Do "cool" route names cause crowding?

[Wandering Daisy]

I am finishing the last edits on the update of my guidbook (Wind Rivers) and believe it or not, one of the more difficult tasks is to name routes! I have decided to stay very generic and have the name simply reflect the names of the lakes or creeks that are featured. However the appeal of a "cool" name is quite enticing! I did give one route a "cool" catchy phrase name. I am allowed one discretion.

The recent post on the "Circle of Solitude" reminded me of route naming. Yes, it is a wonderful route. But it still bothers me that the "cool" name is funneling use to that route. There are many loops just as wonderful. The older more traditional guidbooks still use mostly generic route names. But with the internet, and yes, this forum, if you do a "cool name" route, there is an instant "wow" factor. Great for our egos; perhaps less great for the envorniment. It boils down to where you stand on impact -- encouraging backpackers to fewer areas and accepting (and building trails for) such greater impact; or, trying to disperse the use, thus saving the solitude for many "seceret" areas. Selfishly, I like the latter - all you guys- stay out of my secert places! But, the bigger picture, I wonder which is best. The guide-book writer in me leans towards letting the route speak for itself and not enticing backpackers with catchy or cool names. That is why I write a guidbook with 50 routes instead of putting up one route on the internet.

I am curious about how others feel about this subject.

[AlmostThere]

I know that naming a route makes it a huge draw -- it's shorthand for the bragging that happens after people go blister and bake and dehydrate themselves to do it. It's like immediate street cred -- you're a big bad@$$ backpacker if you did the John Muir Trail. You're given confused looks if you did 200 miles on trails the listener never heard of.

Nearly 30,000 people attempted to do the JMT last year, thankfully not all of them succeeded in getting permits. A little more than 3500 people did it in 2016. Far more than ever before. The internet had a lot to do with that. So did things like REI classes in how to hike the JMT.

[balzaccom]

I agree. I run a marketing and communications consulting agency, and so I can speak with a bit of expertise on this.

Not only do these names give trails an immediate note of recognition, but they also encourage writers and publications to focus on them.

Worst of all is if a writer calls the route "epic." Then it will be crowded for decades.

[wildhiker]

Isn't part of the allure of doing the named routes that there are only a few of them? Therefore they stand out? What if there were a hundred well described and marked "cool" named routes in the Sierra? Wouldn't that spread out the use? Or would it just invite more people from all over the world?
-Phil

[gary c.]

I think that naming one or two routes with cool names would be just fine. It could even be used as part of the title on the book to give it a little glamour. You can call it ego or just good marketing but the truth is that it couldn't hurt to have a little extra something to help promote your book. If someone were to ask about how to find the Wandering Daisy route? It's in her book of course.

[balzaccom]

But that wasn't the question, grin.

[AlmostThere]

I think WD is thinking as I do -- the wilderness is to be enjoyed but also preserved. Those of us who carry a heavy hoe and crosscut saw miles on trails to maintain them and instead end up dealing with trash, illegal campsites, fishing broken glass out of illegal campfire rings, and carrying even heavier loads because tourists looking to knock off something from their bucket list couldn't be bothered to take their trash out with them or pay attention to Leave No Trace -- we appreciate WD's concern, a lot.

[Wandering Daisy]

I am really not trying to "market" my book. It is just a hobby, albeit a lot of work for a hobby! LOL. At this point, the final editing, is anything but fun. Luckily all I need to do is break even; not in it for the money. I just want people who are already interested in the area to get some reliable information. I also purposely do not have any GPS tracks. I am absolutely against dot-to-dot hiking.

In my opinion, a named long route, out on the internet, with a GPS track, is a formula for trashing a nice route. I see that happening to the Sierra High Route. Although, the off-trail routes will never get as much traffic as the big named trail routes. Interesting thing is that when Roper wrote the book on the Sierra High Route, he never intended it to become a "big name route". That book has been out there for a LONG time and got very little use. His route is backed by 20 years of his own experience. It has only become more popular when someone put a GPS track out on the internet (not sure I am correct, but I believe they are selling this route GPS track). I would be interested in how Roper feels about all this. (not even sure if he is still around).

I just finished reading the book "Quiet" about introverts (vs. extroverts). Most of the book is aimed at the workplace. It struck me that the big popular "named routes" fit right in with the extrovert personality, whereas we obscure nook-and-cranny backpackers fit with the introvert personality. I think the coming of age of the internet and big named routes has drawn extroverts to an activity that historically was dominated by introverts. The extroverts bring with them their love of socializing on the trail and glowing in recognition. I really think they like crowded trails! And they are not into detailed researching to devise their own routes. Since our society encourages (and even defines as normal) extrovert behavior, I suspect the trend in big-name trail hiking will continue. We need to think about how to manage the impact. It is a new ballgame, and I think the regulators are really struggling with how to do this.

[AlmostThere]

I stopped posting all but the trip reports to very popular places because of this issue -- lakes I have mentioned in posts stopped being excellent fishing, and the trash around the lake increased exponentially. I don't know that my specific post did that, but the internet in general makes that kind of thing happen -- one post can be read by thousands, it increases exponentially with two or four or more posts.

Taking groups of people out can backfire too. There were a couple of off trail trips that I put on a meetup group -- I regret to say the use trail looks better maintained than the official trails in the area now, and instead of the once in a while trip I did there are several groups going to each place every year, and that is in a single hiking group -- no idea how many hiking groups each of those people belong to and spread the word to about these "neat" places.

I know that extroverts love the named thru hikes -- friends have said the best part of the JMT for them was having fun at Vermillion drinking with other thrus. They should have that opportunity, no quibbles with that, but do we really need to fill the wilderness with more named routes, when it's already going to have pipelines and other invasions through it in addition to the inholdings and easements already present? When is enough enough?

[markskor]

I think that just the exposure (whether named in your book or on the internet) of any new, cool, Sierra route...GPS data, great descriptions, passes crossed, fishing, etc... itself causes overcrowding... Easier than doing your own homework.
What the specific "route name" is - inconsequential.