The trail serves a great function - it attracts people. Many people who would never step foot off trail in a wilderness think nothing of hiking on a famous trail - its safe right? Like a hike in the park...

I hope they keep the narrow trimmed topo maps so they stay in that corridor, then the rest of the Sierras will be less crowded. And as for Yosemite - it too is like fly paper.

Theres nothing wrong with wanting to hike the trail. But there are so many other places to go in the Sierras, so much more territory that isn't crowded...

Also - there are all kinds of people on the trail - perhaps a wider assortment than you might find in the rest of the Sierra, and you might not want to meet some of them. What I'm saying is there is a greater chance of boom boxes, drinking,trashing the place, and carrying on where you find a wider variety of people visiting.

Also the 95% rule - 95% of people use 5% of the recreation space - mostly along the trails. Get off trail and suddenly the people you meet are different.
Jim