>>2440992A couple years ago I experienced a scene like that in the Adirondacks (not even in the High Peaks region that's infamous for parking lots filling up before 5-6 AM). I counted hundreds of people on the short 2-mile trail and dozens of people on the summit. At least half of the people were from downstate and New Jersey according to the trailhead register, and most of them looked like the type seen in that Tammany pic.
After that miserable experience, I vowed to only hike east of I-81 during the off-season, preferably on weekdays. There are more than 50 million people in the Northeast Megalopis so you really need to be judicious about scheduling your trips out there if you don't want to be overwhelmed by the crowds. I later did one of the most popular hikes in the Adirondacks and saw maybe 10 people the entire time because it was on a weekday during shoulder season.
