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View Full Version : Backpacking with the crowds



Zea
04-12-2017, 19:24
The past few years I've had the awesome fortune of having a boss that hikes and let me setup my schedule around backpacking, as well as a wife/hiking partner with lots of vacation time and flexibility with it. Doing our trips on weekdays meant getting prime camp sites and plenty of solitude, and was awesome!

This year, it looks like we'll be having weekends off together, and it's the last summer for a few years that I'll have any real time to hike (work/school), so I definitely want to make the most of it!

We're less than 2 hours from the White Mountains, which is where we do most of our trips. It is a complete zoo there on weekends though. Some of the popular trails feel more like being in city traffic than out for a hike. Designated campsites become moshpits. I'll never forget finally getting a perfect stargazing night and spot, bringing my mesh dome tent, and then being forced to share a single tent platform with a tent that god knows why was lit up with more neon lights than an EDM nightclub and felt the need to have country music playing. The caretaker struggled just to get them to move over to fit us in, so I didn't even bother requesting that they power down their UFO.

Even in more remote areas, groups far larger than the wilderness area allowable size always seem to end up right beside us, and proceed to scream all night. I do think it's good that so many people are out enjoying themselves, and I'm slightly exaggerating how bad it is, it's just hard to go from the relative quiet of weekday trips to the craziness of the weekend crowd.

No matter how crowded, I'd rather be in the woods than back home. That said, anyone have strategies for dealing with the crowds, or possibly for just changing attitudes and embracing the crazy?

I'm thinking of just taking a few days in late spring, and doing a bunch of light and fast hikes in the first few miles of the areas we're planning on hiking. Bushwack a bit and try to scope out secluded spots to setup a base camp when we get up there on Friday night's, then explore the area with daypacks the next couple days. Looking at the map I've already found a few areas that would be cool for this. It's a big change from our usual method of just picking a direction to go and then setting up camp where and when we feel like it, but I think it'd still be pretty cool.

scrabbler
04-12-2017, 20:14
Best strategy that I know of is to find lesser trails in the park, and find camp locations off of those trails. Undocumented trails scare crowds that use the standard park map or NatGeo maps. Find some GPS tracks that go off the standard maps and you'll be with a much smaller crowd. That, or go further out ... the harder it is to get to, the less people, esp rude groups.

egilbe
04-12-2017, 20:45
NH on the weekends are crazy! I either go midweek, or go hike in Maine or VT.

Zea
04-12-2017, 20:54
Best strategy that I know of is to find lesser trails in the park, and find camp locations off of those trails. Undocumented trails scare crowds that use the standard park map or NatGeo maps. Find some GPS tracks that go off the standard maps and you'll be with a much smaller crowd. That, or go further out ... the harder it is to get to, the less people, esp rude groups.

I like that idea about undocumented trails. A few years ago I did some research on trails running along the old railroad grades in the whites that have since been relocated and aren't on maps, now would be the perfect time to check them out!

rafe
04-12-2017, 21:47
To get away from crowds in the White Mountains, you have to avoid the easily-accessed high peaks, which means Moosilauke, Franconia ridge, and the Presidential range.

Try hiking the Carter-Moriah range, or some of the trailheads off the Kancamagus (Rte. 112), or the trailheads off of Rte 113.

Except for Moosilauke itself, the AT south of Rte. 93 is relatively uncrowded.

The peaks and trails south of the Kancamagus are good hiking.

Also: the AT north of Gorham... very rugged, but loses most of the Boston area weekenders.

Or check out the Grafton Loop in southern ME.

Grau
04-13-2017, 00:06
Bring edibles with you and pass them around. Mellow crowd.

peakbagger
04-13-2017, 06:21
Avoid any trails that are the fastest way up a 4K, most traffic is dayhikers bagging 4Ks,

Drive an extra hour, Evans Notch, the Wild River area and the Kilkennys (except for cabot) don't get lot of use because most folks don't want to drive the extra hour

Consider alternative trail systems like the Shelburne Trails and the RMC trails

Get up early, The vast majority of hikers shoot to hit the summit around noon, They don't get going very early in the AM, If you shoot to get to summit before 11 AM you usually have it to yourself. The wildlife is far more active in the AM before most folks are moving around.

Stick to the valleys for camping and avoid named campsites. The vast majority of the whites has the 200 foot rule, walk off the trail 200 feet and you can set up camp. Not so easy in the spruce fir/zones up high but get done lower and many areas have pretty open softwood and hardwood stands. There are some restricted use areas, but if you actually read the WMNF regulations there aren't a lot of them.

I just don't see a lot of overnight backpack use except for the AT. The wilderness areas aren't getting a lot of use unless its a route to a 4K. One exception is destination spots like 13 falls. One warning is the WMNF is really cutting back on marking trails in the wilderness areas, you need to crank up your route following skills. I have done several hikes in the last two years where I have gone hours without meeting anyone on lesser used trails in Wild River and the Great Gulf.

Consider splitting up your campsite from where you cook. Stop for supper, then hike an extra hour or two before stepping off the trail and setting up your tent.

Consider the Coos Trail, the hassle is you need two cars as there really isn't a shuttle infrastructure in place.

At one point long ago the WMNF was developing trails for long distance backpacking, the Kilkenny Ridge Trail was one of them and realistically except for the Cabot Loop it doesn't get much use. Note Unknown Pond is a "destination spot" so plan to skip it as it can get crowded. If you want to camp by pond that gets little use, Pond of Safety tends to be ignored.

Bushwhacking with a backpack can be challenge, everything needs to be inside the pack with all zippers and straps closed and snug. Learn to use Google Earth and try to stick to mature hardwoods, plan on a mile an hour.

MamaBear
04-13-2017, 07:33
Try the Monnadnock Sunapee Greenway. You'll still have the car spot issue if you do the whole thing, but it is uncrowded except at the two ends (Monadnock and Sunapee themselves). Last year in July, I only saw 8 backpackers in 3 days, and had both shelters to myself for the two nights I was on trail. I saw no hikers of any kind for almost 24 hours once I left Monadnock. In July, in NH, if you can imagine that!!!!

rafe
04-13-2017, 07:59
+1 on the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway Trail, though it is a very different experience from the White Mountains. We met maybe five other hikers over the entire length of trail.

Ditto for the Wapac Trail and for that matter, the MA Mid-State Trail.

Zea
04-17-2017, 17:45
Avoid any trails that are the fastest way up a 4K, most traffic is dayhikers bagging 4Ks,

Drive an extra hour, Evans Notch, the Wild River area and the Kilkennys (except for cabot) don't get lot of use because most folks don't want to drive the extra hour

Consider alternative trail systems like the Shelburne Trails and the RMC trails

Get up early, The vast majority of hikers shoot to hit the summit around noon, They don't get going very early in the AM, If you shoot to get to summit before 11 AM you usually have it to yourself. The wildlife is far more active in the AM before most folks are moving around.

Stick to the valleys for camping and avoid named campsites. The vast majority of the whites has the 200 foot rule, walk off the trail 200 feet and you can set up camp. Not so easy in the spruce fir/zones up high but get done lower and many areas have pretty open softwood and hardwood stands. There are some restricted use areas, but if you actually read the WMNF regulations there aren't a lot of them.

I just don't see a lot of overnight backpack use except for the AT. The wilderness areas aren't getting a lot of use unless its a route to a 4K. One exception is destination spots like 13 falls. One warning is the WMNF is really cutting back on marking trails in the wilderness areas, you need to crank up your route following skills. I have done several hikes in the last two years where I have gone hours without meeting anyone on lesser used trails in Wild River and the Great Gulf.

Consider splitting up your campsite from where you cook. Stop for supper, then hike an extra hour or two before stepping off the trail and setting up your tent.

Consider the Coos Trail, the hassle is you need two cars as there really isn't a shuttle infrastructure in place.

At one point long ago the WMNF was developing trails for long distance backpacking, the Kilkenny Ridge Trail was one of them and realistically except for the Cabot Loop it doesn't get much use. Note Unknown Pond is a "destination spot" so plan to skip it as it can get crowded. If you want to camp by pond that gets little use, Pond of Safety tends to be ignored.

Bushwhacking with a backpack can be challenge, everything needs to be inside the pack with all zippers and straps closed and snug. Learn to use Google Earth and try to stick to mature hardwoods, plan on a mile an hour.

Wow, lots of great advice!

Thanks for the tip on RMC/Pond of Safety, my map only shows a very small section of the paths in Randolph and I've always been intrigued. Just purchased a map for the area, sounds right up my alley :)

Also good point in avoiding routes to 4k's. Did a Pemi Loop as a day hike last year on a weekday and saw a lot of tents on Bondcliff trail and Lincoln Woods, none even close to 200ft from the trail unfortunately. I figured we wouldn't see anyone until we got past Guyot since its a pretty remote trail. I guess since it's a gateway to some 4ks that makes it desirable.

Definitely will check out the Monnadnock/Sunapee trail, first time hearing of it and it sounds pretty cool

OkeefenokeeJoe
04-17-2017, 21:55
and felt the need to have country music playing.

I would a million times prefer to listen to country music than the endless guttural crooning of a hair-bunned snowflake millennial guitar strummer, strum strum strumming all hours of the night. Do those people EVER shut-the-hell-up?

More to your point, though ..... I, too, detest crowds and avoid them like the plague. I find most of the people on the trail this time of the year have no business being out in the wilderness. Most appear, to me, to be clumsy urbanites who stand out like a fish out of water, and are there only to fulfill some romantic notion "finding" themselves rather than for the simple love of the outdoors. Give me isolation any day.

OkeefenokeeJoe

rafe
04-17-2017, 22:11
Give me isolation any day.


It's all yours, for the taking. Especially with your attitude. :rolleyes: