The ADK High Peaks are just too darned popular, that's all...
I think the reason that so many rules and regs are necessary in the ADK High Peaks is because the area is so popular. And why is it so popular? Because it's spectacular and it's fairly close to major urban centers. That means the area sees a lot of inexperienced visitors. So it stands to reason that without rules and regs, these inexperienced visitors, with no ill intentions but out of ignorance, would likely do great damage to the place (and possibly themselves!) unless guided to do the right thing by the rules 'n regs.
Let me put it this way -- I was hiking up Plateau in the Catskills on the last day of spring. The trail was pretty nasty all the way up to the summit ridge, covered in postholes, rutted, slippery, icy... you name it. There was a group of twelve young folks from Staten Island going up at the same time. When the snow got deep enough I pulled out my snowshoes, prompting a couple members of the group to comment what a great idea they looked like.
When I got past the big pay-off lookout destination (Orchard Ledge and Danny's Lookout), the trail turned into a single pair of snowshoe tracks. I put on my snowshoes and had a fantastic walk in the soft, white snow under the gnarled yellow birches and red spruce. It was beautiful.
Unfortunately, on my way back I found that the S.I. 12 had followed me. They completely obliterated the trail, leaving two-foot deep holes and ruts everywhere. Now understand, the forest gets pretty thick up there, and it was rarely possible to simply walk around the mess. So I staggered and stumbled through what had been a blissful walk only a couple of hours before.
When I passed one of the girls near the back of the group looking totally exasperated at how much work it was to stumble through the snow, she commented that she really wanted to get a pair of snowshoes and asked me how much they cost.
Now, I'm pretty much a hiking newbie, and I've only started winter hiking this year, so I don't feel like I can lay an expert trip on anybody. But I know I had a better hike than those folks did, and I suspect that at least some of the folks in that group will be shopping for snowshoes on Ebay...
My point is that it's probably inexperience/ignorance that causes so many people to hit the ADK High Peaks trails in the dead of winter with no snowshoes to help them along. If they actually tried snowshoes they'd want a pair. Even a cheapy pair will work well enough to hike the valley trails, and certainly will make winter hiking more fun than sinking knee-deep into the snow.
So the regulations are pointing inexperienced hikers in the right direction, for their own safety and better enjoyment of a resource that needs protecting from overuse by those same inexperienced hikers.
Am I right? Or no...?
