Thanks for posting the letter.
I was unaware of the what was going on here.
It is my belief there will continue to be social trails to the peak because what the NPS chose as a route...less steep and shortest. It can't be! The shortest route is the steepest. People will continue to use the shortest route to the summit.
The other problem is one of the trailhead being in the Inyo and the summit in SEKI. SEKI will have to ask the Inyo to impose a quota. If that happens, who is going to enforce it and how? It would have to be with local volunteers and population base is too small for even nominal coverage. Heck, the forest service can't even enforce the Bear Flats Trail closure in SoCal...I saw people preparing to go up there the last two weekends...and cars parked in the usual Bear Flats spots on the way down.
