Vent: The difference in my favorite trail after just 2 seasons

I hiked the Lost Lake loop near Bend 2 years ago and it was this quiet, mossy path with barely any footprints. Came back last week and it's all widened out, muddy ruts everywhere from mountain bikes cutting through. The ranger said they saw a 40% jump in traffic after some influencer posted a video. Has anyone else seen a nice trail get trashed that fast?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim.emma25d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, the "ranger said they saw a 40% jump in traffic" part is rough. That kind of spike from one video just takes a quiet spot and turns it into something unrecognizable. Once the word gets out, it's hard to ever get that feeling back.

james66124d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, @kim.emma, you nailed it. I had the same thing happen with a little swimming hole me and my buddies used to go to after work. Some travel blogger put out a video calling it a "hidden gem" and within a year you couldn't even find parking on a weekday. Now there's trash everywhere and the place just feels different. It's a real shame because once that quiet gets lost you can't ever get it back. That 40% jump sounds about right honestly, these places just can't handle that kind of attention all at once.