Less People Hiking?

[hitthePeak]

I hope the poor girl will be found. That's why I'm afraid hiking by myself. Sometimes, it's really better to be hiking in a group so if something happened atleast someone can ask for help.

 

[Rhody Seth]

I hope the poor girl will be found. That's why I'm afraid hiking by myself. Sometimes, it's really better to be hiking in a group so if something happened atleast someone can ask for help.

If you are talking about Emily, yes they found her body a few days later.

 

[hitthePeak]

That's good to hear. Thanks for the info.

 

[peakbagger]

I did the Franconia Ridge Loop today. For near perfect April conditions, there were very few people out. Definitely a drop from this time of year to the previous springs.

 

[JoshandBaron]

I did the Franconia Ridge Loop today. For near perfect April conditions, there were very few people out. Definitely a drop from this time of year to the previous springs.

Vacation these next two weeks might have something to say about that.

 

[peakbagger]

I ran into Hiker Ed on Franconia Ridge yesterday and he also agrees that he is seeing less people on the trail.

My guess is a lot of folks working from home were taking days off during the week to hike and as people are heading back to the office, they have less flexibility?

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

I ran into Hiker Ed on Franconia Ridge yesterday and he also agrees that he is seeing less people on the trail.

My guess is a lot of folks working from home were taking days off during the week to hike and as people are heading back to the office, they have less flexibility?

Fewer people.

Also, first litter carry out of year was on Chocorua this week. Our SAR team had 45 missions last year; hoping for fewer this year.

 

[peakbagger]

Must just be luck, I saw several folks on the loop without traction despite it being potentially very slippery conditions.

 

[Rhody Seth]

I did the Franconia Ridge Loop today. For near perfect April conditions, there were very few people out. Definitely a drop from this time of year to the previous springs.

Took my daughter up to North Conway for a few nights last week as Rhode Island was on school vacation. It was about as dead as it gets. We stayed at Fox Ridge Resort on the strip - $50 a night! We did touristy stuff I routinely avoid due to crowds - 5 PM dinner at Moat Mountain and a quiet hike up to Diana's Baths. I'm sure it all depends on what school vacations line up when but it was an unexpectedly chill experience up there.

 

[rocket21]

Still seemed like a good number of folks out on Saturday. Appalachia full at around 7:30, Cog very busy, and lots of folks traversing with July packs/gear, despite deep snowpack below treeline. Fortunately weather and luck held, or else we'd be reading about some of them.

 

[NHClimber]

1000 cars at Tucks on Saturday. Didn’t seem to be any let up there. But I would expect for many reasons - back to office, more travel abroad - there will be fewer folks on the trails. Works for me.

 

[skiguy]

You can use Google Trends to look at how popular hiking related searched are over time.

The graph below reviews search trends for "Franconia Ridge" over that last 5 year:
- Winter 22-23 looks to be roughly 1/2 as many searches as Winter 21-22, about the same as Winter 19-20.
- Summer '22, appears to be (30%?) more the Summer '21, but a lot less then the first Covid summer, Summer '20

View attachment 7019

I'm no statistician although this is a great looking graph. But it is only a subjective extrapolation that google searches directly relate to actual hiking numbers.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

I'm no statistician although this is a great looking graph. But it is only a subjective extrapolation that google searches directly relate to actual hiking numbers.

I am not a statistician either, but I work with them. The statisticians that work with me on paleoclimate data would call the above attached graph an objective correlation (note, not necessarily causation) rather than a subjective extrapolation. The statistical term extrapolation would apply to projecting a trend in the graphed data into the future. The statistical term interpolation would apply to filling in missing data within the graph, not needed here. In any case, a very cool correlation and worthy of further hypothesis testing for causation, I think. I am hoping that Kimball will update this graph each year going forward.

 

[skiguy]

I am not a statistician either, but I work with them. The statisticians that work with me on paleoclimate data would call the above attached graph an objective correlation (note, not necessarily causation) rather than a subjective extrapolation. The statistical term extrapolation would apply to projecting a trend in the graphed data into the future. The statistical term interpolation would apply to filling in missing data within the graph, not needed here. In any case, a very cool correlation and worthy of further hypothesis testing for causation, I think. I am hoping that Kimball will update this graph each year going forward.

Well explained. Good to have a professor around. Is it possible to directly correlate paleo climate data statistically to psychosocial data? Objective interpretation is somewhat questionable but possible. Always some voodoo going on when it comes to summizing statistical data. Just being the devils advocate but I was always taught to question raw data when it was crunched when it could be possibly subjectively interpreted. I only actually passed statistics in College and only because it was required for my degree. Thanks for the input.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Well explained. Good to have a professor around. Is it possible to directly correlate paleo climate data statistically to psychosocial data? Objective interpretation is somewhat questionable but possible. Always some voodoo going on when it comes to summizing statistical data. Just being the devils advocate but I was always taught to question raw data when it was crunched when it could be possibly subjectively interpreted. I only actually passied statistics in College and only because it was required for my degree. Thanks for the input.

Funny that you mention psychosocial with paleoclimate data, as there is indeed an entire area of scientific research related to psychological impacts on people by global warming (aka, climate change).

There was a time when one‘s mention of paleoclimate on this board could get one suspended. Ask me why I know that.

 

[skiguy]

Funny that you mention psychosocial with paleoclimate data, as there is indeed an entire area of scientific research related to psychological impacts on people by global warming (aka, climate change).

There was a time when one‘s mention of paleoclimate on this board could get one suspended. Ask me why I know that.

That is what potentially happens when politics gets mixed with artificial intelligence.

 

[skiguy]

Holiday weekend no brainer coupled with a beautiful day The WMNF Volunteers group on FB reported that the OBP/FW trailhead parking lot was full at 7:15 AM. Also reporting that as of 12:00 noon they had spoken with over 300 hikers headed in.

 

[peakbagger]

The RT 2 trailheads were all quite busy today, the Pine Link lot on Pinkham B road was full with cars parked along the road. That is surprising as the section between the upper Howk and treeline usually has deep snow until early summer.

BTW, the Cross NH Adventure trail lots along RT2 also have a big increase in usage. The lot at Pinkham B and the new lot dedicated to it in Gorham both had a big increase in cars.

 

[Bernerbabe]

Ferncroft on Saturday

 

[JoshandBaron]

No one on the Wapack