:
June 19th, 2019, 8:20 am
I can't speak for Markesc, but the sense I've gotten from others is that many people grow attached to certain places they have gone to for years, and if those places get too crowded they aren't really motivated to go somewhere new, because they are very attached to those familiar places. They want them to be like they were as a kid maybe. I had a cousin who went backpacking to the same lake every year, for decades. Because the fishing was good.
I moved here in 2007 (coming up on 12 years ago), and I can tell a difference in how crowded Angel's Rest and Dog Mountain are in that time. But I just keep going. The experience is different, but not so different that I would rather take up a different hobby.

Those first few years of hiking were an endless revelation: because I'm not from here, I felt like an explorer, and because I walked mainly on weekdays (I have a weird work schedule), I felt like I had a lot of trails to myself. I can see why, if I valued the solitude even more, I would feel that I'd lost something vital about the experience of hiking.

That said, I've been hiking in the gorge a good bit this summer, and I've often been able to find a quiet time or place. Heck, I hiked up to Angel's Rest on a rainy Wednesday afternoon and had the summit to myself, and almost no-one on the trail with me. My buddy and I hiked the Bluff Mountain Trail a few weeks ago: we met two mountain bikers, and about 4 people on the top of Silver Star. If solitude is your thing, you can find it. It takes more work, but if you're not going for the famous/epic/insta-worthy/overshot and overcooked favorite places, you can still find solitude. It's up to you!

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 19th, 2019, 8:38 pm
by adamschneider
retired jerry wrote:
June 18th, 2019, 9:05 pm
there must be some way to get internet to tell you what's not so much in
Google Maps can do that. Look at the bar graph at the bottom.

Image

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 19th, 2019, 9:05 pm
by Guy
Charley wrote:
June 19th, 2019, 8:34 pm
[qb]It takes more work, but if you're not going for the famous/epic/insta-worthy/overshot and overcooked favorite places, you can still find solitude. It's up to you![/b]
Absolutely and it doesn't take that much work! This evening we hiked the Multnomah - Wahkeena loop. Beginning at 5:15pm Multnomah was a zoo and the trail to the top of the falls was very busy. However that was only 1 mile, for the remaining 4.5 miles of the hike we crossed paths with only 10 people on one of the busiest loops in the Gorge.

Re: The Memaloose Hills and Social Media

Posted: June 20th, 2019, 10:24 pm
by Charley
Guy wrote:
June 19th, 2019, 9:05 pm
Absolutely and it doesn't take that much work! This evening we hiked the Multnomah - Wahkeena loop. Beginning at 5:15pm Multnomah was a zoo and the trail to the top of the falls was very busy. However that was only 1 mile, for the remaining 4.5 miles of the hike we crossed paths with only 10 people on one of the busiest loops in the Gorge.
Yup. I know everyone has a different tolerance, but I think there will continue to be places where it's generally quiet. (Unless we get as crowded as Asia. But we're a long ways off from that, and there's always Wyoming, if you don't mind moving.)