Visitor Use on Long's Peak: A Preliminary Assessment in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Kidd A, Graham R, Monz C. 2016. Visitor Use on Long's Peak: A Preliminary Assessment in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Logan Utah
Reaching the summit of Longs Peak is a highly sought-after visitor experience in Rocky Mountain National Park, with total ascents nearing 10,000 yearly. With high visitor use levels comes the potential for degradation of ecological conditions, as well as decreases in the quality of the visitor experience. The primary objective of this project was to test several methodological approaches to determine the most effective and accurate means of collecting visitor use data on the Keyhole Route of Longs Peak, the only non-technical route to the summit. This preliminary assessment of visitor use on Longs Peak used automated trail counters and cameras as well as GPS tracking approaches to better understand visitor use levels and behaviors on the Keyhole Route to Longs Peak. Both GPS tracking and camera results indicate that certain locations on the route, including the Keyhole, Trough, and Homestretch, are experiencing relatively high densities of visitor use that roughly correspond with potential areas of safety and visitor experience concern. Regression analysis of camera and counter data indicate a high degree of prediction accuracy between daily counts along the Longs Peak Trail and at the Homestretch. While determining thresholds of use was beyond the scope of this research, our results suggest that future research could be directed to the locations of high density use for threshold determinations.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Kidd, Abigail; Graham, Robin; Monz, Christopher
- Date of Issue
- 2016-07-18
- Units
- ROMO
- Keywords
- GPS Tracking, Mountaineering, Visitor Experience, Visitor Use, Wilderness Management