Has the Outdoors Seemed More Crowded This Summer?

On a challenging Black Diamond trail in Monmouth County - Photo via Flickr

Though hiking and camping have been showing increased popularity in the past decade, there has been a big jump in the past three summers.

An article at outsideonline.com made this personal observation.

In 2013, I hiked to one of the most beautiful places in the world: a glowing turquoise lake cradled by alpine tundra and framed by 13,000-foot peaks. It was a clear fall day, and I didn’t see another person on the entire 3.5-mile Ice Lakes Trail, in southwest Colorado.

I was so enchanted that I returned the following year, and the year after, and every year after that. Each time I saw more and more people as I huffed up the steep switchbacks to Ice Lake, one of two high-altitude lakes accessed by the trail. By 2019, 125 to 250 hikers a day were tackling the trek on busy weekends. A year later, even that figure seemed low. As hiking emerged as one of the few safe activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, 400 to 600 people a day came to the Ice Lakes Trailhead—every day of the week, all season long.

Trails around the country, including New Jersey, have seen increased use. I know two couples who drove cross-country this summer and tried to visit some national parks. They told me the crowds were big and without reservations there was no way they were camping or even getting into a few of them. Some national parks' visitation numbers almost doubled from 2019 to 2020. That was pre-pandemic. 

People might have stayed home in 2020 but the pent-up desire to hit the road and get outside has hit hard this summer. Last year, I saw increases in our local parks and trails with people wanting to out of the house.

A study commissioned by the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), showed that 8.1 million new hikers hit the trails in the United States in the same time period.

What have you observed about numbers in your local outdoor places lately?