Bushwacked
Member
Usually this is packed with trail info. Only seeing two threads in addition to Darren's stickies. My browser or actually no activity there?
Thanks.
Thanks.
No Treads on NE Trail Conditions - NH
- Thread starter Bushwacked
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richard
Member
Mine works fine
nartreb
Well-known member
I see what Bushwhacked sees: Two posts in New Hampshire (three temporarily, since I made one as a test and then deleted it), no [recent] posts at all in the other Trail Conditions sections (not counting the two sticky posts copied in all of them).
Old threads are still there, you can change the settings to show older posts (default is one month IIRC).
Posting works just fine, so there's nothing wrong with the site. Either some data got deleted (though I think I'd have noticed) or there's been very low activity. Not completely unexpected this time of year, between holidays and tough weather.
Old threads are still there, you can change the settings to show older posts (default is one month IIRC).
Posting works just fine, so there's nothing wrong with the site. Either some data got deleted (though I think I'd have noticed) or there's been very low activity. Not completely unexpected this time of year, between holidays and tough weather.
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peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
I drove by Appalachia, Lowes, Bowman and Waumbek trailhead Sunday morning. Appalachia was drifted in, One car that looked like it may be hiker in Lowes, nothing at Bowman and no one in the Waumbek winter lot or down across from the church. When I came back it was -12 F and I saw one group at the parking down near the store for Waumbek. I just expect the reason for lack of reports was the downright poor weather.
richard
Member
I just checked and there are quite a few reports all of this week so far.
There a few reasons why the trail conditions are diminished.
First, overall participation in VFTT and other vBulletin board systems is down
Second, there are far better places than a generic text box to enter trail conditions
Third, with condition aggregators (http://trailsnh.com), you can get all the blogs and other sites in one place
Fourth, I was tired of deleting 20-30 spam messages a day because of open posting and I added a captcha to keep out the automated spam bots, which likely made it less pleasant to enter posts for anonymous posters (members still post without the captcha).
Tim
First, overall participation in VFTT and other vBulletin board systems is down
Second, there are far better places than a generic text box to enter trail conditions
Third, with condition aggregators (http://trailsnh.com), you can get all the blogs and other sites in one place
Fourth, I was tired of deleting 20-30 spam messages a day because of open posting and I added a captcha to keep out the automated spam bots, which likely made it less pleasant to enter posts for anonymous posters (members still post without the captcha).
Tim
nartreb
Well-known member
I think I know what's causing confusion. You're looking at newenglandtrailconditions.com/nh/ , right?
"Bushwhacked" is talking about VFTT's own trail conditions section http://www.vftt.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?12-Northeast-Trail-Conditions where there's been nothing since December.
richard
Member
You’re right. My mistake.
Kimball
Member
Usually packed? Years ago it was, but http://www.vftt.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?12-Northeast-Trail-Conditions forums has been getting slower for a while.
newenglandtrailconditions.com still has lots of posts, but that too is slowing down.
TrailsNH found only 461 trip reports in the last 30 days. I would expect that number to be more like 600 or 700. I've seen it over 800, but not in a year or more.
Why? I think it's social media. Mostly Facebook but also Instrgram. Lots of people are posting photos from their hikes with few to no details. Lots of others seem to prefer asking on Facebook "hey, what are the conditions on X". Even though they are likely to get harassed when they do.
More people are hiking than ever, but they are a new breed with different expectations.
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richard
Member
I’ve been using NETC since I started hiking 4 yrs. ago, not only to get valueable information about trail conditions, but to post some helpful information from SOME of my own hikes. I hope they stay popular. I have noticed that quite a few blogs and other forums that I used to follow have disappeared or slowed way down in the past year or so. It’s too bad.
It's been cold, and I've skied a couple of times. I did Tecumseh last Sunday, but there were already a bunch of trail reports in that time, so I didn't feel compelled to add another. I still post almost all my trips here as I don't use Facebook and I already come here.
This sparks several questions from me (but please, don't feel obligated to answer them!)
1.) Are you noticing fewer viewers in addition to fewer posts?
2.) Are you noticing fewer posts in the Whites, or all regions?
3.) Is the average number of posts per using decreasing, or is the average number of unique posters going down? Or some combination of the two?
DayTrip
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NETC didn't have many reports either from the larger peaks, 4k's, etc. The horrible weather, especially on weekends, I think was the main culprit in the lack of info.
DayTrip
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As much as I like the format of NETC and the potential for good content, usable reports are few and far between now. Critical info like parking lot conditions, blowdowns, river crossings, etc are rarely covered in reports now. Several years ago this used to irritate me so I made it a point to post a very detailed trip report after all of my hikes (I used to get emails from time to time thanking me) but now that Facebook groups have gotten so enormous I don't know that anyone is relying on the points anymore. When you can just click through all the pictures and videos of someone's hikes in under a minute it provides a lot more information (well in theory anyway - many people's posts are just tales of what bad ***** they are "crushing the mountains", narcissitic photos of their butts, doing yoga poses on the summit and group pics more focused on showing everyone who was there, not what the hiking was like). To Kimball's point, there is a significantly new demographic involved in hiking now and their goals and expectations are indeed not the same.
I've often thought about starting a blog or website or closed Facebook group that just posted photos of road conditions, parking conditions and trail conditions. No comments, no stories. Just a description, date and time with picture and nothing else. A picture is worth a thousand words. But I'm not a tech guy and I'd have to rely on pics from reliable regulars to make any kind of worthwhile effort and it would probably take way more time than I envision. And at this point I'm not sure who would appreciate it anyway.
And at this point I don't think I want to know anymore. It's getting to the point where this no surprise or discovery factor to a hike. You can literally research the entire hike, watch video of it and know pretty much everything that is going to happen without leaving your recliner. I used to appreciate knowing about river crossings, etc when I was a beginner but now that I have some experience under my belt all I really care about is having a good experience for the day after my 3-4 hour drive up. I want to be sure I have a place to park when I get there without incident and I don't want to inadvertently pick a route that is a blow down nightmare and spoils the whole day. I'm lucky to get up there 2-3 times a month so I want to get the most out of the day when I do go. Beyond that I don't think I want the details anymore.
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richard
Member
When I think the weather is going to cause more problems & concerns to hike a 4K up north, I usually do something a little lesser & closer to home. They can also be posted on the trail conditions reports.
sierra
Well-known member
I rarely post TR's anywhere. I rarely read them as well. I'm not really interested in them to be honest. I know what the trends are in regards to the trails and conditions. I'd rather just go and see what I see. A couple points in regards to social media. Firstly, I find it curious that many seek so many details of a hike. Some of the questions can be about the smallest detail, I mean, zero sense of exploration or any sense of adventure. Secondly, many times questions on FB turn into a burning at the stake for the person asking. Funny thing about that is, the people lighting the stake are not that experienced at all. I once got in a heated back and forth with someone in a FB group I'm in, when at one point, I asked his level of experience. His reply, I just finished the 48 so I know what I'm talking about. Wow 48 mountains!! I then moved on quickly. I would say your getting experienced when your in the hundreds, at least. In regards to the low volume of reports, cold, storms and tough conditions. A good percentage of the hard core hikers out there, probably don't bother posting reports.
peakbagger
In Rembrance , July 2024
Trail reports used to be far more important when the trails were far less used in the winter. It used to be that it may take quite awhile before the more remote summits were broken out. I expect I helped break about 20% of my first round of 48s in the early 90s. Theses days I would bet all the major routes are broken out within a couple of days (assuming we have reasonable weather in the preceding days)
Kimball
Member
1) It's hard to say. Before the weird weather (flood damaged trails, then brutal cold) showed up, traffic was above last years numbers.
Snow pack has a lot to do with traffic too. You can see with Google Trends users searching for trail conditions can be down one winter and then up the next. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=NH%20Trail%20Conditions
2) My gut feel is the ADK reports are about normal, and the Whites are down quite a bit. When work is not straight out I'll run some reports and post the results.
3) I've never looked at the trends by user but that would be interesting. When I have time I will.
TwinMom+1
Member
I beg to differ on the importance of trail condition reports. Perhaps it's because I hike with my autistic sons, so I exercise extreme caution, wanting G2 on seemingly dumb issues that might make a difference to our success.But I always check NETC first. Certainly with the latest high waters and freeze/thaw cycle I appreciate a heads-up on things even more. Often posts are idea starters for trails I may not have considered. I always think of posting a TR as good stewardship to the hiking community and try to do so unless there's a rash of others before me saying the same thing.
Yeah the FB groups are often filled with braggarts having little real knowledge etc. I try to overlook that and get what I want from skimming them, if only to know a trail is broken out in winter and perhaps a little easier. And paying it forward to the extent that I can.
Yeah the FB groups are often filled with braggarts having little real knowledge etc. I try to overlook that and get what I want from skimming them, if only to know a trail is broken out in winter and perhaps a little easier. And paying it forward to the extent that I can.
Interesting - and thanks for your thoughts and effort on this. The link to Google trends was really interesting. I added a few terms, and interestingly, "Trails NH" (with a space) has a lot more hits, but almost the opposite timing. I wonder if that's caused more by tourists than by regionally avid hikers. I.E., is there a disconnect between people looking for a hike, but not being aware they can find condition reports? Of course, I suspect that for most people, Googling 'Trails NH' will bring up your website as the first listing (if not the first several). I'm wondering if you named it according to Google trends, or if people are googling intentionally to find your site.
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