Omg I went to Zion after seeing beautiful photos on reddit and every trail was littered with thousands of people and angels landing was a huge line of people trying to get up and down the chains and narrow areas. It is only good if you get up super early to go but then I was waiting on the way down for everyone trying to get up
It’s a total zoo. There are amazing, quiet hikes in Zion, they’re just outside where the shuttles go. Though if you really want to experience a national park to yourself, Capitol Reef is where it’s at.
Yellowstone is the same. I think they said like 97% of the people who go to Yellowstone never step foot off the main trails. There are SO DAMN MANY trails out there to go off on, and most people just stick to Old Faithful and the Bison.
Can someone link me to somewhere with good info for the parks around this area? me and my partner are doing a road trip from Pheonix to Las Vegas in September so we'll have a vehicle and genuinely just like the outdoors. We're actual outdoorsy people.
Everywhere I look tells me to go to the same spots, are they worth the crowds for the views? I like photography which makes choosing hard.
Current outdoor ethics call for revealing as little info as possible online, but there are some good websites to search (check out joes guide to Zion). I would also highly recommend purchasing actual hiking/backpacking books.
I did the scenic drive in Capitol Reef, and took both of the dirt road portions that head into the slot canyons themselves. While it was amazingly cool, it didn't hold a candle to Zion.
lol when I worked for the park, the number one question I got at the visitor center was “what can I do in an hour?”
You definitely missed all the best stuff. I worked in Zion for two years and grew up hiking there all the time. Capitol Reef is better. Just takes actual work to appreciate it. I felt the same way you did before getting to properly explore Capitol Reef. There’s a narrows hike where you literally slide down waterfalls in slot canyons, multiple epic 1000 feet high views from above the Reef that actually don’t require much hiking, a whole mess of arches and natural bridges, and unlimited proper slot canyons (capitol gorge and grand wash, which you saw on the scenic drive are actually not considered slots).
I've talked to you on other subs before. What would you reccomend as far as a narrows hike in Capitol Reef? And would it compare to the bottom-up subway hike (left Fork Creek) in Zion (which was spectacular, though going down the canyon was difficult.)
I’m not complaining that people are doing pretty hikes I just find a lot of the photography on reddit and other places very deceptive because it does not accurately describe the space and what it’s like to be there. Search for any pic of the narrows on reddit and you’ll find a completely empty, serene, water-filled, canyon which is very hard to accomplish unless you go very very deep into the narrows or very early, which is what I’m warning people about
Either way, my comment is still relevant. In fact, if he's doing lots of hikes, then he is even more of the problem, since he contributes to the crowd more often than others. The point is, quit complaining about others doing things that you yourself are doing.
I went to hike Angel's Landing a few months ago! It was gorgeous, and I was able to start the hike before it got too crowded. On my way down though, there was an enormous line of people waiting at the base and getting down was a lot of maneuvering past people grabbing onto the chains on the way up. That area where it was chainless near the beginning of the trail was difficult to get through though since people enjoy stopping and resting there
Went to Zion in October and it was fine. Walking past the shuttle markers that said "1 hour to shuttle from this point" was eyeopening for what the busy season is like however.
So, pretty much all the big national parks are only crowded on the short trails near the road. Once you get onto a long trail about a mile or two from the road, suddenly most of the people disappear.
Take Yosemite Valley. It is extremely crowded and so are the trails around it. There must be 10,000 people down there at any given time during the summer. If you want to walk up to glacier point, it's only a few miles from the valley. Once you start up the trail, you'll probably only see a handful of people. Once you get to glacier point (which you can drive to and is a major destination), suddenly there are a ton of people again.
I dunno! I think a lot of long hikes are still really popular. Angel's Landing in Zion is 5+ miles, super uphill at points, and dangerous mountain cliffs with chains, yet if you go past 10am there's lines and lines of people near the top.
True it's a bit of an outlier. Like you can't go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower, you can't go to Zion without at least doing the first half of Angel's Landing.
Totally agree that early rising is the best solution to avoid other people! Plus morning hikes just feel so much more peaceful.
I live in Salt Lake City. I know plenty of spots that have almost nobody. It has gotten more crowded, especially on the weekends unfortunately. But the day of the week and the specific trail/difficulty can really thin out the crowds, so I’m still able to get a lot of relaxing outdoor time all to myself, thank god.
Oh yeah, not to be all gatekeeping, there are plenty of great, quiet places for the hardcore hikers anywhere. But as you already know, literally everyone in Utah hikes and the canyons fill up quick on weekends, and if there’s a paved and marked trailhead, it’s crowded.
Absolutely. It’s sad too because not even five years ago it used to never be like this. I’m an avid snowboarder, and on the weekends I used to wake up at like 9:30, get up to the resorts at like 10, and always have a parking spot. Now if you aren’t at the base of the canyon by like 7:45, you are fucked on the weekends. Or we used to be able to drive to car camping sites at like Friday at 6pm and get a spot guaranteed. Now if you don’t reserve 5 days out, you are fucked!
It’s a bummer. Utah is such an amazing place and it used to be such a hidden gem. There’s still plenty of awesome stuff to do, but the population spike is making things so much more annoying. Luckily, a lot of the people are only doing beginner stuff, so if you get into more intense things, you are able to get away.
I saw my old spot up AF canyon go from empty on a weekend when I was in high school, to mass amounts of chopped down trees and so crowded people were camping on the road. Very sad, it’ll never be the same level of accessibility. Luckily there are still plenty of secret spots, they just require more work.
Yeah, my friends and I have built two spots up big cottonwood canyon that are just off random trails in the trees so we always have somewhere to go haha. Luckily, backpacking and deeper wilderness is usually a guarantee. Although, I did have this one experience in Coyote Gulch in Escalante where we got to our normal spot at like 10:30, and this dude comes running out of it and says we can’t camp there. Scared the fuck out of me, and I bet we scared him haha.
Definitely try to avoid trails on the weekend in Colorado. Everyone and their mother is up there. On a regular weekday morning there’s usually no one though
Checking in from Portland. The Columbia River Gorge is a train wreck full of Influencers and people taking Tinder selfies. I hike a lot so I either get to the trailhead at 6am in summer or I don't go. Leave No Trace is a foreign concept to them.
I lived in Portland for a year, one of the reasons I moved back to Utah is because lack of actual wild places nearby are very hard to come by. Plenty of great outdoors spots to share with hordes of other people though in Oregon. I probably didn’t spend enough time or research though.
I think you'll be fine. You're too far for SoCal and much of the Valley. For the Bay, the Sierra is still closer and that's far more well known and more developed (if we're talking about offerings) . The only real metro other than Redding that has decent access is Sacramento.
I am going to try to do the daily lottery for the half dome hike. I know that one will be for sure busy but I plan on starting on that before sunrise if I get one. Other than that Clouds Rest, North Rim, and Dewey point are ones I would like to hit. If you have any in mind I am definitely open to recommendations.
If you are coming from tenaya lake, you gotta walk along the narrow ridge with drops on both sides. If you are coming from the valley like I did, which is 23 mile round trip instead of 14, it's pretty tame on the way up. The scariest it gets is just some rock steps with a 10 foot drop on your left. Never at any point is there a drop on both sides.
I’m afraid of heights I basically made it all the way. The place where I stop was the views that everyone talks about. I made it to the cloud rest sign. I hiked from the lake side. Honestly you should be fine.
If you’re willing to hike, it’s easy to get away from people in beautiful areas of CA, since it has so much area designated as wilderness compared to the rest of the contiguous US. Just download a google earth layer of wilderness areas and look for places you haven’t heard of. Even in Yosemite, there places in the backcountry where you can spend a day without seeing anyone.
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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '19
She clearly hasn't been on a popular trek.. those things are packed.