Testing the limits
Hiker restrictions may come sooner than expected to the Adirondack High Peaks.
In a sense, the coronavirus pandemic has led New York to start imposing restrictions already. New parking limits in place this summer at the Adirondack Mountain Reserve could be a soft opening for further restrictions to manage crowds there and elsewhere.
A state advisory group is considering more, including hiker permits or other measures in future years.
“COVID may end up being the most effective thing for limiting public use in the High Peaks for the last couple of decades,” said Peter Bauer, of Protect the Adirondacks. “It certainly has forced the state into taking a series of actions that it has been slow to take heretofore.”
The parking restrictions are one part of the High Peaks Strategic Advisory Group’s plan for managing visitors. The state-appointed volunteers have deliberated in closed meetings this year to propose methods of managing hikers on the Adirondack Park’s most popular trails. They considered about 70 emailed comments before this report, and continue to accept comments.
Their task is to ameliorate the effects of tourism in the busiest part of a park that sees more than one visitor for each of its roughly 6 million acres each year.
More than 12 million people visited the Adirondacks in 2017, according to the Adirondack Council. Counting how many hike the High Peaks trails has been a challenge. The Council’s analysis of trailhead registers suggests massive growth since the 1970s. Ausable Club trail registers, for example,
