Dang, the parks are crowded

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oleander
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Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by oleander »

On Saturday, jumped in the car with my housemate for a hike in the woods.

Park # 1 - Little-known gem of a place that usually has no more than 4 cars in the lot even on a weekend. Today, at least 25 cars, most parked up & down the road. Nix this one. Too much singletrack, no way to keep social distance.

Park #2 - Same

Park #3 - Worse

We ended up parking in a nice neighborhood in the hills and just wandering along whatever quiet streets we found. Plenty of trees, green, wildflowers, birds, grand views...And hardly a soul. Just an occasional person out walking their dog.

So the pretty neighborhoods will be our plan as long as everyone else has decided to spread the virus in the parks.

- Oleander
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by bobby49 »

"Just an occasional person out walking their dog."

I've never seen so many healthy looking dog walkers as now.
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by c9h13no3 »

Yeah, my wife and I went to Point Reyes Saturday, and it totally justifies the closure. The park was crowded, with throngs of people roaming the beach in big groups. "Maybe all ten of them are room mates?" was the only defense we could muster.

When my wife isn't cajoling me to go places like Point Reyes, I generally pick off the beaten path places to go right now. I'm using this as an opportunity to give those hidden gems some run. On Thursday, my wife and I went to the Whitehouse Canyon trailhead into Big Basin, and did a lovely hike. No cars at the trailhead, no people on the trails. Skied Signal Peak today, only people I saw were some PG&E workers at the trailhead on the way back.

Find that off the beaten path spot to access the outdoors. If you're adding to the crowds, they'll start taking those spots away too.
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by SSSdave »

c9h13no3 wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:51 pm Yeah, my wife and I went to Point Reyes Saturday, and it totally justifies the closure. The park was crowded, with throngs of people roaming the beach in big groups. "Maybe all ten of them are room mates?" was the only defense we could muster.

When my wife isn't cajoling me to go places like Point Reyes, I generally pick off the beaten path places to go right now. I'm using this as an opportunity to give those hidden gems some run. On Thursday, my wife and I went to the Whitehouse Canyon trailhead into Big Basin, and did a lovely hike. No cars at the trailhead, no people on the trails. Skied Signal Peak today, only people I saw were some PG&E workers at the trailhead on the way back.

Find that off the beaten path spot to access the outdoors. If you're adding to the crowds, they'll start taking those spots away too.


Totally agree and do same, well done. An outdoor enthusiast has to be quite hard core to ever visit Whitehouse Canyon. At this time of year you probably saw a lot of California newts on the lower section of that trail and blooming redwood sorrel and trillium.

There are fair numbers of other obscure places but I won't mention them herein because the majority of people just visit social media word of mouth locations as happens year after year. That really was apparent during the recent superblooms springs down in our Southern California deserts where huge crowds made national news while I just laughed at how they were so concentrated in a few publicized places. Much can be figured out with usual local regional guidebooks, topo maps, and public lands maps, especially if one has AWD/4WD to drive on dirt roads that scare the krap out of average persons.
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c9h13no3
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by c9h13no3 »

SSSdave wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:35 amAt this time of year you probably saw a lot of California newts on the lower section of that trail and blooming redwood sorrel and trillium.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3199244275

The road there was in great shape, took my e-Golf there with no issues.
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Ikan Mas
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by Ikan Mas »

East Bay Regional Parks is looking to close down their parks and trails. Totally justified. Someone sent me a video of the Iron Horse Corridor and it was overrun this weekend.Certain people aren't getting the message.
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by c9h13no3 »

Ikan Mas wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 4:40 pm East Bay Regional Parks is looking to close down their parks and trails. Totally justified. Someone sent me a video of the Iron Horse Corridor and it was overrun this weekend.Certain people aren't getting the message.
I know most of them have had a "soft" closure. The parking lot is closed, but the trails are open. Friend of mine reported the same at Del Valle this weekend. It's the crowds they want to limit. As long as you're not contributing to a crowd, no one is going to care if you're out walking through the countryside.
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by wildhiker »

California state parks just announced today that they are closing the parking lots at basically all Marin County state parks, many Sonoma County state parks, all San Mateo County state beach parks and many southern California beach parks in order to limit crowds. See https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=30355
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by balzaccom »

This posted yesterday from the San Mateo Country Health Officer:

"As I write this, I am both immensely grateful and exceedingly disappointed. We are in a grave crisis. I believe the virus is growing at an exponential rate in our county. Unless everyone does their part and follows the County’s Shelter-in-Place order and the Governor’s Safer at Home order, we will be facing an Italy-type catastrophe very soon. These orders are not recommendations, they are rules to be followed. My disappointment stems from the fact that many people just aren’t taking this seriously and going about their business as if nothing has changed. Our world has profoundly changed in an instant. It is now up to you all, the community, to decide what you want your future to be. If you decide you want to do your own thing and follow your own rules, you disrespect us all. You spit in our face, and you will contribute to the death toll that will follow. For those of you who say: “nobody tells me what to do,” now is a time to make an exception. You can go back to being ornery in the future."

And this:

"For families in different households, do not mix your households at this time. As hard as this is, do not gather in any way outside of immediate households. As for outdoor exercise, people certainly need to get out, but do this in your own immediate neighborhoods. Do not drive except to provide or obtain an essential service. Do not go into other neighborhoods for recreation. This increases the risk of virus spread. Always maintain social distance. Wash your hands frequently and follow all the other recommended actions."
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Re: Dang, the parks are crowded

Post by creekfeet »

balzaccom wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2020 6:33 am This posted yesterday from the San Mateo Country Health Officer:

"As I write this, I am both immensely grateful and exceedingly disappointed. We are in a grave crisis. I believe the virus is growing at an exponential rate in our county. Unless everyone does their part and follows the County’s Shelter-in-Place order and the Governor’s Safer at Home order, we will be facing an Italy-type catastrophe very soon. These orders are not recommendations, they are rules to be followed. My disappointment stems from the fact that many people just aren’t taking this seriously and going about their business as if nothing has changed. Our world has profoundly changed in an instant. It is now up to you all, the community, to decide what you want your future to be. If you decide you want to do your own thing and follow your own rules, you disrespect us all. You spit in our face, and you will contribute to the death toll that will follow. For those of you who say: “nobody tells me what to do,” now is a time to make an exception. You can go back to being ornery in the future."

And this:

"For families in different households, do not mix your households at this time. As hard as this is, do not gather in any way outside of immediate households. As for outdoor exercise, people certainly need to get out, but do this in your own immediate neighborhoods. Do not drive except to provide or obtain an essential service. Do not go into other neighborhoods for recreation. This increases the risk of virus spread. Always maintain social distance. Wash your hands frequently and follow all the other recommended actions."
As a resident of San Mateo County, I couldn't agree more! The mainstream trails have been an absolute zoo, more crowded than I've ever seen them before, and they've been filled with the sorts of people that obviously don't get out on trails often. I've seen the whole gamut of stupidity like groups of 10+ people hiking together (dumb under normal circumstances), dogs off-leash, moms pushing strollers side by side, and a total lack of disregard for how trail right of ways go. My favorite such instance was having to come to a screeching halt on my bike because a couple refused to move off the trail. Upon stopping they excitedly told me there were a few rabbits in the bushes.

The beaches have probably been the worst of all. Even on a rainy day this past Sunday beaches were packed, and all the surfers were bundled up in tight little packs, which is completely unnecessary at beach breaks. I was really hoping a silver lining of the pandemic would be people naturally shaking their sheep-like mentality, but it ain't happening.
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