1000 hikers on a beautiful day at Ptarmigan Ridge
On our drive up to the parking lot we saw two people riding (on their stomachs) skateboards on the way down. I hope they survived.
We arrived at the Artist Point parking lot around 10:30 to find a completely full lot, as well as cars parked along the road and in the lower parking lot. We parked there, walked up to the pit toilets to find a 30-minute wait for the women’s. Since the men’s was empty, that’s where I headed. We then started hiking the ridge trail to find various hikers wanting to know which trail to take.
We headed down the trail, but were interrupted by two young women who inquired about parking tickets. We told them it would be a good idea to pay for parking. Later we saw them and they told us they had in fact gotten the parking tickets and hoped their note on the dashboard would suffice.
As we walked the trail, we had to stop about every 2 minutes to let other hikers pass us by. This happened all day. Our hike would have been reduced by about one hour if we hadn’t had to stop every 2 minutes to let 10 hikers pass us by, either going up or down.
The weather was perfect. We hiked in shorts and shirtsleeves.
This was my 5th Ptarmigan Ridge hike. I was shocked at the number of hikers, but I am pleased to say that there was very little trash along the trail.
We saw several groups of hikers with skis. We discovered later that they had skied the snow patches along the trail. Good for them, but I’m not sure carrying skis up that trail was worth the scant snow.
We encountered one couple who wanted to know how far it was to the “lake”. I told them there was no lake, and what lake were they wanting to go to. Turns out it was the Chain Lakes which they had missed by about one mile. I showed them where to find the lakes.
Comments
All I can say is O.M.G. to all those people!!! You are braver than me! And the skateboarders! 😱
There is actually a lake toward the very end of the Ptarmigan Ridge trail, Goat Lake, that you can see from the regular trail and just have to take about a 1/4 mile alternative trail to reach. It is absolutely stunning and totally worth it if you ever get the chance to go that far. I think on my TR from last year's hike I have pics of it. But those folks may have been referring to Chain Lakes too. You never know. Way to go for tolerating that madness. 🙌
Posted by:
PiperMarmalade on Oct 02, 2023 07:52 AM
It was an elderly couple who inquired about the lake. They were looking for Chain Lakes. Yes, I know about Goat Lake and tried to hike down to it once, but the upper 500 yards was too much of a scramble.
Posted by:
margo on Oct 02, 2023 08:58 AM
That is just madness. You are way more patient than me. This summer I really was hit with "trail social fatigue" or "outdoor overcrowd syndrome" and I just can't make myself do many of the trails that I normally would do.
Posted by:
BlueGoat on Oct 02, 2023 09:01 AM
I did the chain lakes loop on Saturday and had a similar experience with crowds. Sunday I hiked up to the summit of Table Mountain. On the way up we saw less than a handful of other hikers. On the way down there were maybe 15 or 20 other groups. It felt much more like a wilderness experience! We learned that it was a long weekend for Canadians and perhaps that was part of the reason for the mobs. Thank you to WTA for your efforts to promote less popular trails.
Posted by:
Debbie on Oct 02, 2023 06:50 PM
Thanks for your comment. I will no longer hike Snow Lake (off I90) nor Ingalls Lake. Well maybe mid week I might. I've noticed that trails requiring a 7+mile drive on dirt roads tend to have fewer hikers but even Goat lake off the Mountain Loop highway had an overflow parking lot on a weekend.
Posted by:
margo on Oct 03, 2023 09:35 AM
Thanks for this trail report!
Do you feel like the trail got less busy as you were finishing up (were there less cars at the parking lot)?
Posted by:
ermahgerd_herks on Oct 03, 2023 08:14 AM
In fact, I think the lot was fuller at the end of the day; cars were parked wherever there was enough asphalt for the car. I am always amazed at people who will start a long hike after 2:00 pm. I think the trail may have been just as busy at 2:00 as it was at 10:30 when we started.
Posted by:
margo on Oct 03, 2023 09:32 AM
Well shoot...I was hoping maybe a later start will help with the busyness! Thanks for the info!
Posted by:
ermahgerd_herks on Oct 03, 2023 09:41 AM
Nice! It makes me happy to see so many people out enjoying the Great Outdoors!
(at the same place...at the same time...)
Posted by:
mato on Oct 03, 2023 07:31 PM