FRANCONIA, NH – A New Hampshire state park is sharing how it plans to “accommodate anyone who wants to visit” after an image of leaf peepers packed together on a popular New Hampshire foliage track went viral.
The photo taken in Franconia showed a bottleneck trail on the 1.5-mile Artist’s Bluff loop. Tamara Breau, an experienced hiker who took the photo Saturday, said there was “chaos” on the trail.
Tamara Breu
“There was no order, there was no one who was polite about it,” she told WBZ-TV. “People were just trying to fight their way through it.”
The crowds were “isolated,” the New Hampshire park said
Franconia Notch State Park released a statement Wednesday about the holiday weekend. They said they don’t track attendance at the free trailhead, but noted that all 1,500 parking spaces were full on Saturday and Sunday.
Employees expected a busy day on the route, the park said.
“The majority of the crowding and congestion was isolated to a few locations within the park,” the statement said. “The Parks and Recreation Department will review existing management strategies including expanded parking, shuttle services, pre-arrival communications and collaborative stewardship with our partners to ensure we can accommodate all who wish to visit.”
The park also said overcrowding is generally not a problem at Artist’s Bluff “other than a few high visitation days in the fall season.”
New Hampshire encourages visits to less popular parks
A total of 3.7 million people are expected to visit New Hampshire this fall, the state’s travel agency says. Franconia Notch State Park received nearly 60,000 paid visitors in October for attractions such as the cable car on Cannon Mountain and Flume Gorge.
Social media campaigns are encouraging tourists to plan their trips in advance, “and consider visiting lesser-known state parks and trails,” the statement said. The New Hampshire State Parks Facebook page on Wednesday shared 10 hidden gem locations that it said “often don’t see as many visitors compared to other, more popular sites.”
