Crowded parking on rt.73!

I took and exact count today of the number of cars parked along rt. 73 from Rooster Comb to Round Pond lots at around 10:00 today. It rivaled a crowded October weekend (and the Canadians are absent). The numbers were about double those of previous years' July weekends but due to the unusual circumstances of this year, no true conclusions or trends can be extrapolated...Just that it is busier than all get out this summer (and dangerous)!

Lots are listed as if driving from Keene Valley heading south towards the Northway...

1. Rooster Comb Lot: 48 cars
2. First oull-over on right: 22 (usually empty as it leads to no trails)
3. Snowy pull-over on left: 13
4. Hopkins on left: 22
5. Ausable Club lot: 28
6. Roaring Brook Falls Lot: 22 (all legally parked)
7. Falls Viewing pull-over: 12
8. 1st Pull-Over (on right): 32
9. 2nd Pull-over (on left): 13
10. Beer Walls Lot (on right): 23
11. Chapel Pond Lot: 13
12. Giant - along road right: 28
13. Giant - left: 24
14. Chapel Slab Pull-Over: 10
15. Round Pond Lot and road:20

Total: 330

These were all legally parked. All lots were packed full but if creative, 20 more could be fit in the roadside lots above the Falls Overlook - if they also parked along the white line as I've seen in the past. This would yield an absolute max of 350 legal parking spaces (with the Ausable Club remaining at the current parking of just 28 cars).

The most dangerous spot is the coming and going from Roaring Brook Falls Lot. The next most dangerous area is the roadside parking around the Giant Ridge Trail. Cars trying to parallel park with other cars going (within inches) at 60 mph is scary to watch. Third most dangerous is the hikers and waterfall viewers marching along the road (with no real shoulder) from the roadside lots above Roaring Brook Falls towards the Giant and Ausable Club trails...